Official 2015 COMLEX Level 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[FutureDO2016]

I realized no one made a thread for 2015 so decided to make one. Anyone take the January 6 or 22 test? There's a Feb date coming up soon too. How was it? What did you use to study and would recommend to future test-takers? Anything particularly high-yield? Good luck everyone!

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[LUPUS!]

Our school required us to set for the comsae by using their computers. They set it up just like taking the real deal. I still passed the comsae by 75+ pts but failed the actual exam. 100+ pts drop.

 

[Pisiform]

I just can't imagine failing this exam. I am going in couple of days. I don't know what will I do after this with 2 years of student loans if god forbid something terrible happens? I hate myself for being a pessimist . Its go big or go home. And I have severe anxiety issues.

This exam seems like a bit of luck. Depending on what topic you were tested on most, whether you had the easy one or difficult exam, whether your nerves got the best of you. This is just fate. Best we could do is try to put our best foot forward.

 

[DidsomeonecallaDOc]

I just can't imagine failing this exam. I am going in couple of days. I don't know what will I do after this with 2 years of student loans if god forbid something terrible happens? I hate myself for being a pessimist . Its go big or go home. And I have severe anxiety issues.

This exam seems like a bit of luck. Depending on what topic you were tested on most, whether you had the easy one or difficult exam, whether your nerves got the best of you. This is just fate. Best we could do is try to put our best foot forward.

Try to practice calming yourself down, like google relaxation techniques. It's really important that if you start to freak out you need to have a way to quickly relieve that anxiety. Just like you said, it is luck on which test form you get. I don't have my score back yet so I don't want to comment on difficulty vs how I feel like I did, but pretty sure I had the WTF version w/ OMM i've never seen before and the quick relaxation techniques really helped to keep me calm and hopefully helped me get more points.Good luck, you can do it!

 

[xrealityx]

^
Last year only 10 ppl failed. This year the number has doubled.

So is your school gonna contact NBOME about it? The logical next step would be for schools to pressure them to do a rescore..

 

[xrealityx]

I personally don't think anything will be done . Our school is sitting at 100% pass rate with 110 confirmed scores . There are still 30 scores out there including mine , which my exam made me think it will take a miracle for me to pass when I was doing well on comsae and high 90s on Combank assessments . Point being , I'm sure there are plenty of schools and people with high scores

Guess time will tell but I've heard some super high scores from my school so I'm doubtful anything will change (several 7o0+) I think the school average is 557 right now . But everyone's exam was NOTHInG like the one I took on the 14th so it will be interesting to see what that group of scores look like .

Is there any data that shows averages of each day of scores ? I'm guessing not

So tempted to call them and be like so about July 14th.. Are you gonna throw out like a quarter of the exam ?

 

[LUPUS!]

So is your school gonna contact NBOME about it? The logical next step would be for schools to pressure them to do a rescore..

The school is still finalizing the scores. So far 1/4th of the class have failed. 90% of the students already took the exam. They will set up a meeting with us to address this issue. I think they are going to see how other schools did and see if it's their fault that their students didn't do well on the test or the nbome's crazy score restrandization

 

[SurgeDO]

I just can't imagine failing this exam. I am going in couple of days. I don't know what will I do after this with 2 years of student loans if god forbid something terrible happens? I hate myself for being a pessimist . Its go big or go home. And I have severe anxiety issues.

This exam seems like a bit of luck. Depending on what topic you were tested on most, whether you had the easy one or difficult exam, whether your nerves got the best of you. This is just fate. Best we could do is try to put our best foot forward.

stop reading this thread. i read it a couple days before my exam and started freaking out a little. i think the good test/bad test theory is silly...talked with classmates who took it on different days. some thought they had the good test and some thought they had the bad test. all our "out there" questions ended up being the same.

the exam is curved. a little less than 10% of students will fail this exam like every year in the past. i am convinced that a lot of the OMM questions are dropped or are experimental. i know absolutely nothing about OMM (blew if off the last 2 years, lightly skimmed saverese), and it ended up being one of my strongest sections. just relax.

 

[GUH]

The school is still finalizing the scores. So far 1/4th of the class have failed. 90% of the students already took the exam. They will set up a meeting with us to address this issue. I think they are going to see how other schools did and see if it's their fault that their students didn't do well on the test or the nbome's crazy score restrandization

Is it one of the new schools?

 

[2cool4stool]

What should I do to prepare for my retake? After taking it the first time I feel like there is absolutely nothing I can do to actually prepare for this test.

 

[LUPUS!]

Is it one of the new schools?

No. School was established many years ago

 

[FLKID]

Does anyone know when the updated percentiles will be released for our tests?

 

[abolt18]

No. School was established many years ago

What school is it? You're quite anonymous with all your 11 posts so spill!

 

[abolt18]

Does anyone know when the updated percentiles will be released for our tests?

Next April/May most likely.

 

[Please_Stand_By]

It says on NBOME that beginning May 2015 the average is (will be?) a 520 w/ SD of 85...so wouldn't that be the average +- some?

 

[PIacebo]

What school is it? You're quite anonymous with all your 11 posts so spill!

It is Oklahoma state university college of osteopathic medicine

 

[xrealityx]

It says on NBOME that beginning May 2015 the average is (will be?) a 520 w/ SD of 85...so wouldn't that be the average +- some?

I think the issue is they promised something similar with comlex 2 last year and then broke their promise until forced to do otherwise

 

[gobigorgohome22]

Umm this whole 25% failing is scaring me and I've got a year before I take the damn thing (class of 2018er)!

 

[663212]

I thought the percentiles are going to be posted at the end of the cycle, not next April/May. In the latter case, I wonder why it would take NBOME that long. I just can't stop believing that the exam changes stated on the NBOME website starting May 2015 is the source of the 25% failing.

Is this where they post percentiles? Will they notify us once it's been determined? Or am I responsible for checking myself every once in a while if I want to know how I stand?
http://www.nbome.org/score-conversion.asp

 

[medicalbrah2017]

NBOME makes me want to drop out of school and live a life in debt

Anyways, anyone know if their school has contacted the NBOME directly? Seems like they will listen to them vs. 1000000+ student emails

 

[Pisiform]

Just took it. So ambiguous. Idk. I have marked nearly 20-25 questions in each block. Pretty bad. Feeling so terrible idk

 

[razor]

Just took it. So ambiguous. Idk. I have marked nearly 20-25 questions in each block. Pretty bad. Feeling so terrible idk

Don't beat yourself up yet. Everyone walks out feeling like that. I was honestly worried that I failed it because I have never guessed on that many questions on any test and I turned out fine.

 

[zypidyo]

Took it awhile back and thought it was similar to Comsaes. Ended up >750 which was the goal.

 

[razor]

Took it awhile back and thought it was similar to Comsaes.

My first reaction to this was, similar to the comsae...said nobody ever. But I didn't see your test so maybe yours was. Mine was very, very different. Different style of questions, longer patient presentations, and ambiguously worded answer options. Congrats on the great score.

 

[Pisiform]

Don't beat yourself up yet. Everyone walks out feeling like that. I was honestly worried that I failed it because I have never guessed on that many questions on any test and I turned out fine.

Yea I am trying to. My Comsaes were not pretty good (480s) even though my combank was anywhere from 62-72% and Comquest of 70%. Will see how it will turn out. But I am glad I am done for now. Starting Peds rotations on Monday so gonna be fun hopefully.

 

[cheff949]

Just took it today. Wow what was that? So many long stems. I had a LOT marked too, but didn't have time to look over them. Just wanna pass

 

[2cool4stool]

Took it awhile back and thought it was similar to Comsaes. Ended up >750 which was the goal.

Similar to which COMSAEs? I thought mine was completely different

 

[zypidyo]

I felt they were similar in difficulty to B and C. There were instances where they tried to trick you but careful reading would get you to the correct answer. There was one block where I felt they were really trying to throw me off but I just figured that was full of "experimental" questions and moved on.

 

[beachbum353353]

First of all, I have been lurking on here for a while. I thought the test was very ambiguous and poorly written. I walked out feeling crushed, I had studied pretty consistently 30hrs a week prior to classes ending starting in january and then was doing around 75-80 hours a week for 6 weeks and still felt like I had failed. I had a very nuero heavy and biochem heavy test. Ended up with a very high percentile score. There is no way on earth you should walk out of a test seriously thinking you will have to re-take the exam and winding up with a very high percentile score. Those are my 2 cents.

Congrats everyone who passed/meet their goals. And to everyone who has to retake it relax, stay focused and keep on pushing!

 

[lepetitecolier]

So for those that passed/did well on the comlex this year... what was your strategy and how did you study for it? A lot of things have changed this year and I feel the current question banks and Comsae exams do not prepare you well enough. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[dfib slim]

.

 

[beachbum353353]

So for those that passed/did well on the comlex this year... what was your strategy and how did you study for it? A lot of things have changed this year and I feel the current question banks and Comsae exams do not prepare you well enough. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

FA/dit slowly one pass really trying to focus on the big picture and understand it and memorize the details that didn't immediately jive with my understanding. Once through green book with dit omm (in hind sight I should have probably spent more time on this, but I am looking into an acgme surge sub residency so I really prepped for usmle)

And question banks, all of them! Looking up the explanations for answer choice, even the ones I got right. Felt I actually learned the most doing this.

 

[jcl9011]

I agree. COMLEX is way more difficult this year. I thought i was doing really well on comquest and combank qns. I showed up to the real deal, thought I took the wrong exam and it would take a miracle for me to pass. I spent the whole night crying and thinking about my other options outside med school...I'm not joking or exaggerating. That really was how i felt. Got my result last week, 569 on comlex and 237 on usmle. The exam is definitely way harder than comsae, but i guess if everyone feels bad, then the chance is ... you probably will be ok...I'm just grateful to God that I passed it...

 

[DidsomeonecallaDOc]

I agree. COMLEX is way more difficult this year. I thought i was doing really well on comquest and combank qns. I showed up to the real deal, thought I took the wrong exam and it would take a miracle for me to pass. I spent the whole night crying and thinking about my other options outside med school...I'm not joking or exaggerating. That really was how i felt. Got my result last week, 569 on comlex and 237 on usmle. The exam is definitely way harder than comsae, but i guess if everyone feels bad, then the chance is ... you probably will be ok...I'm just grateful to God that I passed it...

When did you take your COMLEX?

 

[DrEnderW]

So for those that passed/did well on the comlex this year... what was your strategy and how did you study for it? A lot of things have changed this year and I feel the current question banks and Comsae exams do not prepare you well enough. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Study as if you're taking the USMLE: First Aid, Pathoma, and UWorld.

I stopped COMBANK by January/Feb and did UWorld starting ~10 weeks out and did it 1x plus all flagged until I had 100% correct. I took 3 NBMEs, both UWSAs, and 2 COMSAEs. The first COMSAE was 8-10 weeks out and the 2nd was 1 week out. COMSAE B predicted within 10 points but felt WAY easier than the real thing. I would have done more UWorld early had I not been a daily Firecracker user.

Mix in Savarese early if you're weak in OMM and you haven't prepped for the COMAT. If you're strong in OMM, it can wait until closer.

Start early. Like the beginning of M2 early. You will not regret it come the summertime. I did FA 2x with each module and Pathoma 1-2x. I did FA at least 5x total before the exam and Pathoma 3-4x total.

Both exams felt way, way harder than any NBME or COMSAE.

 

[jcl9011]

When did you take your COMLEX?

took it last week of June...

 

[DidsomeonecallaDOc]

Thanks! I am trying to determine if there's ANY chance I am going to get my score before August 6th. It's driving me insane that it's taking so long!

 

[mountain_lion]

I know a lot of people have been looking forward to how the new schools would do on the boards. Looks like CUSOM has done really well. 94.1% pass rate with 23% scoring above 600 (5% scoring above 700) and 61% scoring above 500. Only 9 students scored below 400.

 

[TheFuture_22]

I know a lot of people have been looking forward to how the new schools would do on the boards. Looks like CUSOM has done really well. 94.1% pass rate with 23% scoring above 600 (5% scoring above 700) and 61% scoring above 500. Only 9 students scored below 400.

I saw this posted on the FB group earlier today! Very proud of my classmates!

 

[ChiSox]

Took the test earlier today (Jul 30th).. anyone else care to share your thoughts? I felt pretty prepared for it well and was completely blindsided by it.

 

[AnonymousD.O.]

I read on an old forum that scores come out on Fridays, anybody else know about this? My score release date is the 6th - the 10th but my friend got his a week early so I'm on the watch. Sat for exam on July 2nd.

 

[xrealityx]

I read on an old forum that scores come out on Fridays, anybody else know about this? My score release date is the 6th - the 10th but my friend got his a week early so I'm on the watch. Sat for exam on July 2nd.

The last set of scores was released on a Wednesday.

 

[DidsomeonecallaDOc]

I read on an old forum that scores come out on Fridays, anybody else know about this? My score release date is the 6th - the 10th but my friend got his a week early so I'm on the watch. Sat for exam on July 2nd.

I e-mailed NBOME and as expected they said there is no reason to think we will get our scores any earlier than the 6th-10th. BOOOOOOOOOOO. But I am hoping that they do come out early!!!

 

[ChiSox]

Just took it today. Wow what was that? So many long stems. I had a LOT marked too, but didn't have time to look over them. Just wanna pass

Same. I took it yesterday and it was nothing like any of the COMSAEs or Qbanks I used to prepare. I have never seen OMM questions asked in that manner.

 

[pathologyDO]

Same. I took it yesterday and it was nothing like any of the COMSAEs or Qbanks I used to prepare. I have never seen OMM questions asked in that manner.

My exam was July 14th and I felt the exact same way... the OMM questions were not anything like I had been tested the past 2 years at KCU

 

[2cool4stool]

My exam was July 14th and I felt the exact same way... the OMM questions were not anything like I had been tested the past 2 years at KCU

How would you have prepared differently

 

[pathologyDO]

How would you have prepared differently

To be honest I'm not sure I can answer this for you. That exam felt more like a crapshoot than anything. I would probably not have studied any differently because I don't think you could have adequately prepared for it. No source I ran into (Savarese, M1/M2, COMBANK) seems to have prepared me for some of the OMM they tested on. I haven't gotten my score back yet so we will see how I did in the next week, but right now I am insanely anxious to receive my score

 

[dfib slim]

To be honest I'm not sure I can answer this for you. That exam felt more like a crapshoot than anything. I would probably not have studied any differently because I don't think you could have adequately prepared for it. No source I ran into (Savarese, M1/M2, COMBANK) seems to have prepared me for some of the OMM they tested on. I haven't gotten my score back yet so we will see how I did in the next week, but right now I am insanely anxious to receive my score

All that crazy OMM you cannot prepare for will most likely get thrown out.

 

[pathologyDO]

All that crazy OMM you cannot prepare for will most likely get thrown out.

I sure hope you're right

 

[WayneRooney10]

To be honest I'm not sure I can answer this for you. That exam felt more like a crapshoot than anything. I would probably not have studied any differently because I don't think you could have adequately prepared for it. No source I ran into (Savarese, M1/M2, COMBANK) seems to have prepared me for some of the OMM they tested on. I haven't gotten my score back yet so we will see how I did in the next week, but right now I am insanely anxious to receive my score

I am so anxious too. I took it on July 14 and I have never had a difficult exam like that. Lets hope the curve is good.

 

[Pisiform]

For July 24th, they say it's gonna be between August 27 and early September. That seems awfully long.

I just wanna pass, loving my peds rotation and really don't want to go back to level1 studying.