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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[res1cue]

Just logged into my school email and saw scores were released. I'm very surprised at my score. I was quite hard on myself when I walked out of that test (was sure I was below average). Here are my scores:
Comsae B: 495
UW (1.5x through): 71%
COMQUEST (1x all the way through)-79%
Comsae C-580
COMLEX Score: 670

Thank you all who helped out early on in this thread

This post gives me hope for my USMLE, because that is how I felt coming out of it.

In contrast, out of COMLEX, I looked up everything I remembered and couldnt find a single one I got wrong, and we ended up with similar scores.

So for others: trust in the curve

 

[josephmedman]

For the post above, my exam surprisingly wasn't that heavy on micro and micro was either very easy, or the impossible ones you can deduce down to two using logic rather than having read something.

For example if it isnt something you've heard of but they tell you its dimorphic, you'll narrow down to two fungi not in kaplan or mmrs so i actually wouldn't focus on micro. I think you'll get the gimmes and end up guessing on the.impossible ones no matter what. I went HARD on micro and thats my take on it.

Things that you CAN do to.score high is work on neuro. Me and pretty much anyone of my friend that took it within ten days of.me first aid will help you answer less than ten percent of them.

The questions are not vague, they are sophisticated and if you can answer them, i think it can make you stand out from the pack. I don't know how they grade it of course but thats my take on it.

I think everyone gets the gimmes, i mean everyone but the tough ones are rough. I feel world prepared me for most of them but exhaustion definitely kicks in.

As for the free 50 on the website they give you, i had less than five questions that easy on mine.

 

[BFast]

For the post above, my exam surprisingly wasn't that heavy on micro and micro was either very easy, or the impossible ones you can deduce down to two using logic rather than having read something.

For example if it isnt something you've heard of but they tell you its dimorphic, you'll narrow down to two fungi not in kaplan or mmrs so i actually wouldn't focus on micro. I think you'll get the gimmes and end up guessing on the.impossible ones no matter what. I went HARD on micro and thats my take on it.

Things that you CAN do to.score high is work on neuro. Me and pretty much anyone of my friend that took it within ten days of.me first aid will help you answer less than ten percent of them.

The questions are not vague, they are sophisticated and if you can answer them, i think it can make you stand out from the pack. I don't know how they grade it of course but thats my take on it.

I think everyone gets the gimmes, i mean everyone but the tough ones are rough. I feel world prepared me for most of them but exhaustion definitely kicks in.

As for the free 50 on the website they give you, i had less than five questions that easy on mine.

Good point, especially if you're feeling solid on the micro that's already out there

 

[AlmadeDr]

So, I was one of the people who got a score back a few days ago. I'll post some things in case it helps anyone out.

My progression
COMSAE A (3/17): 492
COMSAE B (4/17): 555
COMSAE C (5/19): 565 (<- probably not an accurate assessment, in retrospect)
(took a few nbme tests and the uworld self-evals as well, but I didn't look up those scores for this post)
COMLEX (6/1): 740

I took the USMLE a few days (5/29) before the COMLEX and my primary study strategy was to focus on the USMLE and then reorient myself to question style and some OMM over those 2-3 days I had in between. My primary study tools were Uworld, FirstAid (2012), Rapid Review Biochemistry (w/ assoc. online qbank), and the Kaplan Pharmacology videos. One thing that I think I did that really helped me as I was getting close to the test is I practiced my notes-writing and decision-making skills as I took practice tests. I think this let me take a closer look at the questions that initially gave me a hard time and get better at looking for the clues that would lead to the correct answer.

I had been planning to use Savarese (green book) for OMM review in days between tests, but didn't because I couldn't find it (although I later did when I was moving). I had used it some for our school's final tests, so some of that info stuck For anyone who is wondering what within that book is valuable to review, I'd have to say sacral diagnosis. There's just so many ways that the test questions can complicate that area with different vocab and such. That is in addition to sympathetic/parasympathetic spinal levels and Chapmans points, of course.

My thoughts on differences between USMLE and COMLEX: while I didn't have a problem with timing on the COMLEX (well, I just took a longer than 10 min break and let the clock count), it was just annoying and less flexible compared to the USMLE. Didn't really change up my plan, but if you get nervous by time just ticking away it could be an extra stressor. I wish I had things I could say about what subject were on there and which ones were hard, but the truth is I don't really remember. The COMLEX does seem to want to make sure you know what things are called, whereas the USMLE would like you to know how it is described.

Now I'll just sit back and wait for my USMLE scores to come back...

 

[Atom bum]

So, I was one of the people who got a score back a few days ago. I'll post some things in case it helps anyone out.

My progression
COMSAE A (3/17): 492
COMSAE B (4/17): 555
COMSAE C (5/19): 565 (<- probably not an accurate assessment, in retrospect)
(took a few nbme tests and the uworld self-evals as well, but I didn't look up those scores for this post)
COMLEX (6/1): 740

I took the USMLE a few days (5/29) before the COMLEX and my primary study strategy was to focus on the USMLE and then reorient myself to question style and some OMM over those 2-3 days I had in between. My primary study tools were Uworld, FirstAid (2012), Rapid Review Biochemistry (w/ assoc. online qbank), and the Kaplan Pharmacology videos. One thing that I think I did that really helped me as I was getting close to the test is I practiced my notes-writing and decision-making skills as I took practice tests. I think this let me take a closer look at the questions that initially gave me a hard time and get better at looking for the clues that would lead to the correct answer.

I had been planning to use Savarese (green book) for OMM review in days between tests, but didn't because I couldn't find it (although I later did when I was moving). I had used it some for our school's final tests, so some of that info stuck For anyone who is wondering what within that book is valuable to review, I'd have to say sacral diagnosis. There's just so many ways that the test questions can complicate that area with different vocab and such. That is in addition to sympathetic/parasympathetic spinal levels and Chapmans points, of course.

My thoughts on differences between USMLE and COMLEX: while I didn't have a problem with timing on the COMLEX (well, I just took a longer than 10 min break and let the clock count), it was just annoying and less flexible compared to the USMLE. Didn't really change up my plan, but if you get nervous by time just ticking away it could be an extra stressor. I wish I had things I could say about what subject were on there and which ones were hard, but the truth is I don't really remember. The COMLEX does seem to want to make sure you know what things are called, whereas the USMLE would like you to know how it is described.

Now I'll just sit back and wait for my USMLE scores to come back...

It's times like this that I am glad I like less competitive specialties.

 

[josephmedman]

HOLY CRAP!! Congrats man!! First 700+ post of the year! I had dreams of 700+ up until the day of my exam. Haha. If I can match my COMSAE at this point Ill be ecstatic. I know a few scored lower because of erratic tests and its frustrating. I just feel you have to be close to perfect to score over 650 on the exam and I was definitely not close to perfect.

Anyone hear any round about number of what percent of questions it takes to get 600+ on this thing?

 

[do2015vc]

Anyone take the COMLEX today? any thoughts?

 

[Ary Lall]

HOLY CRAP!! Congrats man!! First 700+ post of the year! I had dreams of 700+ up until the day of my exam. Haha. If I can match my COMSAE at this point Ill be ecstatic. I know a few scored lower because of erratic tests and its frustrating. I just feel you have to be close to perfect to score over 650 on the exam and I was definitely not close to perfect.

Anyone hear any round about number of what percent of questions it takes to get 600+ on this thing?

Anyone know the average of the exam for those that have taken it up till june 11 and received their scores?

 

[res1cue]

Anyone know the average of the exam for those that have taken it up till june 11 and received their scores?

Mine said mean of 500, standard deviation of 81

I think all means will be 500 but the standard deviations may vary a bit

 

[famele00]

I got my scores back today and was pretty happy

uworld 2nd pass: 68%
Comquest-78%
Combank-74%
Comsae C-469 (before study)
Comsae B-549
6/1 Comlex-599

I'm a little annoyed that I was 1 point from a 600, but I'm ok with it. I'm going for IM and I figure I'm competitive just about anywhere. My test was Micro and Repro heavy. I thought most of it was fairly easy compared to the Comsaes and the questions were much less vague than the comsaes. For those studying I found the comquest material to be the most representative of the test but the question style to be closer to combank. I used:

First Aid w/ DIT-did this to get myself to go through FA about 3 months out. It didn't add much to the book that couldn't be found on UW or other sources.

Pathoma-annotated all this info into the FA path sections. I thought it was especially good at pointing out the HY descriptions that are being used right now.

RR Path-I used this for the Biochem/pathophys behind diseases.

Savarese

Kaplan Pharmacology and Treatment Cards-I struggled w/ pharm all through pre-clinical and got my highest score in pharm on the test. I give these the credit.

Hi, could please say which q bank prepares you best for the comlex, or which one would you recommend. comquest or combank?

Thank You

 

[modsar]

Just finished. It was god awful. There were so many questions out of left field. A couple times I even laughed out loud thinking this was some kind of a joke. I finished all of COMBANK and COMQUEST, and felt reasonably prepared. It was nothing like I expected. Hope I passed, but until then....im finally going to the pool!!!

 

[primadonna22274]

Can anyone comment on the competitiveness of a 583 for level 1? I really wanted a 650 but didn't hit it. Strangely I got the exact same score on COMSAE C 3 wk before the real thing and all my 2+ wk of cramming on my weak spots (biochem, physiology) made no difference.
I'm hopeful for combined IM-Psych (allopathic only) and there are only a handful of these programs. I did take USMLE but haven't received a score yet.
Thanks

 

[koan]

If you're applying only ACGME and to a small number of presumably competitive programs, it seems to me that your USMLE score would carry far more weight than COMLEX... but not having gone through the match, I'm making an uneducated assumption. I just can't imagine an allo PD looking at a great USMLE score and then reading too heavily into a (still well above average) corresponding COMLEX score.

 

[SLC]

Can anyone comment on the competitiveness of a 583 for level 1? I really wanted a 650 but didn't hit it. Strangely I got the exact same score on COMSAE C 3 wk before the real thing and all my 2+ wk of cramming on my weak spots (biochem, physiology) made no difference.
I'm hopeful for combined IM-Psych (allopathic only) and there are only a handful of these programs. I did take USMLE but haven't received a score yet.
Thanks

I'm pretty sure that since you took the USMLE, your COMLEX score won't mean a hill of beans to the Allopathic Residencies you apply to.

You just need it to graduate.

 

[josephmedman]

You are one standard deviation above the mean. SOLID! but yeah, for a combined program you need to focus on research and doing things in Psych particularly that make you stand out. I would focus more energy on Psych research than IM research and experience and you can always go in the route of explaining that Internal Medicine bridges the organic aspect of medicine to Psych, but you can't really do that backwards if that makes sense.

Im sure you rocked step 1. In case you didnt get what you expected, take CK early and rock it, and get some niche Psych experience in the next year and youll be golden.

 

[primadonna22274]

Thanks guys. Funny thing is I'm not sure I rocked step 1--my weak scores are biochem and physio, everything else is very strong. I did feel like I had a serious leg up on the clinical medicine aspects since I've been a PA for a long time and those questions felt very intuitive to me. I don't have time for any new research, just pre-med school research and one publication and a couple presentations in PA education and palliative medicine/hospice (which bridges psych & medicine VERY well).

 

[Atom bum]

Thanks guys. Funny thing is I'm not sure I rocked step 1--my weak scores are biochem and physio, everything else is very strong. I did feel like I had a serious leg up on the clinical medicine aspects since I've been a PA for a long time and those questions felt very intuitive to me. I don't have time for any new research, just pre-med school research and one publication and a couple presentations in PA education and palliative medicine/hospice (which bridges psych & medicine VERY well).

So why psych/Im combined? I have been told you just end up doing psych due to the shortage unless you plan on teaching.

 

[churchill19]

Hi, could please say which q bank prepares you best for the comlex, or which one would you recommend. comquest or combank?

Thank You

If you need to learn how to answer comlex style questions (read vague questions that are hard to decipher) combank is more accurate. However, Comquest seemed to have the exact subjects being tested except for some weird neuroanatomy stuff. I personally think Comquest was the most important in boosting my score. If I was only going to buy one, it would probably be comquest.

 

[primadonna22274]

So why psych/Im combined? I have been told you just end up doing psych due to the shortage unless you plan on teaching.

Definitely plan on teaching. I like Geri psych, the more complicated the better...the interplay of complex medical illness and mental illness is fascinating to me. Seeing small improvements is gratifying.

 

[Atom bum]

Grain of salt here... I have heard that the next round of scores won't be released till the week of the 22nd. I really really hope this is incorrect.

Edit: sounds like this is legit. Damn.

 

[sylvanthus]

If you're applying only ACGME and to a small number of presumably competitive programs, it seems to me that your USMLE score would carry far more weight than COMLEX... but not having gone through the match, I'm making an uneducated assumption. I just can't imagine an allo PD looking at a great USMLE score and then reading too heavily into a (still well above average) corresponding COMLEX score.

This is absolutely true. I had PDs ask me if a > 700 comlex was good. Another SDN member with >700 had the same thing asked in interviews.

 

[Tizoc]

Grain of salt here... I have heard that the next round of scores won't be released till the week of the 22nd. I really really hope this is incorrect.

Edit: sounds like this is legit. Damn.

June 12th and after test takers, I feel bad for y'all.

 

[cliffhuxtableDO]

Just finished. It was god awful. There were so many questions out of left field. A couple times I even laughed out loud thinking this was some kind of a joke. I finished all of COMBANK and COMQUEST, and felt reasonably prepared. It was nothing like I expected. Hope I passed, but until then....im finally going to the pool!!!

This is exactly how I felt.

At this point I'm just hoping I passed comlex, and that my usmle score will be what I was shooting for.

 

[preDoGuy24]

Grain of salt here... I have heard that the next round of scores won't be released till the week of the 22nd. I really really hope this is incorrect.

Edit: sounds like this is legit. Damn.

Any source on this? If it's true I'm gonna have to punch myself in the face.

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[Atom bum]

Any source on this? If it's true I'm gonna have to punch myself in the face.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

Source again is people calling Nbome. This time two separate classmates called. Apparently they won't even start grading them till July 22nd.
I really hope they do it sooner, but I'm 90% sure we won't see them till July 24-25.

 

[preDoGuy24]

Source again is people calling Nbome. This time two separate classmates called. Apparently they won't even start grading them till July 22nd.
I really hope they do it sooner, but I'm 90% sure we won't see them till July 24-25.

Classic nbome!

Thanks for the heads up dude. Guess I'll have to play the waiting game for another two weeks after I get my USMLE.

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[dermpathdoc]

NBOME needs vacation too

 

[Atom bum]

NBOME needs vacation too

Sure, but maybe they should wait until after the test taking season?

 

[Dr Dazzle]

What resources did you guys find most useful to prepare for this year's comlex? Were the resources the same as for the usmle? Would you change anything in the way you prepared during the first 2 years?

 

[res1cue]

What resources did you guys find most useful to prepare for this year's comlex? Were the resources the same as for the usmle? Would you change anything in the way you prepared during the first 2 years?

Uworld was by far the most helpful

 

[Tizoc]

And Savarese for OMM. With those two, you'll do decently.

 

[Dr Dazzle]

Uworld was by far the most helpful

What was the difference in the approach for the usmle and comlex? Did most of you take both exams? Was it manageable?

 

[preDoGuy24]

What was the difference in the approach for the usmle and comlex? Did most of you take both exams? Was it manageable?

Literally hundreds of posts on this topic. There should not be a drastic difference in approach...Both exams are manageable, though it is obnoxious. First aid + Uworld should be everyones primary resource. I started with usmlerx + books to fill my gaps (immuno, micro, bchem) + first aid in second semester with pathoma during 1st and 2nd of second year. Ended before my USMLE with Uworld + first aid only, read savarese before comlex and called it good after doing some Comlex specific questions on Combank and Comquest.

If you are only a pre-med you are getting way ahead of yourself, if you are entering first year then I would say worry more about learning the foundation stuff really really well-this will serve you way better than trying to board study early.

 

[eimaise]

What was the difference in the approach for the usmle and comlex? Did most of you take both exams? Was it manageable?

Really didn't take a very different approach for the two. My plan was to study for the USMLE and take the COMLEX a few days later (3 days between the two). I started studying at the beginning of M2 with questions weekly from USMLERx Qbank. Then, in January, I started reading First Aid each day to get through it once (slowly) by April 1.

Then, once my school's dedicated study time began (April 8), I did all of Uworld in about 5 weeks and finished the bank 4 weeks before my exams (For Uworld, I did all timed, random sets of 46 from the beginning. This is extremely wise in my opinion to do this from the beginning, but of course there are other strategies). Went through First Aid again one or two more times during this time of Uworld review.

Started Comquest 8 weeks before my exam and went through it on timed random sets of 50 until I finished it (usually one or two sets a day). Read some of the explanations. But if you've finished UWorld, Comquest will likely be much easier and very redundant (was getting 75% to 90% on most exams). The exception to this are the OMM questions which are pure gold for the COMLEX. I did not use Combank.

Read Savarese once in about 2 weeks slowly during this 10 week study time. Read it a second time in one day the day before COMSAE D (scored 642). Read it a third time the day before my COMLEX (June 21). Did not do any of the questions in the back of Savarese (huge waste of time in my opinion). The ComQuest questions are more than sufficient.

Watched Pathoma videos all the way through 2 full times during the 10 weeks of dedicated study. Pure gold for both the USMLE and COMLEX.

Supplemented all this with only 1 or 2 additional resources (Lippincott MicroCards, BRS Pharm Cards, and BRS Micro Cards).

Walked out of the exam feeling very good. Some confusing questions for sure, but overall, I think my studying prepared me well. I felt that I hit my goal of 600. We'll see in about 2 weeks hopefully. Hope this helps.

 

[Atom bum]

Man you guys had a lot of study time. We finished class in mid may and only had to mid June for the test.

 

[eimaise]

Man you guys had a lot of study time. We finished class in mid may and only had to mid June for the test.

You are right... we were a bit spoiled compared to most with our study period (one reason I was drawn to my school). Some people are using the max amount of independent study time allowed by the school for their COMLEX (15.5 weeks) ... that would just about drive me insane.

For future test takers, if you have only 4 to 6 weeks to study, I wouldn't modify it that much -- UWorld is top priority with First Aid supplementing it, with Pathoma, Comquest, and Savarese as additional supplements.

The best thing that I did was start early by reading first aid slowly from January to April and doing maybe 25 questions a week with it starting in August (UsmleRX). I felt miles ahead of a lot of classmates simply because of this extra work early on. And it only took about 3 to 5 hours a week of extra study time on top of our course work.

 

[preDoGuy24]

Man you guys had a lot of study time. We finished class in mid may and only had to mid June for the test.

Our school gives you less than 2 weeks, unless your vacation is the first rotation (June) or you opt into a Board Review course and put yourself off rotation schedule...sucks a lot.

 

[Melkor]

I just took the USMLE and am taking the COMLEX on Monday. I haven't gone over anything omm related since mid February so I plan on going through all of savarese today and then was going to spend tomorrow going over only opp questions. The thing is I only have the kaplan qbank for opp questions (only bought uworld and school gave us kaplan). Any of you who have done the kaplan ones and/or the combank/comquest banks care to comment on if kaplan would be good enough. I would rather not buy another qbank just for 1 days worth of questions but if kaplans are just trash then I guess I would.

In general I'm not too worried about omm-I've got the basics down pretty well (sacrum/cranial/extremities/spine) and wouldn't mind missing the 650+ type of omm questions but don't want to miss the gimmes.

Thanks.

 

[Dr Dazzle]

Literally hundreds of posts on this topic. There should not be a drastic difference in approach...Both exams are manageable, though it is obnoxious. First aid + Uworld should be everyones primary resource. I started with usmlerx + books to fill my gaps (immuno, micro, bchem) + first aid in second semester with pathoma during 1st and 2nd of second year. Ended before my USMLE with Uworld + first aid only, read savarese before comlex and called it good after doing some Comlex specific questions on Combank and Comquest.

If you are only a pre-med you are getting way ahead of yourself, if you are entering first year then I would say worry more about learning the foundation stuff really really well-this will serve you way better than trying to board study early.

Thanks for the replies! As far as learning the material well during the first 2 years, should the goal be to just do well on school exams? Or, do you guys recommend covering review books or specific resources with classes?

 

[preDoGuy24]

Thanks for the replies! As far as learning the material well during the first 2 years, should the goal be to just do well on school exams? Or, do you guys recommend covering review books or specific resources with classes?

Depends on your program, I used review books from Day 1 and was in the top half of my class from the start. Pathoma is great, so is Goljan RR, probably more second year than 1st though. Your classes will go above and beyond the review books, I would focus on learning the material well for the 1st year and a half (with review books or not doesnt matter) Buy the new first aid in your second semester of second year and start in with more of a board focus then...progressing more and more towards boards the closer you get to april(ish). Look at qbanks etc and decide what you want to go with. I recommend USMLErx 1st, then Uworld, then a comlex specific bank.

Board studying is a Marathon not a sprint. Sooo many guides out there you can form one to fit your learning style.

 

[as90]

Wow, you guys are lucky to get so much time off for Step 1. I wish our school would have started earlier and ended earlier.

Anyhow, glad that COMLEX is done, can't wait for my score. After taking it, I have to say that it was far simpler than Uworld.

I'm just curious, are any of you guys planning on still sitting for USMLE step 1 during rotations? As much as I feel if I had time to take one more stab at first aid, I am afraid I would loose more of the minutia than I would gain.

 

[JuliaJulia]

For those that tested June 11th-- did you get better or worse than your practice tests?

 

[shibby1111]

One question:

There probably exists discussion on this topic within the thousands of posts on this thread which would be inconvenient to sift through for an hour. I am at amazon.com checkout. I need to eliminate 1 book from my cart to stay below my spending limit and I have two books to choose from for elimination. Which should I remove from my cart and which should I keep?

FA for COMLEX or Savarese OMT Review?

Thanks.

 

[preDoGuy24]

One question:

There probably exists discussion on this topic within the thousands of posts on this thread which would be inconvenient to sift through for an hour. I am at amazon.com checkout. I need to eliminate 1 book from my cart to stay below my spending limit and I have two books to choose from for elimination. Which should I remove from my cart and which should I keep?

FA for COMLEX or Savarese OMT Review?

Thanks.

No one uses FA for comlex, get savarese.

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[res1cue]

One question:

There probably exists discussion on this topic within the thousands of posts on this thread which would be inconvenient to sift through for an hour. I am at amazon.com checkout. I need to eliminate 1 book from my cart to stay below my spending limit and I have two books to choose from for elimination. Which should I remove from my cart and which should I keep?

FA for COMLEX or Savarese OMT Review?

Thanks.

Didn't even know FA for COMLEX even existed, did fine without it

Savarese is all you need

 

[eimaise]

Didn't even know FA for COMLEX even existed, did fine without it

Savarese is all you need

Oh yes, it exists. Flipped through my school's copy a few months back. There are two pages devoted to the key dates in DO history, such as when AT Still "flung the flag" of osteopathy to the wind (1874) and when the American school of osteopathy first opened (Kirksville - 1892). Super high yield.

 

[thegame11]

Oh yes, it exists. Flipped through my school's copy a few months back. There are two pages devoted to the key dates in DO history, such as when AT Still "flung the flag" of osteopathy to the wind (1874) and when the American school of osteopathy first opened (Kirksville - 1892). Super high yield.

fyi: the dates have showed up on exams before.

 

[preDoGuy24]

fyi: the dates have showed up on exams before.

I bet they have, I refused to learn them during 1st semester MS1 and still refuse to learn them now.

 

[res1cue]

Oh yes, it exists. Flipped through my school's copy a few months back. There are two pages devoted to the key dates in DO history, such as when AT Still "flung the flag" of osteopathy to the wind (1874) and when the American school of osteopathy first opened (Kirksville - 1892). Super high yield.

Lol, it was high yield for my schools OMM tests

 

[Tizoc]

Same here.