Just finished with COMLEX yesterday. My 2 cents.
The 2 test theory doesnt seem to hold water I think its more mixing and matching of questions to create similar but obviously different exams.
So:
UW random timed (I only did random timed) first time % 67
UW second pass random timed 90%
UW 1 assessment 230
UW 2 assessment 232
Comsae D 540
Comsae C 628
Comsae B 650
Comsae A 587
School provided 8 hour 400 question Commbank exam 670
Commbank OMM side 71% (89% completed) I used this as my subject specific questions during 2nd year so Im not sure the percent means anything significant. I just added it to be complete.
Commbank form A 88th percentile (no 3 digit equivalent waste of time and money)
NBME 13 207
NBME 11 228
NBME 12 228
NBME 15 234
My exam:
Was heavy on OMM. May seems like a no brainer but I wasnt expecting > 30% and thats what it felt like. As reported above the stems were daunting and time consuming and there was no skip to the end and get what the question was asking. You had to be engaged understand multiple diagnoses with the patient and then answer convoluted questions based on that stem. I did have several straight forward sacral and thoracic DX but even those were worded in sux a way that if you doubted yourself you were hosed.
Cardio: straight forward EKG's one weird one but nothing horrendous.
Neuro: Very heavy but it was vascular business as mention above and thats my jam so I felt like they were know it or dont style questions based on a classic presentation of symptoms. Where is the patient numb, tingling and where are the sensory defects and motor defects ect. There were a couple of spinal presentations that were mind benders due to the awkward presentation of a classic disease process.
Path/immuno: these were combined a lot on my test. It was subtle and until mentioned to me I wasnt even aware thats how the stems were written.
It was CD markers, histo of sections asking whether it was cancer or infection.
Micro: I had 2 out of your ass type bugs but one had a clue in the name of the bug that I feel tipped you off to the answer so I would read carefully and if all else fails go with the latin meaning. I also had some very crappy, blurry micro pics of bugs that made the DX more difficult and stressful that need be.
Biochem: on my exam was a joke. there was a TCA cycle question and Urea cycle question and it was just asking did you memorize the cycles, period.
Pharm: Again it was straight forward. I did have an pic that asked about physiology of psych drugs. No group of drugs was more represented than others, I felt. I struggle with with psych drugs so I feel like I remembered those questions more so keep that in mind.
All in all I felt like **** when I left. I was shooting for a 600+ and will be happy to pass. I felt like commbank OMM questions were childs play in comparison to the real thing and savarese is an antiquated POS. Not a single thing we have to prepare ourselves is at the level of the real exam. Its unfortunate because we pay a lot of money to get close but in regard to omm nothing out there compares. Uworld is the bees knees for the hard sciences and if you do well on Uworld then the concepts for comlex are free points. The rub is the questions are purposely vague and leave you picking between two decent answers 50% of the time and then its a question of whether you have balls that clank or are you wishy washy and if you're the latter your hosed. Last thing I would advise would be if youre a coffee drinker get youre buzz on early and use red bull and skip the coffee. I went in and my first two blocks were tough and I felt mentally sluggish. I was also in shock possibly LOL. At lunch I slammed a red bull and went back in and felt the rest of the test was much less of a grind. I wish all of you still prepping for comlex the very best. Build your confidence, trust yourself and dont change an answer unless you have an epiphany with angels singing with shiny lights ect.
Im reloading and taking the USMLE this thursday.
DFS