Official 2013 COMLEX 1

[Workingonit]

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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[Atom bum]

It's funny how expectations continually drop. When I started studying I was like.. I'm going to get a 600 at least. Then I started to do lots of questions and I was like... Ok 500 would be great. Then I took the real thing and I'm like.. 400 would be great.

 

[deleted554740]

I agree that D was USMLE style questions where you had to think. I was surprised that I got a 500...brutal exam

So the score they give you at the end, is it curved or is it the raw score? Man, I'm just so depressed after this stupid comsae. My goal is to get a 570 and I thought I had a chance since I've been getting low 70s on combank and comquest and low 60s on uworld.

 

[deleted554740]

It's funny how expectations continually drop. When I started studying I was like.. I'm going to get a 600 at least. Then I started to do lots of questions and I was like... Ok 500 would be great. Then I took the real thing and I'm like.. 400 would be great.

haha, yea. Its kind of like when I entered med school. Super ambitious. Now, I just want to get it over with and move on with my life.

 

[as90]

Is there a particular section of the hy neuro that you feel is an absolute must to review prior?

 

[res1cue]

Is there a particular section of the hy neuro that you feel is an absolute must to review prior?

Took mine on the 7th, not much neuro to be honest that I can recall.

Lots of autonomics though, and headbleed questions

 

[Ary Lall]

Took mine on the 7th, not much neuro to be honest that I can recall.

Lots of autonomics though, and headbleed questions

What is the average for COMLEX every year? Do they pre-set it at some number such as 550 or does the average vary every year depending on how people do on those poorly written questions?

 

[koan]

Mean every year is 500, but the standard deviation changes a little bit (usually ~75)... which, if the distribution is normal, would mean a fair number of people do not pass (like 10%... is that right?)

 

[as90]

Ok, thanks for the tip. I need to get off of this thread, my heart sinks a little every time I read it.

Just going to know my path, pharm, and micro cold, do as many questions as I can and then just hope and pray.

 

[tobeone]

Has anyone received their score yet? Everyone seems to have the same opinion that it was a total crapshoot and they have no idea how they did, but I was just wondering if luck was on your side and there is hope and you passed!

 

[aidama]

I should have gone on vacation instead of studying for a month. How can people possibly claim the COMLEX and USMLE are similar tests?

It was heavy on neuro innervations (read; vague anatomy you haven't looked at since first year), lower extremity. But no seriously it was like 50% anatomy 25% OPP 25% whatever they felt like. really sparse on the pathophysiology which shocked me. I really mean it when I say this test was half anatomy. It made me sick. my test had very few viscerosomatics, very few chapmans, a lot of reflexes, and a whole **** ton of UE/LE/counterstrain. 1 pelvis. 1-2 cranial. no sacrum.

Haven't been angry after a test in a looong time... great motivation for the 5 extra days I have to study for the USMLE.

 

[somekindof]

Just got back. That was a horrendous exam. The NBOME should be ashamed at themselves for this pitiful excuse of a test. Everything about it is so poorly made. The questions are vague, the topics are out of nowhere, the interface is disgusting (the strikeout and highlight features are unbelievably useless). I took the USMLE on Monday and I can honestly say that the COMLEX should be eliminated as an exam. Almost every question felt like it was just a vague set of symptoms

I had a stem that HAD NO QUESTION. It was just a chart of data BUT IT DIDN'T ASK ME ANYTHING. WHAT THE ****? Does anyone even proof read this garbage? I wasted so much time re-reading trying figure out what the hell I was being asked.

I wouldn't be surprised if I failed that PoS

 

[Student DO c]

...

 

[deleted554740]

my god, after reading all these exam experiences i feel beyond f*cked.

 

[aidama]

oh my. I have less then a week till my exam. What do you recommend I study? It honestly sounds like at this point, 2-3 extra days of studying is almost not worth it. I feel like just doing a light review and making sure my minds right.

whatever you are weakest in. you don't want the questions you could actually stand a chance to answer to show up on the test and then not be able to answer them. i should have just memorized head/neck/LE nerves. but who knew that was going to be the majority of the test?

i was expecting 550-600 based on 3 practice tests, no way im gonna get that

 

[HoboCommander]

oh my. I have less then a week till my exam. What do you recommend I study? It honestly sounds like at this point, 2-3 extra days of studying is almost not worth it. I feel like just doing a light review and making sure my minds right.

Read Clinical Microbiology and First Aid, do the COMQuest OMM section. I got like 30 questions right just due to last day cramming. Got 630 on COMSAE D and I think I did much better than that on the real exam. Not a fan of resting before exam day. I studied even the morning right before the exam, and was not at all tired after the "long" exam.

 

[Atom bum]

Just got back. That was a horrendous exam. The NBOME should be ashamed at themselves for this pitiful excuse of a test. Everything about it is so poorly made. The questions are vague, the topics are out of nowhere, the interface is disgusting (the strikeout and highlight features are unbelievably useless). I took the USMLE on Monday and I can honestly say that the COMLEX should be eliminated as an exam. Almost every question felt like it was just a vague set of symptoms

I had a stem that HAD NO QUESTION. It was just a chart of data BUT IT DIDN'T ASK ME ANYTHING. WHAT THE ****? Does anyone even proof read this garbage? I wasted so much time re-reading trying figure out what the hell I was being asked.

I wouldn't be surprised if I failed that PoS

Just took usmle today. Couldn't agree more about the test interface. Also I much prefer the way they setup breaks on usmle. I had to pee for four hours in the morning section of the comlex, usmle I just took a bunch of little breaks, it was so much better.

Questions were difficult, but they were understandable and I didn't run across as many topics that I have never seen before.

I feel like I failed the comlex and passed usmle.

 

[traitorman]

i echo what other posters have said about today's exam. having read about prior test experiences, I went through lower/upper extremity anatomy using usmle road map and it probably helped on only 2 out of a million anatomy questions lol.

maybe I didn't study it as well as I should have, but the problem with boards is that you don't know what you don't know until you get a question on it asked in some weird vague way. another month of studying wouldn't have helped because I wouldn't be studying things I feel I already know.

OPP: I had a bunch of levels and a few chapmans points. A good portion, however, were weird OPP questions I haven't encountered in Comquest, combank, and my school notes. I used savarese as well, but I didn't do the questions in the back so I'm not sure if those would help or not. They'll ask a question about a simple OPP concept/technique we're all familiar with but the answer choices would be all convoluted and make no sense. You can probably figure it out, but the time it takes to do so definitely eats into your time.

Micro: some micro was straight forward and then there were bugs/tests I never heard of. I also had images on mine which I felt I needed to know in order to answer the question.

I felt the rest of the exam was pretty balanced in all the subjects. Neuro and OB did not feel heavy on my exam at all.

as someone stated on the USMLE experience thread, you'll be going with your intuition A LOT.

 

[wvsom2015]

i echo what other posters have said about today's exam. having read about prior test experiences, I went through lower/upper extremity anatomy using usmle road map and it probably helped on only 2 out of a million anatomy questions lol.

maybe I didn't study it as well as I should have, but the problem with boards is that you don't know what you don't know until you get a question on it asked in some weird vague way. another month of studying wouldn't have helped because I wouldn't be studying things I feel I already know.

OPP: I had a bunch of levels and a few chapmans points. A good portion, however, were weird OPP questions I haven't encountered in Comquest, combank, and my school notes. I used savarese as well, but I didn't do the questions in the back so I'm not sure if those would help or not. They'll ask a question about a simple OPP concept/technique we're all familiar with but the answer choices would be all convoluted and make no sense. You can probably figure it out, but the time it takes to do so definitely eats into your time.

Micro: some micro was straight forward and then there were bugs/tests I never heard of. I also had images on mine which I felt I needed to know in order to answer the question.

I felt the rest of the exam was pretty balanced in all the subjects. Neuro and OB did not feel heavy on my exam at all.

as someone stated on the USMLE experience thread, you'll be going with your intuition A LOT.

How does everyone else feel about todays exam? as in the 6/21?

I felt like it was pretty balanced, micro was heavy of course...OPP as well but the rest of the systems were pretty balanced...the micro is odd though, i went in fully prepared knew the whole first aid Micro and I got tons of bioterrorism/zoonotics.... I would say I had about 7 questions on bioterrorism/zoonotics and ZERO worms.

Very little biostats, biochem, and genetics. I had a lot of back anatomy muscles/lower extremity basics/ and UE kind of lesions etc. Honestly for anatomy, if you know the big muscles at the end Savarese you should be ok. OPP i had few sacrums, cranial questions, ribs, trigger points etc. everything from savarese. The cardio physio is TOUGH felt like Know some special tests etc. for testing IT band/iliopsoas etc.

Overall it wasn't too suprisingly because I was warned a lot, I thought it was pretty balanced and covered mostly comquest/FA/Savarese/Uworld material. Of course their were some crazy ethics and couple things out of the left field...but I'm hoping the curve/experimental questions helps with those.

 

[josephmedman]

Deleted Due To CertaIn Haters On ThiS Forum. Pm Me If U Guy Need Anything.

 

[kedrin]

I took the test this past week and compared to my step 1 it was a joke for the most part. I got a lot more chapmans points than expected and I got more bioterrorism questions than normal micro questions.

The test was a ******ed quite honestly and I think we should all feel ashamed that this is the quality standard in which DOs are held to. Poorly made test with irrelevant material being tested. Sounds like all of the key jingling OMM professors came up with the majority of this test.

 

[aidama]

How does everyone else feel about todays exam? as in the 6/21?

I felt like it was pretty balanced, micro was heavy of course...OPP as well but the rest of the systems were pretty balanced...the micro is odd though, i went in fully prepared knew the whole first aid Micro and I got tons of bioterrorism/zoonotics.... I would say I had about 7 questions on bioterrorism/zoonotics and ZERO worms.

Very little biostats, biochem, and genetics. I had a lot of back anatomy muscles/lower extremity basics/ and UE kind of lesions etc. Honestly for anatomy, if you know the big muscles at the end Savarese you should be ok. OPP i had few sacrums, cranial questions, ribs, trigger points etc. everything from savarese. The cardio physio is TOUGH felt like Know some special tests etc. for testing IT band/iliopsoas etc.

Overall it wasn't too suprisingly because I was warned a lot, I thought it was pretty balanced and covered mostly comquest/FA/Savarese/Uworld material. Of course their were some crazy ethics and couple things out of the left field...but I'm hoping the curve/experimental questions helps with those.

I didn't think it was micro heavy, but that could be because I am good at micro. I had no sacrum questions. If you're heavy on anatomy lesions and completely leave out sections of FA, it's not a balanced test.

 

[Student DO c]

..

 

[HoboCommander]

Is BRS anatomy a good idea considering all this talk about how much anatomy is on it?

That book has way too much low-yield information, but the questions at the end of each chapter are good, and there are pictures. I would do the questions and look at the pictures but not read the chapters.

 

[wrigley09]

I had a stem that HAD NO QUESTION. It was just a chart of data BUT IT DIDN'T ASK ME ANYTHING. WHAT THE ****? Does anyone even proof read this garbage? I wasted so much time re-reading trying figure out what the hell I was being asked.

Lol I had that question. I literally sat there for at least 3 mins searching the stem for a question because it was late in my test and I figured I was just tired and missing it. I have no idea how that actually made it into the actual exam. OH and I was pissed because it looked like it would have been one of the few questions I'd actually get right. Jerks.

 

[Sloo0]

Is it true that everyone who takes the exam whether USMLE or COMLEX gets a diff version even if they take it on the same day/same testing center?

 

[as90]

Sorry, I know I said that I would not be checking this anymore, but for those that read the hy neuro or the micro made simple, are there any high yield parts that you think are absolute must? Its very impractical for me to do everything at this point.

I know this is a vague/lazy question, but just want to economize what little time I have left.

 

[tobeone]

For those of you who took the test, were there any pros or cons of going in early to take the test (maybe being a lone for the beginning of the exam since no one is there) or was it better to just go in when you were scheduled to?

Should I go in early? Or should I just go in at my scheduled time? I'd rather have the least amount of distractions but I feel like since there are people there for different exams it really won't matter but just wondering! Thanks!

 

[Cranial ALLDAY]

The pre/post freak-out on this thread is too thick. Having taken both USMLE (more than month ago) and Comlex recently, you do yourself no favor worrying about what person's A test was in comparison to person's B. Technically, you are not suppose to be sharing test content anyways based on the agreement you made with NBOME on test day. I trusted my prep and am letting the cards fall where they may, which for USMLE fell pretty darn well.

Keep a level head and get solid rest that last week heading into comlex. Trust your preparation and swing for the fence on test day. I made sure that I got a minimum of 8 hours of sleep 2-3 days out. It makes a difference along with a level head. The adrenaline will be present enough on test day. You don't need to drain your mental and physical energy reserves via freakout. This test is doable for the consistent and level-headed.

Time to go back to mommy's teet

 

[kedrin]

Just trying to help folks stay calm. We're all on the same team and are called to conduct ourselves in a professional manner.

By the way, I am grateful for my mom breastfeeding, and it's great for women and infants from health standpoint, but I'll pass at this point in my life.

Wish you the best, Cranial ALLDAY!

I have a feeling I would absolutely hate you in real life.

 

[josephmedman]

Kedrin, Im With You. So SicK Of TROLL HATERS!

EAGLE, You ArE Welcome Not to post or read if any of our post exam freakouts bother you. I COMPLETELY disagree with you. If I wasn't warned ahead of time of how random it can be, it would have been worse.

Would you like a cookie for mentioning your great usmle performance?

This is a forum, whoever wants to freak out and let their emotions out after an exam, please do so and ignore those who think they can dictate what is not in their control.

The exam was tough, it was weird and whatever happens will happen but there is NOTHING wrong with me or ANY of you saying so after your exam.

This is a forum for us to help eachother out psychologically so please continue to do so.

My recommendation, do not rest except the day before. Go hard. Go for GOLD guys! Ignore the naysayers. Thats all

 

[Sloo0]

Man, I took USMLE on 21st, and my COMLEX is on 26th, I have had 0 motivation whatsoever.

So far ive read Savarese once, done almost all the OMM questions on Combank as well as the Law questions, and thats about it.

Wanting to match to an Allo program makes me care even less about this test.


DEAR LORD!

 

[aidama]

Kedrin, Im With You. So SicK Of TROLL HATERS!

EAGLE, You ArE Welcome Not to post or read if any of our post exam freakouts bother you. I COMPLETELY disagree with you. If I wasn't warned ahead of time of how random it can be, it would have been worse.

Would you like a cookie for mentioning your great usmle performance?

This is a forum, whoever wants to freak out and let their emotions out after an exam, please do so and ignore those who think they can dictate what is not in their control.

The exam was tough, it was weird and whatever happens will happen but there is NOTHING wrong with me or ANY of you saying so after your exam.

This is a forum for us to help eachother out psychologically so please continue to do so.

My recommendation, do not rest except the day before. Go hard. Go for GOLD guys! Ignore the naysayers. Thats all

Don't let someone who says "lol well I studied and my eggs were all in a basket for my exam (possibly implying you didn't study hard enough)" bother you. Just get mad at how stupid the COMLEX is - our exam was distributed heavy towards not-in-first-aid-or-savrese anatomy and other people had exams that were more heavy on OB/GYN, etc. Shrug. I take the USMLE this week and I'll just let that score eventually speak for itself, as it will reflect my actual knowledge and not the horrible test version I took.

 

[josephmedman]

My thoughts are this: If you've done world, for all but OMM, youre in the best shape you "can be".

Whoever says there arent "easier" exams and "harder" exams are lying, however its all curved in the end so if you did Uworld, youll be in good shape.

I did comquest and almost all of combank and hands down the UWorld concepts are what got me whatever I got correct. The other two banks had questions that were similar to comlex "style" but in end, you would have gotten those questions correct without those two banks.

Savarese plus UWorld is really the key to this exam in hind site. Combank and comquest are "feel good" banks that are not representative of the sophostication of the real deal.

Put it this way, I know people who were hitting 40s and low 50s on world almost all the way through, then 70s on the comlex banks. You dont need those banks.

I think what you did gives you the best chance at success. Im just really hoping COMSAE has some type of correlation at this point.

One more thing, Comlex is WAY.more exhausting and draining that usmle so be prepared for that as well.

 

[Postal]

My thoughts are this: If you've done world, for all but OMM, youre in the best shape you "can be".

Whoever says there arent "easier" exams and "harder" exams are lying, however its all curved in the end so if you did Uworld, youll be in good shape.

I did comquest and almost all of combank and hands down the UWorld concepts are what got me whatever I got correct. The other two banks had questions that were similar to comlex "style" but in end, you would have gotten those questions correct without those two banks.

Savarese plus UWorld is really the key to this exam in hind site. Combank and comquest are "feel good" banks that are not representative of the sophostication of the real deal.

Put it this way, I know people who were hitting 40s and low 50s on world almost all the way through, then 70s on the comlex banks. You dont need those banks.

I think what you did gives you the best chance at success. Im just really hoping COMSAE has some type of correlation at this point.

One more thing, Comlex is WAY.more exhausting and draining that usmle so be prepared for that as well.

I don't know if I agree with the advice of not getting a COMLEX specific bank. I would still recommend it because for some of us (me) , it took me a while to adjust to deducing an answer from the COMLEX style stems. Also there's stuff in comquest that Combank that Uworld doesn't test as much but is important for the COMLEX exam(i.e. repro system,women's health)

 

[josephmedman]

I Never Said not to get it, i was simply.commenting on the fact that the poster above was concerned they had not done it.

I think it will help, the more questions, the better, but both combank and quest, the level of difficulty was way easier than my test.

The "easy gimmes" were far fewer than they used to be. Also, if you completely did not read biochem and werent good at cardiac physio on my particular form, you would lose over 100 points.

The repro on world helped me a lot more than the comlex specific banks.

I think the OMT questions helped on combank/quest but.more so than what was in savarese? I dont think so.

The rest of it, in hind site, for me personally, I would have done maxx 500 to 800 questions from comquest/bank. I stopped doing world and started doing those two and i forgot how to think. I don't know if comlex is different now, but they require you to think on the whole WAY MORE thanthe toughest combank/quest questions.

Comlex requires you to think on so many levels. Its not as superficial as people say it is. World does the best job of making you think on all levels.

i finished half of kaplan qbank, half of kaplan comlex qbank, all of world, all of.comquest and 1950/2150 combank questions.
If i could do it all over, i would have done combank/quest first and uworld closer to my exam. Just my opinion though

 

[deleted554740]

I Never Said not to get it, i was simply.commenting on the fact that the poster above was concerned they had not done it.

I think it will help, the more questions, the better, but both combank and quest, the level of difficulty was way easier than my test.

The "easy gimmes" were far fewer than they used to be. Also, if you completely did not read biochem and werent good at cardiac physio on my particular form, you would lose over 100 points.

The repro on world helped me a lot more than the comlex specific banks.

I think the OMT questions helped on combank/quest but.more so than what was in savarese? I dont think so.

The rest of it, in hind site, for me personally, I would have done maxx 500 to 800 questions from comquest/bank. I stopped doing world and started doing those two and i forgot how to think. I don't know if comlex is different now, but they require you to think on the whole WAY MORE thanthe toughest combank/quest questions.

Comlex requires you to think on so many levels. Its not as superficial as people say it is. World does the best job of making you think on all levels.

i finished half of kaplan qbank, half of kaplan comlex qbank, all of world, all of.comquest and 1950/2150 combank questions.
If i could do it all over, i would have done combank/quest first and uworld closer to my exam. Just my opinion though

hey, was the biochem more deficiencies related to clinical scenarios or hard core biochem like what is the rate determining step in this process?

 

[Student DO c]

...

 

[josephmedman]

Hey 99Problems,

I PMed you.

 

[tobeone]

Any recent test takers with advice different than previous posts!?!?! I take mine soon and I just wanted to know if the pattern is the same or anything different!

 

[notoriousbig]

Just took COMLEX Level 1 today.

LOTS of histology slides that you had to interpret to make the diagnosis. A few biochem questions relating to insulin/glycogen (non-diabetic patient takes exogenous insulin). Lots of OMM questions obviously, mostly viscerosomatic reflexes, most of them being of the female reproductive tract (T12-L2, I think). One or two renal questions.

Overall, NOTHING AT ALL like Comquest or Combank, both of which I finished. Questions were very vague. Sometimes, it was hard to tell if the question had to do with a medicine or OMM.

 

[HockeyDr09]

Took the beast on May 29th, waiting for score release is BRUTAL.

 

[Stewey]

I remember taking Level 1 and feeling like I completely bombed it afterwards because it seemed like I had never seen the material before. Even considered starting to study for it again starting the day after I took it because I had no doubt I I failed. I ended up scoring above average and higher than my goal. I think we naturally remember only the tough questions and not the ones we breezed through. Looking back, I wish I had just celebrated being done with it rather than dreading having to check if I had passed every day. Just trust your preparation and celebrate being done. Most of my classmates that felt bad did quite well as well.

 

[Atom bum]

Took the beast on May 29th, waiting for score release is BRUTAL.

II have heard they will be releasing scores up to June 10 by the end of this week.

 

[Raisenbran]

II have heard they will be releasing scores up to June 10 by the end of this week.

Any idea if they will email us when scores are released or do we gotta just keep checking the website?


Edit: Never mind, I found the answer on the NBOME site. "Score reports will be available approximately 4-6 weeks from the date of the examination. Candidates and Deans will be notified by email that their scores are available and can be accessed through the NBOME Client Registration System (CRS)."

Though when the approx. date gets closer I'm probably gonna be obsessively checking the site anyway.

 

[Jeanette66]

What is your source

 

[Atom bum]

What is your source

Classmate called nbome.

 

[Sloo0]

Just took it. Was a joke. I smashed that test. If Anatomy wasn't my weakest subject by light years I don't think I would have missed more than maybe 10 total. Even so I'm expecting a pretty damn high score.

There were questions with blatant buzz words, one even put quotations around the buzzword

One question had a typo, I chuckled out loud.

For all the people above who were saying how difficult it was, I'm very curious to see how they felt about the USMLE assuming they aren't in a hospital right now full of charcoal <shudders>

 

[Atom bum]

Just took it. Was a joke. I smashed that test. If Anatomy wasn't my weakest subject by light years I don't think I would have missed more than maybe 10 total. Even so I'm expecting a pretty damn high score.

There were questions with blatant buzz words, one even put quotations around the buzzword

One question had a typo, I chuckled out loud.

For all the people above who were saying how difficult it was, I'm very curious to see how they felt about the USMLE assuming they aren't in a hospital right now full of charcoal <shudders>

Usmle was a cakewalk compared to comlex.
I had zero buzzwords on my comlex.

 

[Student DO c]

...

 

[Sloo0]

Any recent test takers with advice different than previous posts!?!?! I take mine soon and I just wanted to know if the pattern is the same or anything different!

Usmle was a cakewalk compared to comlex.
I had zero buzzwords on my comlex.

What the hell rofl? The COMLEX is mostly just like Anatomy innervation questions, nerves, Chapman points,mother Micro was incredibly easy, the Pharm was a joke, I only had on single question on Neuro in relatio to a cord lesion, and I barely studied. People were saying there were funky Law/Ethics stuff, none of that.


Took USMLE on 21st, to prepare for COMLEX i read Savarese once, did all the tests in the back, did all the COMBANK anatomy,law ethics, OB and then I breezed through the entirety of FA in half a day.



On the COMLEX I was marking maybe 5 max per section and most of the marks were because I would answer the Q without reading the entire stem so I'd just mark it to recheck at the end.


On the USMLE I was marking like damn near 20 per section and running out of time, etc etc


Are you just trolling me or something? I'd rather have a cake USMLE over COMLEX any day of the god damn year, I don't care about my COMLEX score.


Edit:writing from an iPad with autocorrect etc makes me sound like an IMG