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Here it is. Comlex level 1.
Anyone take the exam in February?
Anyone take the exam in February?
Official 2016 COMLEX Level 1 Experiences and Scores Thread
- Thread starter Throwaway01
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I'm in almost the same boat. USMLE was demoralizing then six days off, I take COMLEX tomorrow, move next week, start surgery the week after. Would love a vacation. Or even just a day to sleep in and then watch Netflix.
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So where are my 5/25/16 people at... This wait blows
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Anyone feel like butt after taking this exam?
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Lol you get your questions answered? I'm curious too know. Took my exam this week. I could have easily marked at least 50% of the questions in each block. Piss scared I bombed this
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You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.
In response to your "everyone should take USMLE," what about someone who has struggled a lot during M1 and M2 and isn't interested in anything competitive? Up until now I was planning on only taking COMLEX, which will be next year for me. Halfway during 2nd year I got moved to a 5 year plan after failing 1 class, and I failed 1 class during 1st year as well. I figured I was at risk enough for failure that I would only want to risk failing 1 board exam instead of 2. I get that there are a lot of advantages if you pass USMLE, but I just don't know if it's worth the downsides if I don't.
I suppose I could take an NBME sometime next spring and see if I'm a a position where I feel good about passing.
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Was there any benefit to COMSAE's at all? I'm thinking of taking one but ugh...I don't know if that's the best way I can spend my time
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I only took COMSAE E because it was administered by my school. It didn't resemble my real exam at all. My friends who took the other available COMSAE forms felt that taking these tests didn't help them prepare for the test. They regretted wasting money on them.
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Seems like that's the picture everyone is painting...Well I read through the greenbook, slammed combank OMM (which seems pretty easy and straightforward). Not sure how else to prep for this damn thing.
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I think there's not much more you can do at this point. Just chill and get enough rest. When is your test?
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It's tomorrow...lol
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Then you should relax.
M
MrWonderful
I think your scenario is definitely a possible indication for NOT taking USMLE. I'd say based on my experience that your performance in class can be utterly unrelated to your Step 1 performance.
I'd start by asking yourself: "what is the reason that I struggled in class?" If the answer to that question is you not trying hard enough, that's reversible. If the answer is you not understanding the content that was taught to you, that's reversible. I think that if you have the "basics," anybody can sit down and crank out UWorld and FA and teach themselves lapses in content. For example, I am a student @ PCOM and my school omitted HUGE amounts of content fair game for Step 1, so I would teach myself via UWorld explanations and solidify those questions by going over the abbreviated FA diagrams, etc.
If you think you have it in you to work at 200% for a few months and really make your mark on USMLE, it will go a very long way for you in the match. See the Osteopathic school (the name escapes me atm) that FORCES their students to take USMLE -- their average is > than every other DO school out there because the students go into it confidently and prepared. COMBANK and the entire Osteopathic prep tools simply do not teach you enough information to succeed. To illustrate this point, let's say that I had chosen not to take USMLE; I still would have used UWorld b/c COMBANK is garbage. Sorry if I sound biased.
Here are match stats from '14 that illustrate my point. PM&R with a considerably bad USMLE is still attainable just having USMLE at all. Conversely, only having a COMLEX makes it harder for PD's to compare you to known USMLE tiers, and thus, surveyed PD's have said that they prefer "bad" USMLE >> "average" COMLEX
Last point about the importance of possible taking USMLE: the director of academics @ PCOM has repeatedly (this is recently, mind you) told us that we should all take USMLE because program directors know that it is a better predictor of our medical knowledge. As PD's retire (the old school DO's who actually take COMLEX seriously) and new PD's rise up, combined with the upcoming merger, it's really only a matter of time before the "20% OMM questions" test gets phased out.
Summary:
-Everybody should take USMLE, unless:
- You have given your 200% effort and still are doing poorly on NBMEs, UWorld, or routinely fail classes
- You are dead set on matching to a DO-only residency and sincerely want to jump through hoops being accountable for OMT
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I think your scenario is definitely a possible indication for NOT taking USMLE. I'd say based on my experience that your performance in class can be utterly unrelated to your Step 1 performance.
I'd start by asking yourself: "what is the reason that I struggled in class?" If the answer to that question is you not trying hard enough, that's reversible. If the answer is you not understanding the content that was taught to you, that's reversible. I think that if you have the "basics," anybody can sit down and crank out UWorld and FA and teach themselves lapses in content. For example, I am a student @ PCOM and my school omitted HUGE amounts of content fair game for Step 1, so I would teach myself via UWorld explanations and solidify those questions by going over the abbreviated FA diagrams, etc.
If you think you have it in you to work at 200% for a few months and really make your mark on USMLE, it will go a very long way for you in the match. See the Osteopathic school (the name escapes me atm) that FORCES their students to take USMLE -- their average is > than every other DO school out there because the students go into it confidently and prepared. COMBANK and the entire Osteopathic prep tools simply do not teach you enough information to succeed. To illustrate this point, let's say that I had chosen not to take USMLE; I still would have used UWorld b/c COMBANK is garbage. Sorry if I sound biased.
Here are match stats from '14 that illustrate my point. PM&R with a considerably bad USMLE is still attainable just having USMLE at all. Conversely, only having a COMLEX makes it harder for PD's to compare you to known USMLE tiers, and thus, surveyed PD's have said that they prefer "bad" USMLE >> "average" COMLEX
Last point about the importance of possible taking USMLE: the director of academics @ PCOM has repeatedly (this is recently, mind you) told us that we should all take USMLE because program directors know that it is a better predictor of our medical knowledge. As PD's retire (the old school DO's who actually take COMLEX seriously) and new PD's rise up, combined with the upcoming merger, it's really only a matter of time before the "20% OMM questions" test gets phased out.
Summary:
-Everybody should take USMLE, unless:
- You have given your 200% effort and still are doing poorly on NBMEs, UWorld, or routinely fail classes
- You are dead set on matching to a DO-only residency and sincerely want to jump through hoops being accountable for OMT
And who is this director of academics telling everyone to take the USMLE? Because I have yet to hear that on that campus.
ETA: They actually give a talk at PCOM where a rep from NBOME/COMLEX comes in and basically tries to convince people to NOT take the USMLE. Yep, it happened this year. Not saying I agree with it, but this school is not as progressive as you're portraying it to be.
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M
MrWonderful
Dr. Lanutti. During I2C. Ask the M3's if you need confirmation.
Yep. Many non-clinical staff at PCOM don't know the true COMLEX vs. USMLE paradigm, and are thus bad at giving proper advice
We are not progressive at all. Students remain divided on the debateThe gentleman who came to talk about the COMLEX knows literally nothing of graduate medical education, unfortunately. His talk was littered with open ended assumptions about us that were unbelievably misguided
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Dr. Lanutti. During I2C. Ask the M3's if you need confirmation.
Yep. Many non-clinical staff at PCOM don't know the true COMLEX vs. USMLE paradigm, and are thus bad at giving proper advice
The gentleman who came to talk about the COMLEX knows literally nothing of graduate medical education, unfortunately. His talk was littered with open ended assumptions about us that were unbelievably misguided
During I2C is a little late on the ball
But thank you for all the info nonetheless. Good to hear there's hope for the future. Start spreading the word, my good man.
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Took COMLEX today. Feel like I had a different exam than you all-- questions were waaaaay shorter than USMLE, and overall it was a manageable test. (My school's OPP exams are hard though-- so maybe that actually helped out in the long run?)
Too many beers for a detailed write-up.
Too many beers for a detailed write-up.
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So, I took COMLEX today (Thursday, June 16th) and I figured I'd talk about my experience and vent a little (partially at the ridiculousness of this thread and partially at the exam)
First, I took Step 1 last Thursday, which I thought was ridiculously hard and maybe that has skewed my perspective on Level 1. But I've read on this thread that the stems were ridiculously and unreasonably long. Now, I don't know if I got lucky, but the stems were not long, FAR FROM IT. 90% were between 5-7 lines, 5% were shorter and 5% were longer. This isn't counting labs, but most of the labs I had were pertinent, there was maybe one question where I thought they gave way too many labs. If you feel that 5-7 lines are too long then that's a problem. The few that were massive were all exclusively OPP questions with a list of structural findings (and all you have to do for that is read the question at the end and look for the pertinent information, honestly, those were some of my quickest questions.)
Second, it is true that there is a running clock of 4 hours for each set of 4 blocks. This is definitely worrying and annoying, but I really didn't have any problem with timing. I got out of the exam with 40 minutes left to spare and I ended up taking both breaks.
Third, the media isn't that bad. It's not that confusing or that difficult, if you were taught OPP in a competent manner you should honestly be fine. All my videos were examples of special tests. Same goes for pictures showing treatments, I only had one question for that and it was possibly my easiest question of the entire test. Maybe it was the way OPP was taught at my school, but the OPP in general was pretty good. In the week between Step 1 and Level 1, I read most of Savarese and basically focused on memorizing Viscerosomatics and Chapmans. I barely looked at Treatments or DX because I felt like our school hammered those into us during the last two years and the questions on COMLEX were no where near as difficult as the questions I had to deal with during school. There were 3 or 4 WTF questions but that is to be expected. KNOW YOUR VISCEROSOMATICS, can't stress this enough, they are basically free points - I had maybe 15-20 questions that were straight up, what is the viscerosomatics for so and so. I had a few chapmans's but they were all descriptions, no pictures.
Now onto topics tested, this is where it goes against the grain. I had plenty of OB/Repro, but barely any Neuro I felt, or maybe the Neuro to me wasn't that difficult. My test was FILLED with hella Cardio/Pulm Phys and Path and basic science stuff like electrolyte imbalances (which I though was BS - I had 10 questions on that I felt like). Just a warning, I had like 7 EKG's to read, and 4 of them I had no freaking clue as to what I was looking at (and I consistently tested well in Cardio on Qbanks and practice tests)
For whoever said that Sketchy isn't helpful, I don't know WTF you're talking about. The questions they asked were straight off of Sketchy. If you pay attention to both Micro and Pharm videos, you're gonna be just fine. For example, I had 5 meningitis questions and all I needed to know was which meningitis bug affected a specific demographic.
Now the one big problem I have with COMLEX is the vague-ness that is found within many of the questions, especially the physiology and pathology questions. I felt like I had to make assumptions many of the times just to figure out the DX so I could then move on to answer the question. This is unlike Step 1, that test was difficult not because it was vague, but because I was seeing a collection of symptoms together for the first time. An example from today's exam - 35 year old female from Oregon comes to you because of osteopenia. What is the underlying cause? That was it and then the answers were all pathophys mechanisms of osteopenia. Do they want me to make assumptions about her diet, PMH, meds, weather, activity?? That's the kind of bull**** you can expect to see on COMLEX regularly and that can be EXTREMELY frustrating. I just went with my gut and what was most common for all those kind of question.
In the end, I'm pretty sure I passed COMLEX but my score could range easily from mid 400's all the may to high 600's depending on what COMLEX feels is relevant and "more correct", which is stupid, but hey, it's over. I think if you were able to pass all your classes in the first two years of school, you should be able to take on the COMLEX and pass.
First, I took Step 1 last Thursday, which I thought was ridiculously hard and maybe that has skewed my perspective on Level 1. But I've read on this thread that the stems were ridiculously and unreasonably long. Now, I don't know if I got lucky, but the stems were not long, FAR FROM IT. 90% were between 5-7 lines, 5% were shorter and 5% were longer. This isn't counting labs, but most of the labs I had were pertinent, there was maybe one question where I thought they gave way too many labs. If you feel that 5-7 lines are too long then that's a problem. The few that were massive were all exclusively OPP questions with a list of structural findings (and all you have to do for that is read the question at the end and look for the pertinent information, honestly, those were some of my quickest questions.)
Second, it is true that there is a running clock of 4 hours for each set of 4 blocks. This is definitely worrying and annoying, but I really didn't have any problem with timing. I got out of the exam with 40 minutes left to spare and I ended up taking both breaks.
Third, the media isn't that bad. It's not that confusing or that difficult, if you were taught OPP in a competent manner you should honestly be fine. All my videos were examples of special tests. Same goes for pictures showing treatments, I only had one question for that and it was possibly my easiest question of the entire test. Maybe it was the way OPP was taught at my school, but the OPP in general was pretty good. In the week between Step 1 and Level 1, I read most of Savarese and basically focused on memorizing Viscerosomatics and Chapmans. I barely looked at Treatments or DX because I felt like our school hammered those into us during the last two years and the questions on COMLEX were no where near as difficult as the questions I had to deal with during school. There were 3 or 4 WTF questions but that is to be expected. KNOW YOUR VISCEROSOMATICS, can't stress this enough, they are basically free points - I had maybe 15-20 questions that were straight up, what is the viscerosomatics for so and so. I had a few chapmans's but they were all descriptions, no pictures.
Now onto topics tested, this is where it goes against the grain. I had plenty of OB/Repro, but barely any Neuro I felt, or maybe the Neuro to me wasn't that difficult. My test was FILLED with hella Cardio/Pulm Phys and Path and basic science stuff like electrolyte imbalances (which I though was BS - I had 10 questions on that I felt like). Just a warning, I had like 7 EKG's to read, and 4 of them I had no freaking clue as to what I was looking at (and I consistently tested well in Cardio on Qbanks and practice tests)
For whoever said that Sketchy isn't helpful, I don't know WTF you're talking about. The questions they asked were straight off of Sketchy. If you pay attention to both Micro and Pharm videos, you're gonna be just fine. For example, I had 5 meningitis questions and all I needed to know was which meningitis bug affected a specific demographic.
Now the one big problem I have with COMLEX is the vague-ness that is found within many of the questions, especially the physiology and pathology questions. I felt like I had to make assumptions many of the times just to figure out the DX so I could then move on to answer the question. This is unlike Step 1, that test was difficult not because it was vague, but because I was seeing a collection of symptoms together for the first time. An example from today's exam - 35 year old female from Oregon comes to you because of osteopenia. What is the underlying cause? That was it and then the answers were all pathophys mechanisms of osteopenia. Do they want me to make assumptions about her diet, PMH, meds, weather, activity?? That's the kind of bull**** you can expect to see on COMLEX regularly and that can be EXTREMELY frustrating. I just went with my gut and what was most common for all those kind of question.
In the end, I'm pretty sure I passed COMLEX but my score could range easily from mid 400's all the may to high 600's depending on what COMLEX feels is relevant and "more correct", which is stupid, but hey, it's over. I think if you were able to pass all your classes in the first two years of school, you should be able to take on the COMLEX and pass.
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anyone have any good resources for dermatomes & nerve root functions?...besides the green book lol
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Congrats on being done! Did you find the questions to be similar to COMBANK?
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This is incredibly helpful, thanks for the write-up
M
MrWonderful
The red text is exactly why I tell all my friends, and the classmen below me, to take USMLE. Variance based on poor questions is not a bet I want to make! Congrats on being done though, go drink!
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Yes, very similar. I hated Combank while I did it, but it turns out it's representative of the weirdness that is COMLEX, so I think it treated me well. I've heard good things about Comquest too, but never used it because I had Combank for free. UWorld is hands-down the better bank, but I really do think you need to go through an osteopathic one to get the hand of the differently styled questions.
All of the video-based questions I had were very easy. The longest video was a minute, and the majority were quite a bit shorter than that. I didn't have any timing issues-- I actually finished both 4 hour blocks a little bit early and that's with taking the ten-minute break in the middle (four hours without caffeine and/or the bathroom wasn't going to happen). Like @dabrownsensation, I have no idea what I scored, other than that I'm fairly confident I passed knock-on-wood. It's a weird test, but I didn't find it demoralizing like the USMLE.
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Oh one more thing that I thought was helpful, make sure you go through the ethics questions on Combank. I think I had 4 or 5 ethics questions and it felt like 4 of them came straight out of Combank word for word. When I was doing them on Combank, I was like why am I wasting my time with this crap but it ended up paying off and giving me a few free questions which can never hurt. Also, just a small pro tip, I don't know how many people do "simulate exam" on Combank, thats basically how I did my Combank questions in the week between Step 1 and Level 1, but if you keep pressing simulate, Combank for some reason leaves out a lot of OPP and biostats and ethics (probably because they're trying to give you the same proportion as the real exam) but that means two things: 1) you'll start to get repeat questions 2) you'll plateau at 95% complete and have a lot of OPP, stats, ethics and behavior questions just lying there unused. Make sure to do them, it only took me a few hours to get through all of them and it was pretty clutch for me in the sense that I had questions that (like I said above) felt exactly the same or were extremely similar.
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Had the comlex this week:
My COMSAE E taken about 3 weeks previous was just over 530 with 80+ point jumps in COMSAEs C, D, E over last 6 mo. I did not test myself further after that point as I felt comfortable with the projection and started simulating the test day by study arranged in 2 hr blocks for 8 hrs, mostly COMBANK.
I had gone through UWorld 1.5x and combank about 1.7x and marked FA up to a colorful, ratty mess. Gone through pathoma 2x and used sketchymedical extensively through systems. Would probably not change much of my study plan except maybe dropping my med school grades last semester for more time to board study and layer My UWorld 1st time around was 57%, 2nd time after reset just below 80%. COMBANK percentage was averaged at 66% for the full 1.7x, and I was averaging 75%ish for the 2nd pass. I had a couple month break on COMBANK after 1st pass so I wasn't answering them from memory.
I may have had the same test as @dabrownsensation .
Felt decent after and knew enough stuff point-blank to know passing wasn't a concern, although I'm curious to see if I beat the mean. I marked nearly 40% of my questions, finished a block in about 45 mins and had 15 mins to go back and review. I have never had time concerns with test taking, but I wish I had another 10 mins on a couple of the blocks as I found them somewhat longer than most COMBANK Qs, although still far far shorter than UWorld. There were a handful of audio/visual clips and while they were straightforward I found them long and therefore annoying.
Don't know what I would change if I could. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great, and I just hope I didn't overthink the simple Qs or underthink the larger ones.
My COMSAE E taken about 3 weeks previous was just over 530 with 80+ point jumps in COMSAEs C, D, E over last 6 mo. I did not test myself further after that point as I felt comfortable with the projection and started simulating the test day by study arranged in 2 hr blocks for 8 hrs, mostly COMBANK.
I had gone through UWorld 1.5x and combank about 1.7x and marked FA up to a colorful, ratty mess. Gone through pathoma 2x and used sketchymedical extensively through systems. Would probably not change much of my study plan except maybe dropping my med school grades last semester for more time to board study and layer My UWorld 1st time around was 57%, 2nd time after reset just below 80%. COMBANK percentage was averaged at 66% for the full 1.7x, and I was averaging 75%ish for the 2nd pass. I had a couple month break on COMBANK after 1st pass so I wasn't answering them from memory.
I may have had the same test as @dabrownsensation .
Felt decent after and knew enough stuff point-blank to know passing wasn't a concern, although I'm curious to see if I beat the mean. I marked nearly 40% of my questions, finished a block in about 45 mins and had 15 mins to go back and review. I have never had time concerns with test taking, but I wish I had another 10 mins on a couple of the blocks as I found them somewhat longer than most COMBANK Qs, although still far far shorter than UWorld. There were a handful of audio/visual clips and while they were straightforward I found them long and therefore annoying.
Don't know what I would change if I could. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great, and I just hope I didn't overthink the simple Qs or underthink the larger ones.
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How do you know what raw % correct is passing for this exam?
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There is no way to know. It can fluctuate between each exams.
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Took mine today. Absolute **** show. That's all... I'll take USMLE any day of the week over this.
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It seems there are two formats going around. One is "WTF is this ****" and the other is "This is similar to COMBANK and what I expected".
I hope I get the latter one!
I hope I get the latter one!
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I'm just hoping that they curve these tests accordingly. My version was very challenging in every aspect. The stems were long, the qs were obscured, and timing wasn't enough.
On some occasions the "classical" answer wasn't a choice. Other times the q would have more than one possible answer that are equally correct.
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Kinda similar to my experience. The first half of the test I felt I was going to get 600+. Then during the second half I felt I'd be lucky to just pass.
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Took the Comlex today as well. Wow... there were some sections I feel like a 600+ is a real possibility. And then... the tough cruel seperators come in. I know for me there was one section where I marked 16 questions and another where I marked 18. The rest were under 8 or so. It felt a lot like a blend of the tough COMSAE questions mixed in with Combank material. A lot of tough tough anatomy+micro q's.
Just for reference: Over 2800 COMBANK q's and 1000+ COMquest q's+ 3 NBOME's are what I have done thoroughout the year
My 3 NBOME's averaged around 535. Also have done even more prep for the USMLE's.
Well... keeping up the hope alive of breaking 600+
Just for reference: Over 2800 COMBANK q's and 1000+ COMquest q's+ 3 NBOME's are what I have done thoroughout the year
My 3 NBOME's averaged around 535. Also have done even more prep for the USMLE's.
Well... keeping up the hope alive of breaking 600+
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On this test, how well you think or feel you did in comparison to reality is all up to the Lord if you believe in one or to chances if you don't.
One person's testing anecdote can be vastly different than that of another, and in no way an invalidation of another person's experience. Any personal observation is to be taken with a grain of salt or two, or sometimes a ladle.
Hence, I'd like to encourage the folks who will take the exam to believe in your intellectual capability, take pride in your arduous preparation, and overshadow the anxiety and frustration of this test. You shall come through!
Congratulation on everyone who has finished. Please make sure you recuperate and let's all hope for the best outcome.
One person's testing anecdote can be vastly different than that of another, and in no way an invalidation of another person's experience. Any personal observation is to be taken with a grain of salt or two, or sometimes a ladle.
Hence, I'd like to encourage the folks who will take the exam to believe in your intellectual capability, take pride in your arduous preparation, and overshadow the anxiety and frustration of this test. You shall come through!
Congratulation on everyone who has finished. Please make sure you recuperate and let's all hope for the best outcome.
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Is it true that only 5% of people fail and there is something like a 95% pass rate?
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From talking to a number of colleague who took the test on the same day, we came to a conclusion that there was at least 3 different versions that were administered on that day. However, we all had many, many identical questions. This compels me to believe that more than 50% of the qs are the same across all versions administered on the same day. But like I said, we are sure that they were different versions because each had unique qs that the other two forms didn't.
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So....how many questions can you theoretically miss and still pass? I wonder if they throw any questions out, one professor I talked to said the test isn't curved.
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I thought my exam was extremely Anatomy heavy as well, KNOW YOUR DERMATOMES. I felt like the test I took was very nit picky and asked very specific anatomy questions (ie you had to know the origin and insertion of muscles to answer some questions, you had to know what specific muscles nerves went through etc.) I would recommend getting a one month subscription to Kaplan Qbank, they did a decent job with Anatomy.
GI: My test was very heavy with GI, it seemed like every other question was either GI or a Gross Anatomy question. Lots of first order questions, a few second order, like what would a collateral circulation be if such and such a vessel is occluded.
OMM: I only had 1 OMM video that lasted about a minute, I couldn't quite tell what the physcian was doing to the patient, he just kept bending the legs backwards and forwards and it took me forever to understand what was being asked. VISEROSOMATICS.....................KNOW IT. I had to tun out during lunch and re memorize the stupid levels again from Savarese. There were something like 25 questions on it. The other OMM seemed like it was pretty basic, only 2 cranial questions overall that I screwed up because I couldn't remember what axis rotation was on.
Cardio: WTF...This was my strongest subject going in...had lots of weird physiology questions that not even UWORLD could have prepared me for. I had about 8 EKGs but based on the question stem you really didn't even need to open the EKG to answer the question. The quality of the EKGs was actaully very good, you could see all the lines very quickly and had no problem picking out WPW and the delta waves.
WBC: Had a ton of straight up "Did you remember this stupid translocation from Pathoma." By the end, I was all turned around and was mixing up 9:22 with "22:9" "2:929". WBC chapter in Pathoma was gold.
HEME: PATHOMA IS GOLD. Literally watched this chapter the night before and it paid off, my first section had 10 questions about clotting cascade/RBC disorders.
MICRO/PHARM: SKETCHY. Enough said. The other half of the test was Bugs and Drugs. Only 1 bioterrorism question that was straightforward, it was a "what would you treat if this patient who works for the government comes to you sick." They were very heavy with the histology on this test so I would spend time figuring out what actual structures look like. Know reproductive pharm as well, super heavy on my test. Lots of reproductive pharm that was not in first aid, I just marked c c c c c and moved on.
Overall, I felt like there was one section that was atrocious. I felt like I had about 10-15 in each sectinon that I was not sure of so I am not sure how well I did overall. I would honestly be happy with a 401.
GI: My test was very heavy with GI, it seemed like every other question was either GI or a Gross Anatomy question. Lots of first order questions, a few second order, like what would a collateral circulation be if such and such a vessel is occluded.
OMM: I only had 1 OMM video that lasted about a minute, I couldn't quite tell what the physcian was doing to the patient, he just kept bending the legs backwards and forwards and it took me forever to understand what was being asked. VISEROSOMATICS.....................KNOW IT. I had to tun out during lunch and re memorize the stupid levels again from Savarese. There were something like 25 questions on it. The other OMM seemed like it was pretty basic, only 2 cranial questions overall that I screwed up because I couldn't remember what axis rotation was on.
Cardio: WTF...This was my strongest subject going in...had lots of weird physiology questions that not even UWORLD could have prepared me for. I had about 8 EKGs but based on the question stem you really didn't even need to open the EKG to answer the question. The quality of the EKGs was actaully very good, you could see all the lines very quickly and had no problem picking out WPW and the delta waves.
WBC: Had a ton of straight up "Did you remember this stupid translocation from Pathoma." By the end, I was all turned around and was mixing up 9:22 with "22:9" "2:929". WBC chapter in Pathoma was gold.
HEME: PATHOMA IS GOLD. Literally watched this chapter the night before and it paid off, my first section had 10 questions about clotting cascade/RBC disorders.
MICRO/PHARM: SKETCHY. Enough said. The other half of the test was Bugs and Drugs. Only 1 bioterrorism question that was straightforward, it was a "what would you treat if this patient who works for the government comes to you sick." They were very heavy with the histology on this test so I would spend time figuring out what actual structures look like. Know reproductive pharm as well, super heavy on my test. Lots of reproductive pharm that was not in first aid, I just marked c c c c c and moved on.
Overall, I felt like there was one section that was atrocious. I felt like I had about 10-15 in each sectinon that I was not sure of so I am not sure how well I did overall. I would honestly be happy with a 401.
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I believe they either throw some questions out or some are experimental and don't count.
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Yes, this. I took my test the same day as you. In the first 2 blocks I was thinking, okay this isn't so so bad. Then as I went on, I started running out of time and had to rush and read the stems quickly and instinctively pick an answer and move on. The stems were getting longer and longer, on top of having to scroll through and look for the lab values. The second half of the exam I was so fatigued, which only made me run out of more time with the ever long stems. Sigh.
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Yes, this. I took my test the same day as you. In the first 2 blocks I was thinking, okay this isn't so so bad. Then as I went on, I started running out of time and had to rush and read the stems quickly and instinctively pick an answer and move on. The stems were getting longer and longer, on top of having to scroll through and look for the lab values. The second half of the exam I was so fatigued, which only made me run out of more time with the ever long stems. Sigh.
I'm with you buddy. Took the exam yesterday and really think fatigue plays a bigger role than anything else. I felt that some sections were relatively mild... but by the time you reach section 7 and the question stems and tables get longer and longer... more time gets used up on questions that would usually require a minute to complete when you had that right amount of energy. Because of the fear of these long question stems... I decided not to use any of my optional breaks as these would simply cut into the test time even more.
I'm taking the USMLE next week. Back to UWorld studying!
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As a tip for future test takers, use your tutorial time to copy down some of the more frequently referenced lab values if you don't know then by heart. I copied down clotting studies, CBCs, thyroid function studies, etc. Saved me a lot of time scrolling through charts later on in the exam.
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Damn, really? That would make sense. I had a block that felt notoriously hard. It didn't have those linked questions either, so that may be it.
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Yes, this. I took my test the same day as you. In the first 2 blocks I was thinking, okay this isn't so so bad. Then as I went on, I started running out of time and had to rush and read the stems quickly and instinctively pick an answer and move on. The stems were getting longer and longer, on top of having to scroll through and look for the lab values. The second half of the exam I was so fatigued, which only made me run out of more time with the ever long stems. Sigh.
Yeah it was definitely more of an endurance test than anything else. Towards the end, I was reading the questions and not picking up what they were trying to ask, so I'd go back and read them again. My brain was lagging behind my eyes. On other occasions I'd experience an absence seizure-like blackout while staring at the monitor. I had about 20 mins left at the end of my last block, and I had the intention to go back to the marked questions. Instead, decided to just submit and get done with it.
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Do you have a source on this? I believe you, I just haven't heard it before and would love to read about it. This would explain one hour of my afternoon on Thursday... there was definitely one block that didn't feel like the others.
