Official 2013 COMLEX 1

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Workingonit

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I guess it's never too early to start this thread. Anyone who took it feel free to share your experience!

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TO AS90:

You will pass if you are passing in your combanks however TWO people who took the exam yesterday told me that there was very little pathology on their exams and both are super sharp students with >600 comsaes. They told me the exam came down like this. There was 60 percent of the exam that was super easy, straight recall, that they would be far pressed to find anyone who has even just skimmed FA not to get right..

Then they said 20 percent was IMPOSSIBLE, like medical laws they have never heard of or seen in any type of bank and that they feel noone will get correct. Then around 20 percent are tough, challenging questions, UWORLD level and way harder than the combank or quest. These questions seem to be the ones that separate the high scorers from the average scorers.

Both of them told me one more month of studying would have done nothing for their score and that they didnt feel it accurately assessed their knowledge but they could see how the exam could separate those who are stronger from those who are weaker.

In the end, from what I see in previous years, scores are pretty much where they should be. I think COMSAE is a good idea. I too was scared, and although people on the FORUMS claim there is no correlation, I think they official statistical correlation is like .64-.79 which is not too bad. For form C, students who took it timed scored an average of 26 points higher on the real deal, and those who took it untimed scored an average of 10 points higher on the real deal. I think thats a decent ball park figure to see at LEAST if you are in a certain range. I mean if you get a 350 on the comsae, you should pretty much not take the exam, and if you score 600ish, Im pretty sure youll at least be in the 540-650 range. Not the greatest, but its WAY better than the combank or comquest I think.

I think if the questions in comsae are any representation of the real deal, you shouldnt be too worried as far as level of difficulty goes. Sure, they are going to throw curve balls at us, but at the end of the day, I think those curve balls will catch 95% of us for a loop. Only the guy who went to law school before med school will get that question correct.

Thanks for the advice. I think the biggest thing that was concerning me was that I haven't really finished a question bank yet (just been jumping from bank to bank). But I think I will definitely at least try to lockdown COMQUEST and take (the only remainign COMSAE I can take- CoMSAE A).

I am planning on finishing DIT in the next 2 days while doing some more uworld questions and a final NBME 15, to see where I stand. If I do poorly, I will probably just forego the USMLE.

That said, I think the things that really freak me out are the physiology for cardio and respiratory (heart sounds, lung sounds etc.) and some of the renal histology for the disorders. As well as Ob/Gyn hormonal fluctations.

I'm contemplating looking over my ACLS handbook for some of the EKG tracings. Or doing the questions at the end of the dubin book.
 
Does anyone know if there is some defining source for Chapman's points? I have a couple of different sources and they all are saying different things for the HEENT area - middle ear, sinuses, tonsils, pharynx, etc. Or do I have about as good a chance if I closed my eyes and just picked an answer?
 
My OMM prof told us that you should pick one source and stick with it. They don't test to that level of detail. Also, my test didn't give me a question that required I know very specific placements of specific HEENT areas.
 
Hey guys.. quick question.. is it worth trying to memorize origin and insertion of the upper and lower extremes. Or is the dermatomes and innervations enough.
thanks
 
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Hey guys.. quick question.. is it worth trying to memorize origin and insertion of the upper and lower extremes. Or is the dermatomes and innervations enough.
thanks

This is a good example of low yield studying. Origins and insertions should be something you should take on only if you are killing it on the basics, if you don't have first aid down, micro, path, phys, then you are probably studying for stuff that may or may not be in your exam and will only net you a couple questions at most. I would study esoteric microcards before origin and insertion stuff, probably throw some heavy Neuro in there. This is my opinion as someone sitting in the 600 range from comsaes, maybe someone else will say differently.

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This is a good example of low yield studying. Origins and insertions should be something you should take on only if you are killing it on the basics, if you don't have first aid down, micro, path, phys, then you are probably studying for stuff that may or may not be in your exam and will only net you a couple questions at most. I would study esoteric microcards before origin and insertion stuff, probably throw some heavy Neuro in there. This is my opinion as someone sitting in the 600 range from comsaes, maybe someone else will say differently.

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definitely not killing anything by any means. Im just referring to people who took the exam and said they got slammed with the extremities.
but thanks
 
definitely not killing anything by any means. Im just referring to people who took the exam and said they got slammed with the extremities.
but thanks

I know what you mean,some peoples test's get slammed with certain anatomy topics for sure, I honestly think you will get more points for your time if you just ID some iffy big areas and knock em out. I haven't seen/remember an insertion/origin question on a comsae yet (C and D) so honestly if you are going to do extremity I would do the path/lesions/dermatomes/myotomes etc. that is in first aid; thats what I will be doing next week +OMM (Got destroyed on D by this). I haven't heard of anyone getting a ton of insertion/origin stuff from my group of friends though, I woudn't put it past the Comlex people.

Good luck
 
What are people doing for Anatomy? Seems like it's been pretty common. I read the green book upper and lower extremity. Worth reading anything else for it? I don't want to get slammed by anatomy.
 
Are the CT's and MRI's and diagrams of the tracts in HY Neuroanatomy worth going over? There's a ton of detail in there and have very limited time...
 
That was a murder. Never felt worse after a test.

Agreed. I haven't logged onto this forum in a long time but today's exam was nothing like I had ever seen, so I felt I needed to let you know you're not alone. Some of the sharpest people in my class, people, who destroyed the comases and uworld were pale in the face coming out of today's exam. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, and I'm know most people,come out of Comlex feeling like crap, but man. The minor detailed anatomy, along with some very obscure and 4th order micro questions really surprised me. Ihave a classmate who is a micro goddess/ former reacher,m(doesn't everyone) who even said that she never even heard of some of the bugs that we were tested on,. Someone posted above that studying anatomy was low yield, and I'm sure it is on most days, but we had questions about minor innervations, I had a ton, not just major muscle groups, I'm talking small, superficial nerve branches that I had never heard of.. I had one or two cancer questions, a ton of weird, off the wall disease treatments that were, not covered in Fa, pathoma, or Kaplan. Even if I had another month to study for the comlex I would not have been ready for what was tested on. Just know that everyone I've talked with has said the same thing about today's exam. Best of luck to everyone getting ready to take this exam in the near future.
 
Agreed. I haven't logged onto this forum in a long time but today's exam was nothing like I had ever seen, so I felt I needed to let you know you're not alone. Some of the sharpest people in my class, people, who destroyed the comases and uworld were pale in the face coming out of today's exam. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, and I'm know most people,come out of Comlex feeling like crap, but man. The minor detailed anatomy, along with some very obscure and 4th order micro questions really surprised me. Ihave a classmate who is a micro goddess/ former reacher,m(doesn't everyone) who even said that she never even heard of some of the bugs that we were tested on,. Someone posted above that studying anatomy was low yield, and I'm sure it is on most days, but we had questions about minor innervations, I had a ton, not just major muscle groups, I'm talking small, superficial nerve branches that I had never heard of.. I had one or two cancer questions, a ton of weird, off the wall disease treatments that were, not covered in Fa, pathoma, or Kaplan. Even if I had another month to study for the comlex I would not have been ready for what was tested on. Just know that everyone I've talked with has said the same thing about today's exam. Best of luck to everyone getting ready to take this exam in the near future.

Sorry to hear this. Theres obviously no way I will be able to review the ins and outs of anatomy. But how many questions of this nature did you encounter? just curious
 
Sorry to hear this. Theres obviously no way I will be able to review the ins and outs of anatomy. But how many questions of this nature did you encounter? just curious

About 30%, 10% of it was expected upper lower, head and neck stuff. The other 20% forget about it. No way would any of us been able to get them unless we broke open Netters and went front to back.
 
I haven't posted on SDN in forever but felt the need to tell y'all that the test yesterday was BRUTAL. I don't understand how NBOME does stuff because friends that took it on Saturday said it was the easiest thing ever. I had tons of obscure anatomy innervation/blood supply questions, like 10 EKGs of weird rhythms that are definitely not the easy stuff in FA, poorly worded physio questions, random ass OMM treatment questions (counterstrain points, anyone? No? How about HVLA techniques never taught at my school or crazy cranial + obscure micro questions rolled into one?). And the micro was stupid. All I can say is that they're going to have to curve that test HEAVILY. It's almost kind of comical. I got to the last section and I was so tired and defeated, and it was random OMM, detailed first year anatomy that no one other than a surgeon would possibly need to know or EKG question after another, after another, after another that I just started crying in there.

Something useful for those who haven't taken it is to try to manage your time well. The break situation is ridiculous. My first block was really easy and I had time to spare, so I leisurely looked over my answers, etc and then got SLAMMED on the second block with crazy long stems and hard questions that ate into my cushion time from the first block and took up some of my time for the 3rd block. The breaks you're allowed to take cut into your test time, so just try to be aware of the time you have left.

If you take your test on a day that it's a giant pile of horse****, don't worry. Everybody thought it was awful and there's just no way that a lot of people are getting those questions right. Seriously, no freaking way.
 
I haven't posted on SDN in forever but felt the need to tell y'all that the test yesterday was BRUTAL. I don't understand how NBOME does stuff because friends that took it on Saturday said it was the easiest thing ever. I had tons of obscure anatomy innervation/blood supply questions, like 10 EKGs of weird rhythms that are definitely not the easy stuff in FA, poorly worded physio questions, random ass OMM treatment questions (counterstrain points, anyone? No? How about HVLA techniques never taught at my school or crazy cranial + obscure micro questions rolled into one?). And the micro was stupid. All I can say is that they're going to have to curve that test HEAVILY. It's almost kind of comical. I got to the last section and I was so tired and defeated, and it was random OMM, detailed first year anatomy that no one other than a surgeon would possibly need to know or EKG question after another, after another, after another that I just started crying in there.

Something useful for those who haven't taken it is to try to manage your time well. The break situation is ridiculous. My first block was really easy and I had time to spare, so I leisurely looked over my answers, etc and then got SLAMMED on the second block with crazy long stems and hard questions that ate into my cushion time from the first block and took up some of my time for the 3rd block. The breaks you're allowed to take cut into your test time, so just try to be aware of the time you have left.

If you take your test on a day that it's a giant pile of horse****, don't worry. Everybody thought it was awful and there's just no way that a lot of people are getting those questions right. Seriously, no freaking way.

lol taking this exam in two days. I think I will officially stop following this thread.
 
yep thats where i am, take it on fri ._. but, everyone i've talked to in my class say something similar about it being terrible. sweet!
 
ve heard these stories last year, it seems the longer you wait to take it, the more likely this happens. Friends who took it last week all breezed through the thing but the good thing that its all relative. If a micro professor didnt know a micro drug, i highly doubt any of us regular people will have a shot and it must be curved accordingly so Im going in expecting the worst and I think scores usually accurately reflect peoples global knowledge
 
If it's coming up soon just look over buzzwords and know your gram neg/pos trees from FA. Y'all might get the easy version. But yeah, if you end up with my version there isn't a whole hell of a lot that you can do even if you had months left to study. If you get a crappy version just keep on telling yourself that they're going to have to curve the heck out of it. We'll all be fine. Good luck, y'all :)
 
So what your saying is that if I have a week left I should prob start a new TV series cause studying wont really matter anyways? bahah

A couple of us rode together to prometric. It was about five minutes before anyone had said anything, just dead silence. The first thing my buddy said was, I should have just fcken watched the last two seasons of House.

All I can say it just go in there and show what you know. I felt like I had to pick the least wrong answer on most of the questions, so that might be one way to go about it. Do your best. There is a chart that some girl made on youtube for all the spinal levels and ganglia. I cannot even begin to explain how much that helped when I was asked spinal levels, they do try to trick you up so I would highly recommend looking up this chart.

It is what it is, I'm gonna enjoy my month off, drink a lot of beer, smoke a lot of cigars and deplete the grouper population in the Gulf of Mexico until rotations start. Best of luck.
 
I think everyone that took COMLEX is scaring those that have not. 95% of my test was out of class (which may not be in FA or Savoreece). When you get an obscure question please read the answers because normally they are far apart and easy to decipher one, or at least 2. I did face anatomy with branches of branches of the trigeminal and EKGs like those from up above. Most of the anatomy was related to OMM and is in Savoreece but it wouldn't hurt to review arteries especially the portal portal system. Also, the micro was not that bad even if you hadn't heard of one you could cancel out others. Know the gram pos/neg charts COLD. There was a lot of genetics/molecular/biochem but much of it was easy (inheritance, mutation/deficiency). Like a fourth of my test was drugs but im solid with those so i felt like those were timesavers. Disclaimer, I mostly studied for USMLE other than OMM.
 
Ugh. SO glad I'm not alone.
Took it yesterday.
Some were obvious, but seriously. The micro? Holy crap. Not only was it 1/8 of my exam, but it was random stuff I have NEVER heard of. And I went through Uworld twice and Comquest once. I was getting 78-85% on comquest, and got a 550 on my COMSAE so I thought I was solid.
I got home yesterday and googled "I feel like I failed COMLEX step 1"
Then I saw you need 75% correct to pass. So ya, I'm praying. Praying I passed.
BUT.. I've got USMLE in 5 days so I need to stop moping.

I have never felt so dumb. Ugh. :(
 
How do you know when your score is ready? Do you just keep checking the website compulsively?
 
Ugh. SO glad I'm not alone.
Took it yesterday.
Some were obvious, but seriously. The micro? Holy crap. Not only was it 1/8 of my exam, but it was random stuff I have NEVER heard of. And I went through Uworld twice and Comquest once. I was getting 78-85% on comquest, and got a 550 on my COMSAE so I thought I was solid.
I got home yesterday and googled "I feel like I failed COMLEX step 1"
Then I saw you need 75% correct to pass. So ya, I'm praying. Praying I passed.
BUT.. I've got USMLE in 5 days so I need to stop moping.

I have never felt so dumb. Ugh. :(

The 75 is your 2 digit score not your percentage. Anything over 60-65% is probably passing.
 
I've been getting 70's on comquest and got 470's on 2 comsae's. Do you think I stand a chance to pass? I'm seriously concerned.
 
I've been getting 70's on comquest and got 470's on 2 comsae's. Do you think I stand a chance to pass? I'm seriously concerned.

I was in the 90s and both, combank and comquest and 580s on comsae AND I am concerned if I passed. Made quite a few silly mistakes, a few things I had no idea and alot of WTF questions that will probably NOT make me a better physician in terms of rapport and empathy with my patients.
 
I took comsae D the other day, and felt it was an impossible test. Full of ridiculous questions, **** I had never heard of before, and definitely thought I failed it. Somehow ended up with 500....not bragging, but just pointing out that this stuff is super curved. I was legit guessing on question after question.
 
I was in the 90s and both, combank and comquest and 580s on comsae AND I am concerned if I passed. Made quite a few silly mistakes, a few things I had no idea and alot of WTF questions that will probably NOT make me a better physician in terms of rapport and empathy with my patients.

If you were in the 90's in both combank and comquest there is no way you failed. Unless you suffered a stroke during your test. So rest assured.
 
If you were in the 90's in both combank and comquest there is no way you failed. Unless you suffered a stroke during your test. So rest assured.

Im not that smart, those 90s were in untimed mode. and If I was that smart, my comsaes would have been higher than 580s.

On my exam, I got alot of things that I didnt want. i was still able to narrow down to two, but couldnt figure out why one over the other
 
Do these WTF questions largely pertain to a specific topic? What sort of questions are these?
 
Any insight from those that took it today?

Ok I'll bite. Took it yesterday. First, thank you to everyone for making me feel a lot better, cause I felt like a total failure afterwards. About 20 minutes in, I was thinking "What have I gotten myself into?" I was in the 500ish range on my COMSAEs and I felt like I hadn't studied at all. Hard to say what kind of "WTF questions" there were. I just found myself on several occasions with a set of seemingly unrelated S&S saying "HOW are these connected?? HOW?" (And no...it wasn't an MEN or a VIPoma <-- awesome). I will say that if you have limited time, I would suggest making sure you know your MICRO! Holy CRAP did I had a TON of micro, maybe even 25% of my test. But it wasn't like "a gardener pricks himself. What is the bug?" Is was like: This is the presentation. What is the virulence factor, or how does it work? Just know all your viruses, parasites, mushrooms and...oh yea...bacteria! Cause they were all covered. And just know ahead of time, there are going to be bugs that you have never heard of. At times, I was sure that they were just making up names to mess with me.

Also, this seemed so rando to me...but I swear every female on that exam was either 78 years old or they were pregnant! I mean it! There wasn't a woman under 40 that wasn't knocked up! (Maybe I've just been sheltered all my life?) And if there is one more high-yield, it is that sympathetic levels chart in the green book. Holy crap. That "trigger point" is NOT lying! I wrote mine out at the very beginning and must have used it 30 times. I referred to it so many times that it was a smudged out mess by the end. Didn't really have too many Chapman's points though.

Lastly, as an FYI, be aware that the strike-feature on the COMLEX Is almost completely useless. I knew that the highlight feature worked like this, but on the actual COMLEX, in order to strike-out "wrong" answers, you have to highlight the line, and then click another button in the upper right corner. Seems insignificant, but after 400 questions, you'd have to do that 1200-1600 times! After almost running out of time in the first block, I just stopped using it during the 2nd half of the exam. Little frustrating, cause that was a big part of my "strategy." But definitely be aware of that, cause I wasn't Feel free to PM me if you have ?'s.
 
I'm about to rip nbome a new one regarding the highlighting, strikeouts, and break issues. Can't get over the fact of how much I hate the people behind this exam...seem like complete scum to me. The day nbme takes over should be a holiday.
 
I'm about to rip nbome a new one regarding the highlighting, strikeouts, and break issues. Can't get over the fact of how much I hate the people behind this exam...seem like complete scum to me. The day nbme takes over should be a holiday.

Whoa, Cranial, tell us how you really feel! :p But seriously though, during my "optional" 10-minute break, I went to use the 1 single-person bathroom at the Prometric site, and of course, someone else was in there, so I'm sitting there waiting, twiddling my thumbs while the counter continues to tick-down on my exam in the other room. You know something's messed up when you're doing a question on a pt with SIADH and you find yourself thinking, "Damn, I'm jealous. If I had that problem I could get an additional 20 minutes on my COMLEX!"
 
The 75 is your 2 digit score not your percentage. Anything over 60-65% is probably passing.

Oh thank God. I may have a chance after all.

Reading all this makes me feel better though. My study buddy and a very average student told me the COMLEX was no big deal, and I would be fine.. So when I walked out feeling ripped a new one I was especially concerned.
I know the difficult questions are the ones sticking out, and all the ones I guessed on. I need to remember that there were quite a few "gimmie" points too.

6 weeks!?! ugh. I want to know if I passed now. I have my most favorite elective ever in August that I really don't want to miss. Fingers crossed.
Good luck everyone!
 
has anyone taken COMSAE D? I took it a few days ago and barely scored a 500. I'm getting kind of worried since my exam is in a week.
 
has anyone taken COMSAE D? I took it a few days ago and barely scored a 500. I'm getting kind of worried since my exam is in a week.

I took D two week ago and felt like it was fair. Of course it's just my gut feeling, but I felt like COMSAE D was more Uworld-like in terms of it being more of a "thinking exam" with deeper questions compared to A, which I felt was more nit-picky (I did not take B or C).

I am assuming this is what the real COMLEX will be like. Somewhat vague presentation and must be able to distinguish very similar answer options thus requiring a good path foundation and very solid first aid knowledge base. I felt like those were the keys for me (I scored ~650 on D).

Suggestion: if you haven't done much COMQUEST, try to do the whole bank before your exam all in timed random sets of 50. Do back to back blocks for 2 to 4 hours. I think it will really help. But to be honest, UWorld prepared me way better for COMSAE D than Comquest did, but if your exam is in < 2 weeks, you're probably better off sticking with comquest.
 
Ok I'll bite. Took it yesterday. First, thank you to everyone for making me feel a lot better, cause I felt like a total failure afterwards. About 20 minutes in, I was thinking "What have I gotten myself into?" I was in the 500ish range on my COMSAEs and I felt like I hadn't studied at all. Hard to say what kind of "WTF questions" there were. I just found myself on several occasions with a set of seemingly unrelated S&S saying "HOW are these connected?? HOW?" (And no...it wasn't an MEN or a VIPoma <-- awesome). I will say that if you have limited time, I would suggest making sure you know your MICRO! Holy CRAP did I had a TON of micro, maybe even 25% of my test. But it wasn't like "a gardener pricks himself. What is the bug?" Is was like: This is the presentation. What is the virulence factor, or how does it work? Just know all your viruses, parasites, mushrooms and...oh yea...bacteria! Cause they were all covered. And just know ahead of time, there are going to be bugs that you have never heard of. At times, I was sure that they were just making up names to mess with me.

Also, this seemed so rando to me...but I swear every female on that exam was either 78 years old or they were pregnant! I mean it! There wasn't a woman under 40 that wasn't knocked up! (Maybe I've just been sheltered all my life?) And if there is one more high-yield, it is that sympathetic levels chart in the green book. Holy crap. That "trigger point" is NOT lying! I wrote mine out at the very beginning and must have used it 30 times. I referred to it so many times that it was a smudged out mess by the end. Didn't really have too many Chapman's points though.

Lastly, as an FYI, be aware that the strike-feature on the COMLEX Is almost completely useless. I knew that the highlight feature worked like this, but on the actual COMLEX, in order to strike-out "wrong" answers, you have to highlight the line, and then click another button in the upper right corner. Seems insignificant, but after 400 questions, you'd have to do that 1200-1600 times! After almost running out of time in the first block, I just stopped using it during the 2nd half of the exam. Little frustrating, cause that was a big part of my "strategy." But definitely be aware of that, cause I wasn't Feel free to PM me if you have ?'s.

I agree. I was like how do these symtomps correlate. and then I was like what do they want from me? I couldnt diagnose the patient, how am i suppose to answer the secdond order question of the the diagnosis.

i recognized most of the bugs in the answer choices, but i couldnt match any of them with the presentation of the patinet. they had alot of presentions of micro bugs in ways that I had no way come accross in uworld micro and combank and comquest... i only did UWROLD for its micro. didnt touch uworld after that.

anyways now 6 weeks of patiently waiting (. not really patient...I want to know NOW) kind of score....
 
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