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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!
Are these questions representative of the difficulty on comlex?
Yes I had several but also a few really simple rhythm stripsAnybody get any ECG's on theirs?
Anybody get any ECG's on theirs?
Are these questions representative of the difficulty on comlex?
+20 badass points to whoever points out the question from the free 50 that has no correct answer listed.
Are you referring to the infant with IgM and IgG for rubella?
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.
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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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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Any insight from those that took it today?
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.
The 75 is your 2 digit score not your percentage. Anything over 60-65% is probably passing.
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.
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.
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.