Which COMSAE should I do first/last?

[Mr.IceHockey]

Which COMSAE should I do?

I understand the COMSAEs are garbage, but I still want to have as much exposure to a COMLEX as I can. As of now, these are the best resources to get actual questions from the NBOME, so I want to make the most of them.
My school is making us take "COMSAE 103b" and I haven't heard much about that one, only that last year these new COMSAEs went horribly.

Which order should I do these in? I have 101, 102, and 104 (my school made us do 105 in December prior to dedicated/second semester).

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[AnatomyGrey12]

It doesn't really matter the order honestly. Just start at the top and go down.

 

[Mr.IceHockey]

I figured, I was just wondering if there was one COMSAE that is most accurate for predicting your COMLEX score that I should save for the end of dedicated or something.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

I figured, I was just wondering if there was one COMSAE that is most accurate for predicting your COMLEX score that I should save for the end of dedicated or something.

Nah they are all terrible, but I think they do give you some practice with the NBOME "what the literal eff are they asking" questions.

 

[Mr.IceHockey]

Yeah so I just finished ASA101b and uhh I passed, and some questions were WILDLY easy but some were very very vague. I guess this means I am in okay shape? oh well.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Yeah so I just finished ASA101b and uhh I passed, and some questions were WILDLY easy but some were very very vague. I guess this means I am in okay shape? oh well.

Welcome to the world of the NBOME lol

 

[OverlyRomantic]

Also, warning - The COMSAES share some questions. So some questions you see on one form will pop up on the next form. So, it really does not matter which order you do them in

 

[JibsGuy52]

Save your money and don’t do the COMSAE’s. Do NBME’s.

 

[Mr.IceHockey]

So you're tellin me that I bought these and they aren't even completely unique exams? Great. So I guess instead of trying to figure out what my score will be on the real thing, I will just go ahead and put some three digit scores ranging from 300 to 800 on a dart board and see what happens. Wow the NBOME is wild.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Also, warning - The COMSAES share some questions. So some questions you see on one form will pop up on the next form. So, it really does not matter which order you do them in

BUT you forgot the catch, you might never know if what you picked is right! I actually googled some of them and couldn't ever actually figured out what the NBOME wanted as the right answer haha

Gotta love the NBOME

 

[Mr.IceHockey]

@AnatomyGrey12 absolutely! I had a micro question, which is normally one of my best subjects where the ONLY thing I had to go on, and i mean the ONLY thing, was a gram stain. I am glad I passed it because this *should* be a good sign I will pass the one my school wants me to pass on Thursday, but I still have no clue what my score means (I guess it doesn't matter, but still).

AND I felt good when I submitted it, like yeah, a few things got me, I know that, I still have well over a month until I take the real COMLEX, but now I am concerned because I didn't even break 500.

 

[OverlyRomantic]

@AnatomyGrey12 absolutely! I had a micro question, which is normally one of my best subjects where the ONLY thing I had to go on, and i mean the ONLY thing, was a gram stain. I am glad I passed it because this *should* be a good sign I will pass the one my school wants me to pass on Thursday, but I still have no clue what my score means (I guess it doesn't matter, but still).

AND I felt good when I submitted it, like yeah, a few things got me, I know that, I still have well over a month until I take the real COMLEX, but now I am concerned because I didn't even break 500.

If it makes you feel any better, the COMSAES seem to under predict. My real COMLEX score was 80 points higher than the last COMSAE I took 3 days before my exam.

Save your money and don’t do the COMSAE’s. Do NBME’s.

NBMEs are vastly superior, but I do think that doing 1 or 2 of the COMSAEs is a good idea as it will prepare you for the absolutely weird way that the NBOME writes questions.

 

[Mr.IceHockey]

@OverlyRomantic I bought 'em, I am going to use em. But I also have the NBMEs, which I got for free (thanks COVID19?). So theres that.

 

[Mr.IceHockey]

Update for anyone who might be lurking on this thread or for anyone who cares:
Took COMSAE 103b today, passed my school's cut off, but dropped in my score compared to 101b I took a few days ago.
Kind of salty about it, even though I know it doesnt matter. I dont know what the class average is or anything yet, but my one friend got a 609, my other friend got just shy of a 500, and my other friend got a 440.
COMSAE is trash, questions absolutely repeated. I had one where a patient's mother was "0 years old" (???)
Don't really know what to take from it. Hopefully it under-predicts substantially in the end.

 

[Deecee2DO]

Took my school administered 105b. Absolute trash exam lol the cutoff for passing for us is a 400 i think. Most ridiculous exam ive ever taken pretty much all the 4th years I talked to who took it last year said it underpredicted their score on real deal by 150-170 points thats how garbage this test is

 

[Mr.IceHockey]

Yeah our school made us take 105 in December to "give us a baseline" before the second semester of second year. The average was 330 with a standard deviation of 60 points. Granted, a lot of that was due to when we took it, but still.... We haven't gotten the feedback/stats from the one we took yesterday yet but I know many high ranking students that did poorly on 103 yesterday.

 

[Mr.IceHockey]

Update for lurkers/those that care:
We just received the feedback from yesterday's COMSAE 103b.
Average was a 460 with a standard deviation of 80. Median score of 450. The school seems happy with this, but that seems like an awfully large amount of people that scored below 400 in a class of ~200.