Official 2016 COMLEX Level 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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Here it is. Comlex level 1.

Anyone take the exam in February?
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dabrownsensation said:
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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Wow- thanks for this! I have just been hitting simulate exam and looked today and saw I haven't done even 1/4 of the ethics questions with 80% of the Qbank done. Thank you for your write up as well, I have been so anxious because it seemed like I was doing everything "wrong"- Sketchy, COMBANK etc. and starting to feel a bit hopeless.
 
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Poliscidoc said:
Is it true that only 5% of people fail and there is something like a 95% pass rate?


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According to our Level 1 lecture:

Nationally:
2015-2016 8% failed
2014-2015 6% failed
2013-2014 8% failed

Fail rate for USMLE Step 1 for 2015-2016 was 7% for DOs and 4% for US-MDs.
 
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I take my COMLEX on Monday and took the USMLE one week prior.

I'm starting to think I spent too much time this week on OMM and not enough going over FA again. Anyone else in the same boat? Starting to get a little bit worried
 
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A couple weeks out from my test date... For anyone who has taken COMLEX, would it be a huge waste of time to pull out my anatomy atlas in order to brush up on NMS anatomy, cranial nerve/peripheral nerves, dermatomes, and general landmarks?

FA has been great, but they really skimp on anatomy so I don't feel prepared for it. I've been hearing from classmates who just took it that a lot of questions require you to know specific locations and anatomy that wasn't covered in FA whatsoever. Not sure if an atlas would be overkill though.
 
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masterofnone101 said:
How true is it that there are experimental qs in the comlex? How many % right do you believe is passing/ 500/ 600?
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Assuming you get half the experimental questions right and half wrong and they can't hurt you then you would still probably need 200ish q's to pass. Since its variable how many experimental questions they are and different questions are worth different amounts 200 sounds about right.

Also Boards Boot Camp is the only place that I have heard that different questions count for .5-1.5 points (has anybody else heard this?)


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Poliscidoc said:
Assuming you get half the experimental questions right and half wrong and they can't hurt you then you would still probably need 200ish q's to pass. Since its variable how many experimental questions they are and different questions are worth different amounts 200 sounds about right.

Also Boards Boot Camp is the only place that I have heard that different questions count for .5-1.5 points (has anybody else heard this?)


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yeah i did hear a rumor that certain questions were weighted differently, but idk if its just a rumor, i can't confirm it.
 
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Ahh test Wednesday! Can't sleep and can't study. I have never had this type of anxiety. That 388 reallllyyy threw me off.
Finished COMBANK today 73%, COMQUEST- avg 74%. COMSAEs 388, 550. It's the "nothing predicts your score/passing" that is throwing me off.

I wonder if I would feel this kind of anxiety if I was taking Step 1. If I got a 180 on a practice test followed by a 220 I'd probably feel pretty good about passing. But reading about people getting 750 on the COMSAE and others dropping 50-100 points from COMSAE is scary.
 
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anabananafofana said:
Ahh test Wednesday! Can't sleep and can't study. I have never had this type of anxiety. That 388 reallllyyy threw me off.
Finished COMBANK today 73%, COMQUEST- avg 74%. COMSAEs 388, 550. It's the "nothing predicts your score/passing" that is throwing me off.

I wonder if I would feel this kind of anxiety if I was taking Step 1. If I got a 180 on a practice test followed by a 220 I'd probably feel pretty good about passing. But reading about people getting 750 on the COMSAE and others dropping 50-100 points from COMSAE is scary.
Click to expand...

Also taking Level 1 on wed. Had a week between step 1 and level 1. Worried about how little time I've put into COMLEX. I essentially went through green book once at a lazy pace in a week. Didn't do any questions. Worried about the NON-OMM material most because I feel like i've forgotten a lot of it in the past week. I'm just hoping for a favorable test lol.
 
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Is there a "scheduling permit" or anything like that we need to take to exam center? I couldn't find anything on NBOME website.

Its my understanding that we just need an ID to sit for the exam?
 
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gobigorgohome22 said:
Is there a "scheduling permit" or anything like that we need to take to exam center? I couldn't find anything on NBOME website.

Its my understanding that we just need an ID to sit for the exam?
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No scheduling permit needed for COMLEX, just an ID and the ability to understand extremely vague questions
 
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I feel like we had the same exact week since taking the USMLE. I'm taking the COMLEX tomorrow too and feel like I've been so lazy this past week. It's exhausting having to take another exam after last week... Good luck tomorrow- rock it!

gobigorgohome22 said:
Also taking Level 1 on wed. Had a week between step 1 and level 1. Worried about how little time I've put into COMLEX. I essentially went through green book once at a lazy pace in a week. Didn't do any questions. Worried about the NON-OMM material most because I feel like i've forgotten a lot of it in the past week. I'm just hoping for a favorable test lol.
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Bobcat18 said:
I feel like we had the same exact week since taking the USMLE. I'm taking the COMLEX tomorrow too and feel like I've been so lazy this past week. It's exhausting having to take another exam after last week... Good luck tomorrow- rock it!
Click to expand...

Yeah its been really hard to motivate myself to do any studying. My heart is just not in it any more. Appreciate the well wishes!!

May your CRI be 14 and the A.T. Still watch over you tomorrow!
 
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Took the COMLEX and now over the hangover from last night. Time to share/vent!

OMM: The OMM section is fairly straightforward. I had a lot of viscerosomatics and some videos that were very straightforward tests. You'll know them if you studied OMM out of Savarese. I had a few Chapman's points but more VS. This is the easiest section to prepare for by far!

My test was Micro, Ob/Gyn, Cardio and GI heavy. A lot of the questions seemed more appropriate for Level 2. I felt UW prepared me for most of these sufficiently.

I had some questions that were really out there - but it's pointless to try to prepare for those. I would recommend just guessing and moving onto the relatively easy questions rather than wasting crucial time trying to figure out WTF they're asking. There is no way to prepare for that or answer it. Perhaps they're experimental or will get thrown out due to too many people missing them... again, I don't recommending wasting your time on them. They're not that common in the grand scheme of things.

Know your EKGs! Also know the most common cause of X, Y, Z... they're easy points especially when you have to guess (just go with the most common cause of...).

I prepared for both USMLE and COMLEX and like others, I felt like the questions on the COMLEX were nothing like the practice questions on NBOME and nothing like COMBANK. The question stems have definitely become longer than what previous years or COMBANK portrayed.
 
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jnmdz said:
I took COMLEX last week and it was definitely in the former category. The most common resources (UWorld, First Aid, Pathoma, Sketchy, COMBANK, Savarese) were not enough for my form.
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I agree that most of those are not representative of the COMLEX anymore. But UW and Savarese helped me.
 
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Hey guys! I recently took USMLE and COMLEX, so just wanted to share my experiences. I agree that they're both completely different tests, I felt that COMLEX was more recall and buzz words while USMLE was multi-step questions that required a lot more thinking. I don't know if it's weird but I am freaking out about both but especially USMLE :( I can't stop thinking about the questions I got wrong. Is this normal!?!? I felt I did worse that during NBME's, so that makes me very nervous. I couldn't study for a few days in between tests because of how devastated I felt. My last NBME averages were from 215-232, so I'm hoping I stay in the range and COMSAE were form C 574 and form B 587 the week before the test.

For COMLEX, definitely neuro, micro (multiple bioterrorism questions, some that I don't think they ever taught us anywhere) and reproductive heavy. I also had like 10 EKGs. I felt OMM was not bad except for a few, so just study the basics and make sure to know your cranial axes, Chapman's points, and viscerosomatics. I wrote/drew all of those during the tutorial and definitely helped especially towards the end of the day. Stats were a piece of cake and they threw a few questions on types of insurance and things like that.

I was doing fine with timing for both but since the time keeps going for COMLEX, I had issues in the second half towards the end to the point I felt I was not going to finish. It totally freaked me out, so just pay attention to that.

I am so worried and just hope things work out! :3 Hope the info helps for those taking the exam soon!
 
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astrocyte_18 said:
Hey guys! I recently took USMLE and COMLEX, so just wanted to share my experiences. I agree that they're both completely different tests, I felt that COMLEX was more recall and buzz words while USMLE was multi-step questions that required a lot more thinking. I don't know if it's weird but I am freaking out about both but especially USMLE :( I can't stop thinking about the questions I got wrong. Is this normal!?!? I felt I did worse that during NBME's, so that makes me very nervous. I couldn't study for a few days in between tests because of how devastated I felt. My last NBME averages were from 215-232, so I'm hoping I stay in the range and COMSAE were form C 574 and form B 587 the week before the test.

For COMLEX, definitely neuro, micro (multiple bioterrorism questions, some that I don't think they ever taught us anywhere) and reproductive heavy. I also had like 10 EKGs. I felt OMM was not bad except for a few, so just study the basics and make sure to know your cranial axes, Chapman's points, and viscerosomatics. I wrote/drew all of those during the tutorial and definitely helped especially towards the end of the day. Stats were a piece of cake and they threw a few questions on types of insurance and things like that.

I was doing fine with timing for both but since the time keeps going for COMLEX, I had issues in the second half towards the end to the point I felt I was not going to finish. It totally freaked me out, so just pay attention to that.

I am so worried and just hope things work out! :3 Hope the info helps for those taking the exam soon!
Click to expand...

I had a similar experience. Taking the USMLE in next few days and already took the COMLEX. It has been hard to study and come to realize the stupid mistakes one made haha. I mean I know I misread words on super easy questions and mixed up names of nerves that made me miss a few. Many questions missed over stupid mistakes. I think it is natural. My scores are similar to yours and because of dumb little mistakes I just want to pass and move on at this point. The wait is going to be killer!
 
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astrocyte_18 said:
Hey guys! I recently took USMLE and COMLEX, so just wanted to share my experiences. I agree that they're both completely different tests, I felt that COMLEX was more recall and buzz words while USMLE was multi-step questions that required a lot more thinking. I don't know if it's weird but I am freaking out about both but especially USMLE :( I can't stop thinking about the questions I got wrong. Is this normal!?!? I felt I did worse that during NBME's, so that makes me very nervous. I couldn't study for a few days in between tests because of how devastated I felt. My last NBME averages were from 215-232, so I'm hoping I stay in the range and COMSAE were form C 574 and form B 587 the week before the test.

For COMLEX, definitely neuro, micro (multiple bioterrorism questions, some that I don't think they ever taught us anywhere) and reproductive heavy. I also had like 10 EKGs. I felt OMM was not bad except for a few, so just study the basics and make sure to know your cranial axes, Chapman's points, and viscerosomatics. I wrote/drew all of those during the tutorial and definitely helped especially towards the end of the day. Stats were a piece of cake and they threw a few questions on types of insurance and things like that.

I was doing fine with timing for both but since the time keeps going for COMLEX, I had issues in the second half towards the end to the point I felt I was not going to finish. It totally freaked me out, so just pay attention to that.

I am so worried and just hope things work out! :3 Hope the info helps for those taking the exam soon!
Click to expand...

Chances are if you studied for usmle, I think you will be fine. I seen my friends who studied for usmle and after using uworld they developed a natural cognition to choose the right answer even if they were unsure. So you might have an upper edge. Your practice comsaes are pretty good. Mine is around 560s+, so I am hoping to do well.
 
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Yeah so that was fun. I dont think the right word is difficult, UWorld is difficult, comlex was just ridiculous. Videos where I have to figure out the visual deficit but the camera angle kept changing so I messed up my right/left and had to rewatch a 40 sec video twice. Rinme/Weber video and a few more on special tests. The timing was ridiculous. I didn't think I'd have a problem- avg time for a combank question is 32sec but I ran out of time in the first half and had to do my last 4 questions in one minute. Second half was much better time wise but burnout is real. The majority of my stems were long or had random lab values. Sometimes I didn't even need them to solve the problem but I had to make sure they were all in range so I wasn't missing anything. I can easily count 8 easy questions I got wrong (not on the omm side- I can't even recall those) just because I flew through.

My test was repro & omm heavy. Definitely did not spend enough time with the green book so while I had a hard time with it I think if you make omm a priority while studying you'll be fine. Lots of vsms, treatment set up, ue/le and cranial on mine. Mine was limited in sacrum and ribs- what I focused on while studying. The rest of the test was so random, I felt like I studied wrong at times.. What was often asked was so specific, I did find a few I missed in fa though, I just didn't think it was that important. Don't make that mistake.
Heme onc- no cancer/translocation/all the fun stuff it took you forever to memorize. a few questions on anemia
Endo- my strongest but not too many questions. Questions I had were basic- diabetes, electrolyte balance, some tie in with repro hormones
Cardio- so. Many. Ekgs. And 2-3 descriptions of heart sounds, 1 actual heart sound. Cardio is not my favorite topic so I can't speak to how difficult it was but it wasn't fun. Spent what feels like forever studying anti arrhythmics and did not get a single question on them on my test.
Resp- 2 breath sounds, lots of tx qs
Other- insurance questions, weird ethics (I agree with whoever said use combank!), know the parts of Medicare and the difference between it and Medicaid. Had 3 questions on developmental milestones. Know how to do an apgar score!

Overall- I think if you're confident, well rested and studied well you'll be okay. I had some major anxiety and didn't sleep the night before and I felt that exhaustion was probably the hardest thing to overcome. And take step 1. I cancelled mine because I got a 388 on Comsae ~5 weeks out, I regret it. I feel like I should keep studying and not lose the momentum and take step but I'm worried I didn't pass comlex so I'll just wait until I get scores in case I need to study for both again.

Good luck to everyone!
 
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Anyone else think the comlex was inappropriately hard- especially the OMM portion? I took the comlex this past week and I had one section that was completely fair and I thought I did really well on- the second half of the exam was absolutely impossible. Half of the questions I didn't know what they were asking and the OMM questions were definitely not in the green book. Anyone know how they score the comlex since the tests aren't the same- is its based on anbell curve distrubution based on each test version or overall? Seems like the exams aren't of equal difficulty... Took both the usmle and comlex and I would take the usmle any day over the comlex. Worst test ever.
 
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Bobcat18 said:
Anyone else think the comlex was inappropriately hard- especially the OMM portion? I took the comlex this past week and I had one section that was completely fair and I thought I did really well on- the second half of the exam was absolutely impossible. Half of the questions I didn't know what they were asking and the OMM questions were definitely not in the green book. Anyone know how they score the comlex since the tests aren't the same- is its based on anbell curve distrubution based on each test version or overall? Seems like the exams aren't of equal difficulty... Took both the usmle and comlex and I would take the usmle any day over the comlex. Worst test ever.
Click to expand...

OMM on my test wasn't too bad. It was probably the only section that wasn't. Overall though, it was horrible. After walking out of USMLE, I thought no way COMLEX could be any worst. It seems I was mistaken. I would much rather the USMLE again!
 
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gobigorgohome22 said:
OMM on my test wasn't too bad. It was probably the only section that wasn't. Overall though, it was horrible. After walking out of USMLE, I thought no way COMLEX could be any worst. It seems I was mistaken. I would much rather the USMLE again!
Click to expand...
The difficulty of USMLE was due to very well written qs that take simple concepts and turn them into intellectually challenging ones. COMLEX version of difficulty is asking you about things that were never covered in med school, boards prep sources, etc. That what makes COMLEX a horrible test

I guess we'll have to wait another 3 weeks to find out how we did
 
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Ibn Alnafis MD said:
The difficulty of USMLE was due to very well written qs that take simple concepts and turn them into intellectually challenging ones. COMLEX version of difficulty is asking you about things that were never covered in med school, boards prep sources, etc. That what makes COMLEX a horrible test

I guess we'll have to wait another 3 weeks to find out how we did
Click to expand...

I am hoping they make a mistake and hit the release scores button early.
 
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NYPDO said:
Took the COMLEX and now over the hangover from last night. Time to share/vent!

OMM: The OMM section is fairly straightforward. I had a lot of viscerosomatics and some videos that were very straightforward tests. You'll know them if you studied OMM out of Savarese. I had a few Chapman's points but more VS. This is the easiest section to prepare for by far!

My test was Micro, Ob/Gyn, Cardio and GI heavy. A lot of the questions seemed more appropriate for Level 2. I felt UW prepared me for most of these sufficiently.

I had some questions that were really out there - but it's pointless to try to prepare for those. I would recommend just guessing and moving onto the relatively easy questions rather than wasting crucial time trying to figure out WTF they're asking. There is no way to prepare for that or answer it. Perhaps they're experimental or will get thrown out due to too many people missing them... again, I don't recommending wasting your time on them. They're not that common in the grand scheme of things.

Know your EKGs! Also know the most common cause of X, Y, Z... they're easy points especially when you have to guess (just go with the most common cause of...).

I prepared for both USMLE and COMLEX and like others, I felt like the questions on the COMLEX were nothing like the practice questions on NBOME and nothing like COMBANK. The question stems have definitely become longer than what previous years or COMBANK portrayed.
Click to expand...
Thank you! What do you mean by the most common cause of X,Y,Z exactly?
 
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Anyone know which day we're likely to get our score? The range is June 28-July 5th..... So more likely toward the beginning or end? Typical NBOME haha
 
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simbad8 said:
Anyone know which day we're likely to get our score? The range is June 28-July 5th..... So more likely toward the beginning or end? Typical NBOME haha
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I'm hoping for early in the time frame. From reading last years thread it can come at any time and maybe even earlier but that was very few and far between. This wait has been killing me too though if that helps lol


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Poliscidoc said:
I'm hoping for early in the time frame. From reading last years thread it can come at any time and maybe even earlier but that was very few and far between. This wait has been killing me too though if that helps lol


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Hahaha I just don't understand why it needs to be a range but oh well. At this point I wanna know and I don't at the same time haha I'm scared.
 
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simbad8 said:
Hahaha I just don't understand why it needs to be a range but oh well. At this point I wanna know and I don't at the same time haha I'm scared.
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I'm right there with you, when I walked out of the exam my only thought was- "I could have got a 300 or a 600". Good ole comlex


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Poliscidoc said:
First round of scores from the end of May to June 10th should be released today maybe?


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I Hope so, but the fact that they made the release date range so large makes me think we wont get it back until after the holiday. It would be nice to get it before the weekend though!
 
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cooper777 said:
I Hope so, but the fact that they made the release date range so large makes me think we wont get it back until after the holiday. It would be nice to get it before the weekend though!
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I just assumed "they" watch SDN and Twitter and after they have reached the minimum of breakdowns they hit release


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I got an exam that was fair but very much comsae like on June 27. The question stems were adequate. I think if you did uworld or combank you should be okay. Anytime there was a long question, just look at the last question and choose what you need to do.
My exam was marked by a ridiculous amount of microbiology (majority) and OMM, decent amount of neuro and musculoskeletal, some blocks with a theme with how many ways you can ask the same kind of question. The OMM was basically viscerosomatic reflexes. Lots of repro bleeds, some physio, pharm. management (ugh!), micro, micro, micro, my goodness. Some ecgs,a few short videos, and about 3-4 biostat questions. No calculation what so ever. Really make a chart for your bacterias for G+, G- with anaerobe and aerobes and know at least descriptions for each, because I am glad I did that - if I did not, I would have been french toast. I do not think I got any virus classifications, either. Also use that chart for viscerosomatic reflexes on youtube. You will need it for the last 3 blocks because your mind will shut down.
 
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apr27 said:
Thank you! What do you mean by the most common cause of X,Y,Z exactly?
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I mean most common causes of conditions in a certain demographic. If you get a vague question about a child with diarrhea, it'll help knowing the most common cause of diarrhea in children rather than trying to decipher what the hell the bug is that the question is describing. I didn't have that question, but just giving an illustration.
 
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For those of you waiting for scores today-7/5, talked to NBOME and sounds like its going to be 7/5 as they don't release scores Friday-Sunday or holidays.
 
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Checked email and NBOME all day today and I was half expecting to see this
Michelle_Dobyne_NotToday.jpg
 
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i've seen OB/GYN tossed around as a HY topic on comlex. Is that just referring to repro or literally anything that has to do with conception-->placenta previa etc...?
 
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apr27 said:
i've seen OB/GYN tossed around as a HY topic on comlex. Is that just referring to repro or literally anything that has to do with conception-->placenta previa etc...?
Click to expand...

I had a few questions on OBGYN but also on contraception and other weird nitpicking stuff. So I would sayOBGYN is pretty fair game I would say


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CajunMedic said:
Took COMSAE form E this morning: 495. Needed a 450 by school requirements. 6 weeks out from COMLEX.
Seemed more straightforward than what I was expecting. Had very few cranial questions. There were some stems that were equal, or greater in length to UWorld. A lot of Neuro and Micro.
Click to expand...

So, took COMSAE C on Monday: 498. After a month of DIT, Working on the second pass of COMBANK, UWorld, and reading a couple of chapters of "USMLE Step 1 Secrets" before bed. the 3 topics I did either poor or borderline performance on Form E, were all now good performance, and some that were previously good performance dropped to poor or borderline. I'm about 3 weeks out now.
 
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