Official 2014 COMLEX 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[YANKEES88]

Haven't seen one posted yet so I figured I'd get one started.
Feel free to share your experiences, study plans, thoughts, etc.

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[reverieinvictus]

Taking both USMLE and COMLEX in the last week of May. I've gone through UWorld and atm I'm trying to get through COMBANK. Here's what I got so far:

UWorld (100% completed): 80%
COMBANK (20% done): 85% so far
NBME form 7 (8.5 weeks out): 540 raw (237 step 1 score equivalent)-->still hadn't reviewed first year stuff at this point and I was completely garbage at behavioral science/psych
UWSA1 (6.5 weeks out): 247- around 75% correct (don't remember exactly cuz it expired)
NBME form 11 (4.5 weeks out): 660 raw (262 step 1 equivalent)

 

[Brain Bucket]

bump

 

[YANKEES88]

very impressive so far reverieinvictus. Keep up the good work.

here's where I am at:

Combank (100% complete): 67%
UWorld (~30% complete): 60%

Currently going through UWorld/FA.

Taking COMLEX mid June and USMLE a couple weeks after.

 

[DOinIt]

Does anybody recommend doing the COMSAE exams? My school provides one of them but is it recommended to do the others?

 

[Ionian]

What's a complex

 

[DOinIt]

What's a complex

COMLEX = Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination

 

[Brain Bucket]

COMLEX = Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination

He was being facetious.

Also, bump.

 

[YANKEES88]

Does anybody recommend doing the COMSAE exams? My school provides one of them but is it recommended to do the others?

Take them all. It can only help in the end.

 

[YANKEES88]

Bump

 

[Fay8]

Hi guys,

Do you know if the COMLEX 1 has ever taken >6 weeks to be released? From previous years, it seemed like it was always a max of 6 weeks, but I'm curious what others think. I'm trying to maximize my study time and still receive my scores by August 1 which is roughly when rotations start. Our school requires us to pass COMLEX prior to rotations.

This is going to be a fun summer

 

[YANKEES88]

Hi guys,

Do you know if the COMLEX 1 has ever taken >6 weeks to be released? From previous years, it seemed like it was always a max of 6 weeks, but I'm curious what others think. I'm trying to maximize my study time and still receive my scores by August 1 which is roughly when rotations start. Our school requires us to pass COMLEX prior to rotations.

This is going to be a fun summer

I'm almost certain all scores come back within 6 weeks. We have the same policy at my school and the last date to take COMLEX is roughly 6 weeks before rotations begin.

 

[Fay8]

Does anyone know of a source or have a list of the most commonly tested Biochem topics on COMLEX?

 

[Petypet]

Does anyone know of a source or have a list of the most commonly tested Biochem topics on COMLEX?

chapman's point for glycolysis.

 

[Blowflu]

Just took COMSAE Phase 1, Form A....and got a 488...

Wow. I've read that COMSAE sucks, but I'm very concerned with that result. I've got the following under my belt so far:

COMBANK - 66% First time through, 75% currently with >700 questions done
UWorld = 65%, only a few hundred questions left
Pathoma and FirstAid read, going back through both on areas I know I'm lacking in.

I'm not expecting godly grades, but I'm expecting to hit the 500's here and a 488 is pretty bad. Is this where I should be? Or is it just COMSAE being a poor indication of how I'll do on test day?

 

[Apoplexy__]

Just took COMSAE Phase 1, Form A....and got a 488...

Wow. I've read that COMSAE sucks, but I'm very concerned with that result. I've got the following under my belt so far:

COMBANK - 66% First time through, 75% currently with >700 questions done
UWorld = 65%, only a few hundred questions left
Pathoma and FirstAid read, going back through both on areas I know I'm lacking in.

I'm not expecting godly grades, but I'm expecting to hit the 500's here and a 488 is pretty bad. Is this where I should be? Or is it just COMSAE being a poor indication of how I'll do on test day?

Take an NBME or a UWSA if you think it's the COMSAE's fault. Even if you're not taking the USMLE, you can somewhat translate your score to a COMLEX equivalent. In other words, you can alleviate your fears if you get 230+ on an NBME/UWSA, or have them confirmed if you're <210.

 

[001100010010011]

Just took COMSAE Phase 1, Form A....and got a 488...

Wow. I've read that COMSAE sucks, but I'm very concerned with that result. I've got the following under my belt so far:

COMBANK - 66% First time through, 75% currently with >700 questions done
UWorld = 65%, only a few hundred questions left
Pathoma and FirstAid read, going back through both on areas I know I'm lacking in.

I'm not expecting godly grades, but I'm expecting to hit the 500's here and a 488 is pretty bad. Is this where I should be? Or is it just COMSAE being a poor indication of how I'll do on test day?

There was a thread on this a while ago. I've heard anecdotally that the COMSAE underestimated their true score. I've also seen people on SDN say that it was pretty accurate--not sure where everyone was in their prep, though.

 

[Blowflu]

There was a thread on this a while ago. I've heard anecdotally that the COMSAE underestimated their true score. I've also seen people on SDN say that it was pretty accurate--not sure where everyone was in their prep, though.

The best resources I've found correlating COMSAE to COMLEX are from people on SDN, and I feel slightly more relieved to see that the B and C forms people seem to do much better on. The overall consensus seems to show people do a little to a lot better from COMSAE to COMLEX...which I'm hoping I fall into. I'll see about taking a NBME form too.

 

[chemicupcake]

Hey guys,
I'm about three weeks out from my COMLEX and just took COMSAE 1a and got a 472. Now I know that I have a ton of little facts that I need to cram into my head before the actual exam, but I was wondering if this is a terrible sign for me or not. I was pretty confident when I was taking the test and finished with a little under an hour to spare. Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[THH]

Hey guys,
I'm about three weeks out from my COMLEX and just took COMSAE 1a and got a 472. Now I know that I have a ton of little facts that I need to cram into my head before the actual exam, but I was wondering if this is a terrible sign for me or not. I was pretty confident when I was taking the test and finished with a little under an hour to spare. Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated!

What's your goal? Three weeks is tons of time.

 

[chemicupcake]

My goal is a mid 500. I have not studied OMT much yet - so I am reading Savarese this week (I am not fantastic with cranial at all). I know my weak points for sure right now, but I feel like it's such a shot in the dark. 75% done with Uworld, averaging 62% and 50% done with Combank averaging 65%. I'm just ready to be DONE!

 

[Blowflu]

Whelp, this sucks.

COMBANK - 77% currently with over half the bank done, 2nd run (first round 66%)
UWorld - 65%, all done
Pathoma/First Aid for prep

COMSAE 1A - 488
COMSAE 1B - 505

I guess I'll be lucky to get anything over 500 at this point. Scheduled for COMLEX next week. Is it worth taking form C at this point? I guess I should have focused on a different bank for COMLEX prep, COMBANK has really inflated where I thought I'd score on the exam :/

 

[chemicupcake]

Whelp, this sucks.

COMBANK - 77% currently with over half the bank done, 2nd run (first round 66%)
UWorld - 65%, all done
Pathoma/First Aid for prep

COMSAE 1A - 488
COMSAE 1B - 505

I guess I'll be lucky to get anything over 500 at this point. Scheduled for COMLEX next week. Is it worth taking form C at this point? I guess I should have focused on a different bank for COMLEX prep, COMBANK has really inflated where I thought I'd score on the exam :/

Honestly, 65% on UWorld and 66% on COMBANK is pretty damn good. As far as what I have been told by older peers, 70% on UWorld guarantees you about a 235+ unless something crazy happens on exam day. I also found from friends that Comsae 1a did underestimate their scores. I think you obviously have a strong foundation to be getting those kind of scores and would be surprised if you didn't break 500 on the exam. Comsae 1c is supposed to be the most difficult, but maybe it will be a better exam for you. I don't think it can hurt to take it. Keep at it!

 

[Dr Dazzle]

Honestly, 65% on UWorld and 66% on COMBANK is pretty damn good. As far as what I have been told by older peers, 70% on UWorld guarantees you about a 235+ unless something crazy happens on exam day. I also found from friends that Comsae 1a did underestimate their scores. I think you obviously have a strong foundation to be getting those kind of scores and would be surprised if you didn't break 500 on the exam. Comsae 1c is supposed to be the most difficult, but maybe it will be a better exam for you. I don't think it can hurt to take it. Keep at it!

How do people score in the 700s? Sounds insane. Is there even a way to prepare to score that for comlex? Comlex seems so hit or miss.

 

[NYLON]

I'm at 61% on UW and think that I'm on the right track from what I've read. I'm wondering if anybody has score correlations with my current 67% on COMQUEST. I emailed them and they said that is above average on the COMLEX. Can anybody share their COMLEX vs. COMQUEST score? Thanks!

 

[THH]

I would be interested to see the correlation between Uworld first pass % to COMLEX score. Somehow I wouldn't be surprised at all if Uworld had a better correlation/predictive value than the dedicated COMLEX qbanks.

 

[NMDO]

UWORLD timed, random 46 question blocks: 70% average (10% not completed)
COMBANK: 72% average (only completed 200 questions, haven't touched it for a while though, waiting to get through UWORLD)

UWSA1 (4/2): 219
COMSAE A (3/21): 492
COMSAE B (5/23): 568

COMLEX on June 17

Hoping to get around 650, will be happy over 600 though

EDIT: UWSA 2 (5/26): 248

 

[DOinIt]

What does everyone think of the tests in the back of Savarese? Are they similar to Comlex style?

 

[reverieinvictus]

Taking both USMLE and COMLEX in the last week of May. I've gone through UWorld and atm I'm trying to get through COMBANK. Here's what I got so far:

UWorld (100% completed): 80%
COMBANK (20% done): 85% so far
NBME form 7 (8.5 weeks out): 540 raw (237 step 1 score equivalent)-->still hadn't reviewed first year stuff at this point and I was completely garbage at behavioral science/psych
UWSA1 (6.5 weeks out): 247- around 75% correct (don't remember exactly cuz it expired)
NBME form 11 (4.5 weeks out): 660 raw (262 step 1 equivalent)

Little bit of an update. I finished combank with 85%, did NBME 16 and got 245 and took the USMLE last week. Thought it was ridiculously hard. I'm taking the COMLEX on Wednesday. I did COMSAE B a couple of weeks ago and got 730. I also did COMSAE C earlier today and got 725. I'm ecstatic with the COMSAE scores and I hope they aren't overpredicting my grade.

 

[Dharma]

What does everyone think of the tests in the back of Savarese? Are they similar to Comlex style?

bump this. i was just thinking the same thing. worth the time?

 

[THH]

Take an NBME or a UWSA if you think it's the COMSAE's fault. Even if you're not taking the USMLE, you can somewhat translate your score to a COMLEX equivalent. In other words, you can alleviate your fears if you get 230+ on an NBME/UWSA, or have them confirmed if you're <210.

You better do a COMLEX writeup post-exam, Kirby, your USMLE one was stellar.

 

[Fox800]

Is anyone else not doing any COMSAEs at all? My plan all along was to go balls to the wall for the USMLE, and cram OMM stuff for two days after that then take the COMLEX. Am I crazy? I've been planning to only apply to ACGME residencies from the start (not that's going to matter much when the merger happens).

Tl;dr: 3 weeks out from USMLE & COMLEX, no COMLEX/OMM specific preparation. 239 on yesterday's NBME. Hoping for the best.

 

[sharkbaitwhohaha]

Is anyone else not doing any COMSAEs at all? My plan all along was to go balls to the wall for the USMLE, and cram OMM stuff for two days after that then take the COMLEX. Am I crazy? I've been planning to only apply to ACGME residencies from the start (not that's going to matter much when the merger happens).

Tl;dr: 3 weeks out from USMLE & COMLEX, no COMLEX/OMM specific preparation. 239 on yesterday's NBME. Hoping for the best.

I'm planning on doing this too. Not really sure if it's good/bad idea. Science is science and all....but tests can be very different. (especially if COMLEX is far more ambiguous than USMLE).
Regardless, i'm planning on reviewing bugs/drugs and all OMM, and some COMBANK questions and maybe a COMSAE during the 4 days in between.

Good or bad plan?

 

[THH]

Is anyone else not doing any COMSAEs at all? My plan all along was to go balls to the wall for the USMLE, and cram OMM stuff for two days after that then take the COMLEX. Am I crazy? I've been planning to only apply to ACGME residencies from the start (not that's going to matter much when the merger happens).

Tl;dr: 3 weeks out from USMLE & COMLEX, no COMLEX/OMM specific preparation. 239 on yesterday's NBME. Hoping for the best.

This is standard operating procedure. Don't stress. Most people do 4-7 days instead of 2, but still. I will probably take one COMSAE just to see where I stand and get comfortable with the COMLEX style at some point in those days though.

 

[THH]

A lot of people last year reported very weird questions especially on super obscure anatomy, I would be interested to hear from 2014'ers if anyone has already taken it.

 

[Dharma]

I'm planning on doing this too. Not really sure if it's good/bad idea. Science is science and all....but tests can be very different. (especially if COMLEX is far more ambiguous than USMLE).
Regardless, i'm planning on reviewing bugs/drugs and all OMM, and some COMBANK questions and maybe a COMSAE during the 4 days in between.

Good or bad plan?

I say mix in some COMBANK every few days now just to practice deciphering these cryptic questions of WTFness that seems to litter the fields of tests of the COM variety. COMplete $#!+ but prob best to become acquainted with their DarkSide ways. "Goooooooood."

 

[Apoplexy__]

Is anyone else not doing any COMSAEs at all? My plan all along was to go balls to the wall for the USMLE, and cram OMM stuff for two days after that then take the COMLEX. Am I crazy? I've been planning to only apply to ACGME residencies from the start (not that's going to matter much when the merger happens).

Tl;dr: 3 weeks out from USMLE & COMLEX, no COMLEX/OMM specific preparation. 239 on yesterday's NBME. Hoping for the best.

This is what I'm in the middle of doing, and I'll let you know how it goes.

Just took COMSAE C today...felt like a huge waste of time and money. I thought you'd be able to see which questions you got wrong and review them...doesn't look like it. It basically just told me, yep, you're right around where your NBME equivalents are -- and nope, you don't suck at OMM. If you've taken >4 NBME's and you can calm down your internal neurotocism, I'd say you're fine skipping the COMSAE's between USMLE and COMLEX.

As an aside: if the COMLEX is anything like that, then I should just stop studying now. I'm talking about how >1/3 of the test is 1-step, in-your-sleep recall, with just enough questions that are misleading/poorly written to balance it out. I'm not going to change anything in days of studying non-OMM when I have months behind me, and studying more OMM sounds nausea-invoking.

My OMM knowledge feels like a sigmoidal Hgb-O2 curve -- I definitely started at the bottom horizontal, but it only took 1.5 days to climb the vertical. Now I still have plenty of space to work on, but I don't have the willpower to...

 

[Petypet]

This is what I'm in the middle of doing, and I'll let you know how it goes.

Just took COMSAE C today...felt like a huge waste of time and money. I thought you'd be able to see which questions you got wrong and review them...doesn't look like it. It basically just told me, yep, you're right around where your NBME equivalents are -- and nope, you don't suck at OMM. If you've taken >4 NBME's and you can calm down your internal neurotocism, I'd say you're fine skipping the COMSAE's between USMLE and COMLEX.

As an aside: if the COMLEX is anything like that, then I should just stop studying now. I'm talking about how >1/3 of the test is 1-step, in-your-sleep recall, with just enough questions that are misleading/poorly written to balance it out. I'm not going to change anything in days of studying non-OMM when I have months behind me, and studying more OMM sounds nausea-invoking.

My OMM knowledge feels like a sigmoidal Hgb-O2 curve -- I definitely started at the bottom horizontal, but it only took 1.5 days to climb the vertical. Now I still have plenty of space to work on, but I don't have the willpower to...

Lol, I felt the same way. However, I was pretty pissed off that they still give such crappy practice exam with outdated questions. Really makes me wonder about the leadership of our profession.

 

[Fox800]

Lol, I felt the same way. However, I was pretty pissed off that they still give such crappy practice exam with outdated questions. Really makes me wonder about the leadership of our profession.

The smart thing to do would be to eliminate COMLEX Level 1 and add OMM questions to the USMLE Step 1 for DO students (or an extra section), but nope. That would be giving up too much power and money.

 

[Dr Dazzle]

So would you guys say it isn't worth it to do comquest or combank if we're planning to do uworld and perhaps another qbank for usmle +NBMEs?

Earlier people had said how comlex has a different emphasis tending to focus more on micro and pharm? What y'all think?

 

[Petypet]

The smart thing to do would be to eliminate COMLEX Level 1 and add OMM questions to the USMLE Step 1 for DO students (or an extra section), but nope. That would be giving up too much power and money.

Ditch the OMM crap and have it be on our step 2 practical exam. Isn't that the important thing anyway, can we treat patients with some sort of competence. No one in their right mind needs to use chapman's points or the viscero-somato-viscero-neuro reflex.

So would you guys say it isn't worth it to do comquest or combank if we're planning to do uworld and perhaps another qbank for usmle +NBMEs?

Earlier people had said how comlex has a different emphasis tending to focus more on micro and pharm? What y'all think?

Its worth it, if for nothing else practice learning the ambiguity of how questions are asked.

 

[Fox800]

So would you guys say it isn't worth it to do comquest or combank if we're planning to do uworld and perhaps another qbank for usmle +NBMEs?

Earlier people had said how comlex has a different emphasis tending to focus more on micro and pharm? What y'all think?

My school bought us COMBANK, I'm only going to do the OMM-specific questions before COMLEX. I think there's only 180-190 of them. That + Savarese + tables of Chapman's and viscerosomatic reflexes = should be good (I hope).

 

[Blowflu]

Just took the COMLEX today...

1 - Anatomy was mostly upper extremity stuff, and the rest was pretty easy (aka - where does the direct hernia go...). I've had other people tell me they had all kinds of lower extremity anatomy which I guess I dodged.

2 - Micro was actually not as bad as I've heard. There weren't a whole lot of random bugs, and they didn't really ask me to categorize anything (a weakness of mine, specifically for viruses).

3 - The OB had a few random questions, and overall the question banks are probably the best way to try and prepare for them.

4 - Lots of red blood cell abnormalities and clotting issues on my form.

5 - Neuro went fine, nothing too specific. FirstAid should cover most of what I saw.

6 - OPP was a ton of levels, some diagnosis, Sacral questions, a few cranial, and some principles. I crushed that class and it's my best COMBANK section by far, so I'm pretty confident OMM will help my score. They had a few really random questions though - I never learned about a trigger point in the neck or lower leg counterstrain points. If they were in Sarvesae, I must have missed them.

General Advice - They might have audio/video exhibits for certain sections. Do yourself a favor - mark them, put a random answer down, and save them for last. I found that I saved plenty of time that way. Also, be aware that the "break" they give you between the 2nd/3rd sections and the 6th/7th sections will deduct from your 4 hour time limit (of the two halves of the exam). Just power through it.


I'm not really sure how to feel about the exam to be honest. The first half felt easy, the second half was much harder. Plus, there were SO many questions where the answer was on the tip of my tongue...but I wasn't sure. I spent the last few days before COMLEX finishing COMBANK and reviewing FirstAid. I also took COMSAE C 2 days ago and got my best score by far on any of those. I just hope that all those increasing scores actually convert to a decent COMLEX. Time to expect the worse, but hope for the best.

 

[THH]

If you did solid on your COMSAE (which typically underpredicts), you probably did great on COMLEX.

 

[Rhinobarnacle]

How did the Combank vs. Comquest vs Real Comlex question style compare? Was one more difficult, easier, the same?

 

[Rhinobarnacle]

Just took the COMLEX today...

1 - Anatomy was mostly upper extremity stuff, and the rest was pretty easy (aka - where does the direct hernia go...). I've had other people tell me they had all kinds of lower extremity anatomy which I guess I dodged.

2 - Micro was actually not as bad as I've heard. There weren't a whole lot of random bugs, and they didn't really ask me to categorize anything (a weakness of mine, specifically for viruses).

3 - The OB had a few random questions, and overall the question banks are probably the best way to try and prepare for them.

4 - Lots of red blood cell abnormalities and clotting issues on my form.

5 - Neuro went fine, nothing too specific. FirstAid should cover most of what I saw.

6 - OPP was a ton of levels, some diagnosis, Sacral questions, a few cranial, and some principles. I crushed that class and it's my best COMBANK section by far, so I'm pretty confident OMM will help my score. They had a few really random questions though - I never learned about a trigger point in the neck or lower leg counterstrain points. If they were in Sarvesae, I must have missed them.

General Advice - They might have audio/video exhibits for certain sections. Do yourself a favor - mark them, put a random answer down, and save them for last. I found that I saved plenty of time that way. Also, be aware that the "break" they give you between the 2nd/3rd sections and the 6th/7th sections will deduct from your 4 hour time limit (of the two halves of the exam). Just power through it.


I'm not really sure how to feel about the exam to be honest. The first half felt easy, the second half was much harder. Plus, there were SO many questions where the answer was on the tip of my tongue...but I wasn't sure. I spent the last few days before COMLEX finishing COMBANK and reviewing FirstAid. I also took COMSAE C 2 days ago and got my best score by far on any of those. I just hope that all those increasing scores actually convert to a decent COMLEX. Time to expect the worse, but hope for the best.

How did the Combank vs. Comquest vs Real Comlex question style compare? Was one more difficult, easier, the same?

 

[ChrisGriffen]

How did the Combank vs. Comquest vs Real Comlex question style compare? Was one more difficult, easier, the same?

The question style of both combank and comquest were exacty on par with the real test.

The content was absolutely wrong.
Every test is a different spread, but the content on the actual test is a total crapshoot. Combank and comquest had me thinking it was worth months of my life to learn actually relevant medicine.

 

[FutureDO2016]

Would you say UWorld helped? Or did you just use Combank and Comquest?

 

[ChrisGriffen]

I used uworld also, but as a learning tool. Uworld questions are way harder than comlex. Its good to use though to stretch your brain and really understand topics.

 

[Rhinobarnacle]

The question style of both combank and comquest were exacty on par with the real test.

The content was absolutely wrong.
Every test is a different spread, but the content on the actual test is a total crapshoot. Combank and comquest had me thinking it was worth months of my life to learn actually relevant medicine.

Thank you for your feedback. Can you say more about what you mean by "thinking it was worth months of my life to learn actually relevant medicine"?