Average COMLEX score

[JamesPotterMS-3]

did schools withhold more weaker students from taking it?

I suspect this is a minority of the COMs. My school doesn't do a practice COMSAE or withhold anyone from taking Level 1. Withholding a permit for Level 1 is actually a TON of paperwork for a COM and I doubt most COMs would bother with all the paperwork/phonecalls/etc to hold students from sitting for Level 1, even if it meant lower first-time pass rates. For Level 2-PE I believe there may be an on-campus refresher that is required for weaker students but not entirely sure.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ProfAnon]

I suspect this is a minority of the COMs. My school doesn't do a practice COMSAE or withhold anyone from taking Level 1. Withholding a permit for Level 1 is actually a TON of paperwork for a COM and I doubt most COMs would bother with all the paperwork/phonecalls/etc to hold students from sitting for Level 1, even if it meant lower first-time pass rates. For Level 2-PE I believe there may be an on-campus refresher that is required for weaker students but not entirely sure.

Another thing to keep in mind is that that 20% will be taking their exam SOME time (unless the school gets rid of them) so schools that actively engage in delaying students until the following year ultimately will still have those students scores count in the first time pass rate, it will just be for the following year. Unless this is the very first time they have ever done this, all of last years "weak" students are taking the exam and count towards this years first time pass rate. The school is hedging their bets that an extra year of prep will increase the likelihood of a first time pass.

If people are asking if this played a role in the great increase in average score this year, the total amount of people held back from taking it (especially when offset by last years weak students taking it this year) is likely to be negligible. Some may have even predicted a lower average with the great increase in the number of students taking it due to new schools and class size increases. Also there are many schools who have already publicly reported record-setting years with no change in policy (ie, all their students have taken it).

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

I suspect this is a minority of the COMs. My school doesn't do a practice COMSAE or withhold anyone from taking Level 1. Withholding a permit for Level 1 is actually a TON of paperwork for a COM and I doubt most COMs would bother with all the paperwork/phonecalls/etc to hold students from sitting for Level 1, even if it meant lower first-time pass rates. For Level 2-PE I believe there may be an on-campus refresher that is required for weaker students but not entirely sure.

we have mandatory P.E bs -_-. regardless, my COM is very focused on their reputation and will pull crap like delay student with comsaes, which from what i have heard is not uncommon. The cut offs are different . some do 400 , 450, ive heard of 500 cut off from a touro student (which i dont believe, that is way too high)

 

[electrolight]

Our class was the first year where our break time didn't take away from test time and all of the labs had reference ranges right next to them. I feel like that helped a lot

 

[ProfAnon]

Not surprised by the increasing averages. With better resources for board review becoming mainstream (Sketchy path, OMG OMT, etc.) students are finding ways to streamline studying and memorize more concepts in more ways. I think this is good!

On another note, PDs are well aware of this trend and it's not making too much of a difference. The recipe for matching will always be the same: take USMLE + COMLEX, have an increasing score from Step/Level I to II, get honors in your future specialty, and get some boss LORs from people who matter. Don't worry about the mean.

The hypothesis about board resources may be true looking at the overall increase of ~20 points in 10 years, but doesn't explain the jump of 40 points in one year. Definitely something else going on.

I am interested in your "recipe", specifically the "increasing score from Step/Level I to II" because this is not something I had heard. In fact I was always informed your Level I/Step I was more important. Are you a program director? I would like some clarification on this, as this is important information for students.

 

[rddn_jk]

The cut offs are different . some do 400 , 450, ive heard of 500 cut off from a touro student (which i dont believe, that is way too high)

My school (not touro) actually had a cutoff of 500. They threatened to withhold you from taking the actual test but if they did for anyone I’m not sure.

 

[jw3600]

Anecdotally, the Step/Level I gets you the interview, the Step/Level II gets you ranked. Sweeping generalization? Of course. But this is how it is in most specialties, perhaps less so in IM where there are a lot of applicants and they are mostly interchangeable (and therefore the great standardizer Step I is more important), but moreso in programs with 8 or less PGY1 spots where clinical aptitude > your ability to memorize what the BCL2 gene is responsible for. Yes, Step/Level II has more of a correlation to resident success and PDs are well aware of this.

Where are you at in your training ?

 

[ProfAnon]

Anecdotally, the Step/Level I gets you the interview, the Step/Level II gets you ranked. Sweeping generalization? Of course. But this is how it is in most specialties, perhaps less so in IM where there are a lot of applicants and they are mostly interchangeable (and therefore the great standardizer Step I is more important), but moreso in programs with 8 or less PGY1 spots where clinical aptitude > your ability to memorize what the BCL2 gene is responsible for. Yes, Step/Level II has more of a correlation to resident success and PDs are well aware of this.

This program director's survey doesn't back up what you are saying:
http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/NRMP-2016-Program-Director-Survey.pdf

What we tell our students is your Level 1/Step 1 gets you the interview, and how well you do on the interview gets you ranked. Obviously you can see Step 2 is important (as are many factors). If you scroll through the lists, you can see the most competitive specialties put relatively more emphasis on Step 1 vs Step 2 than the less competitive specialties. It also seems internal medicine actually places MORE emphasis on Step 2 than other specialties. Perhaps your experience is more the outlier than the norm.

 

[sab3156]

Anecdotally, the Step/Level I gets you the interview, the Step/Level II gets you ranked. Sweeping generalization? Of course. But this is how it is in most specialties, perhaps less so in IM where there are a lot of applicants and they are mostly interchangeable (and therefore the great standardizer Step I is more important), but moreso in programs with 8 or less PGY1 spots where clinical aptitude > your ability to memorize what the BCL2 gene is responsible for. Yes, Step/Level II has more of a correlation to resident success and PDs are well aware of this.

This post is so inaccurate that I don't even know what to say. Can you just delete it?

 

[jw3600]

This post is so inaccurate that I don't even know what to say. Can you just delete it?

This is what I was getting to. Honestly this is the kind of post I wish people would get accounts put on hold for. Unprofessional trolls aren’t the only ones ruining this place.

 

[Neopolymath]

The hypothesis about board resources may be true looking at the overall increase of ~20 points in 10 years, but doesn't explain the jump of 40 points in one year. Definitely something else going on.

I am interested in your "recipe", specifically the "increasing score from Step/Level I to II" because this is not something I had heard. In fact I was always informed your Level I/Step I was more important. Are you a program director? I would like some clarification on this, as this is important information for students.

I don't know what the poster is going on about with the rest of his post, but I believe what he was speaking of when he mentioned an increasing score on step 1 to step 2 is that everyone should be doing better 3 digit grade-wise on step 2 because the percentiles are shifted. You should absolutely not get a 230 on step 1 and then a 225 on step two, for example. It's just something that can hurt you because you absolutely should be getting a higher 3 digit score.

 

[hallowmann]

Our class was the first year where our break time didn't take away from test time and all of the labs had reference ranges right next to them. I feel like that helped a lot

Wait what? Is that a thing now? That's definitely a game changer. You actually get to take a real break rather than power through 200 questions in one sitting.

 

[samac]

Wait what? Is that a thing now? That's definitely a game changer. You actually get to take a real break rather than power through 200 questions in one sitting.

2 10 minutes breaks and 1 hour lunch break. Supposedly they took some time off the test that were meant to be breaks taken when you want but instead now it’s set times withers time in the test. ‍♀️

 

[hallowmann]

2 10 minutes breaks and 1 hour lunch break. Supposedly they took some time off the test that were meant to be breaks taken when you want but instead now it’s set times withers time in the test. ‍♀️

When I took it, the only real break you had was the 1 hr in between block 4 and 5. If you took a break at the designated "break times" between block 2 and 3 and block 6 and 7, the clock would keep running down.

 

[electrolight]

Wait what? Is that a thing now? That's definitely a game changer. You actually get to take a real break rather than power through 200 questions in one sitting.

Yeah they gave us scheduled 10 minute breaks between blocks 2 and 3 and 5 and 6 plus an hour for lunch

But the lab values helped so much too. It would just say like hemoglobin 8 (reference range 12-15) or something like that, or ANCA positive (reference range negative). It made the question so obvious because only one of the 10 labs they gave would be abnormal

 

[samac]

When I took it, the only real break you had was the 1 hr in between block 4 and 5. If you took a break at the designated "break times" between block 2 and 3 and block 6 and 7, the clock would keep running down.

Right. But from the way I understand your all’s blocks had an extra 20 minutes built in over ours so you could take a break. They took those 20 minutes out and added in the breaks. I might be misunderstanding tho.

 

[Goro]

My schools average was higher than national, but we did cut close to 20 % of our class from taking it, i presume other schools did something similar

Only some schools game the system and do this. Mine doesn't.

 

[hallowmann]

Right. But from the way I understand your all’s blocks had an extra 20 minutes built in over ours so you could take a break. They took those 20 minutes out and added in the breaks. I might be misunderstanding tho.

We had 4 hours for 200 questions (1 hr per 50 question block). How much is it now?

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

Only some schools game the system and do this. Mine doesn't.

again depends on the school. In my situation i feel like it was a crap move by admin to do this but it is a business so i understand. ive had a few friends affected by it

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Anyone think the average will go back down next year??

 

[JamesPotterMS-3]

We had 4 hours for 200 questions (1 hr per 50 question block). How much is it now?

it's the same now.

 

[hallowmann]

it's the same now.

I guess I don't understand what changed. Looking at the website, it looks like the 1 hr break is now a 40 min break with two 10 min breaks in between block 2&3 and 6&7.

 

[Moose A Moose]

Anyone think the average will go back down next year??

Maybe, maybe not. I’m telling ya: PDs have it in their head that the mean is around 500-520. I don’t think this year’s average will jack up years of a standard mean. IMO

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Maybe, maybe not. I’m telling ya: PDs have it in their head that the mean is around 500-520. I don’t think this year’s average will jack up years of a standard mean. IMO

I agree that PD prolly wont think about it hard enough to know/care that the average is 40 points higher than normal, but when the 2019 class as a whole has a 40 point higher average, you're technically competing against a new mean. So yeah, they won't care for cutoff reasons, but your 650 isn't the same as last years 650.

 

[LSDiVinci]

I'm class of 2019 and the percentile converter for my cycle finally popped up. I dropped from what would have been the 90th percentile in the class of 2018 to the 78th percentile for my class...

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

I'm class of 2019 and the percentile converter for my cycle finally popped up. I dropped from what would have been the 90th percentile in the class of 2018 to the 78th percentile for my class...

Same. I chuckled when I saw the change though.

 

[Roxas]

I'm class of 2019 and the percentile converter for my cycle finally popped up. I dropped from what would have been the 90th percentile in the class of 2018 to the 78th percentile for my class...

~30ish to upper teens. Sucks to suck.