Official 2016 COMLEX Level 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[Throwaway01]

Here it is. Comlex level 1.

Anyone take the exam in February?

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[FistLength]

Did anyone score below 600?? Haha congrats to all those who have posted so far. Amazing scores.


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non response bias

 

[simbad8]

Wondering if DIT + Savarese is enough to be adequately prepared just to pass COMLEX Level 1? Not looking for a great score

Yeah crazy how all these people managed to score so high.
I only studied for uworld and did the required comlex stuff for school

Comsae D (first wk of March)- 503
UWSA1 (mid March)- 204
NBMEs 15-18 (April+may)- 230s
UWSA2 (May after they changed to 40q)- 237
UW 1st pass- 53%
2nd- 74%
Combank (only did one pass)- 75%
Combank exam- 87% (apparently 98th percentile lol right)

Comlex- 551

Kinda feel like I should've done better than that but whatever considering comlex is such a terrible exam

 

[FistLength]

Time for me to give back to SDN land.

For my exam:
I felt the questions were less like COMBANK and more like NBME/UWorld.
Micro: Sketchy helped tremendously, about 2 times it did not. 1 you could get from q banks, 1 you just had to reason (which if you had passing knowledge of the microbe, you could get). Some questions were difficult because not only was the question vague, but the answer choices are vague as well. Similar to a hard UWorld micro question.

Pharm: Sketchy also helped tremendously. The information to answer 1-2 questions are not listed in any Qbank/FA. Not worth it hunting for obscure info. Use process of elimination and move on.

Path (in general): UFAP will mostly do the job nicely. Neuro I felt like you could not study for. You had your obvious questions that Q banks adequately cover, then you had deep anatomy/pathophys I don't recall seeing in FA/Qbanks, but were perhaps covered in coursework. If I had to go back and study for this exam, I do not know how I would prepare for neuro. Path section is also unfair. You will see 1 concept tested many, many times throughout the exam. I had 1 lesion tested about 5 times, quite literally. If you did not know this lesion, you were really going to have a crappy testing day. It's pretty ridiculous how often this happens.

I actually did study lightly during my 40 minute break and it paid off because I saw the same question type again with a slight twist, and I was able to answer it (I was seeing the trend of repeat questions...)

You will have to be able to answer questions based on images. I think that for the most part you can make an educated guess, but it came down to 50/50 and the image clinched it. I feel that in the NBME world images are trash and confuse you, but on the COMLEX it seemed legitimately necessary to see what was going on.
Biochem: Barely anything overtly biochem like.

You must know pathophys, the kind that NBME/UWorld go into. I was actually impressed by how they were asking questions. Felt very NBME like. Some information is not in UFAP that I overtly recall, you would have to reason your way. I used Boards and Beyond for some systems, he goes over pathophys well so I was not absolutely side swiped. I would not get boards and beyond at this point in your studying, but I am mentioning so I can give credit where credit is due.

Stats: Know FA, nothing special

Phys: I don't feel there were many straight phys, it was mostly pathophys that I remember.

OMM: I hate OMM with the exception of muscle energy/ sub occ release and a few things here and there. Studying for this section made me angry, having to memorize hallucinated "nodules"/cranial. I am mentioning it because this section is not my strong point. Before the exam I would get about 70% on OMM in COMBANK, rarely above that. My test was pretty hard OMM. One section was an absolute nightmare. Huge stems, and you can't properly skim unfortunately, becomes an absolute time sink. Again, I wouldn't know how to prepare for OMM on my exam. The easy layups were not the norm, but maybe because it is my weak subject I felt that way.

Time: You will definitely be pressed for time. The OMM questions will probably drag you down. Perhaps because COMBANK does not adequately mirror the stems my exam had, you cannot learn to beat these questions quickly. I would recommend not going over the 1 hour limit per section, you do not know what you may need the next section. Some sections I finished with 5-10 minutes left, one I was down 5-10 minutes (my absurdly difficult OMM section, only had 1 of those thankfully). Most sections I finished right on time, and I am a fast test taker. If you are slow, you really have to figure out a way to speed things up for this exam.

Breaks: don't take the optional 10 minute break. Amazing...it actually counts against your overall time. Someone at the NBOME was very dim when they thought of this idea. I went 8 hours taking only a 20 minute break instead of the optional 40 minute break. Just went for a walk outside and reviewed some info (and got 1 q right because of it).

Overall: I honestly felt like test writers knew of FA and tested concepts from FA in a UWorld/NBME style. I didn't think the test was horribly written. There were so many questions testing the same pathology it was shocking, not how I think a board exam should be written. If you see a pathology, you will probably be asked about it multiple times. It was not an easy exam. UFAP is your best bet, if you only did combank you were going to get hurt. I remember some questions that were not anywhere in any text that I have ever seen. You can mostly get down to 50/50.

I am almost 100% sure I passed, beyond that I don't know. So many neuro I guessed on, and OMM murdered me. Made educated guesses on a lot of questions. You are reading a synopsis of someone who scored about 510-520 on Comsae C 1 month ago, so you can figure the ballpark of my knowledge...its pretty average. Hope it helps.

 

[Poliscidoc]

Passed! Didnt blow it out of the water but hell I will take it. I'm not going to write a laundry list of things you need to know or what I did. But I did score well on the OMM portion and I didnt read the Green Book all I really did was watch and memorize 2 videos from youtube.

for Chapmans Points
for Viscerosomatics

 

[versicolorDO]

Have been following this thread, took the exam May 25th. I'm posting some stats b/c I know I loved these while searching through the threads.
COMQUEST avg > 70% (first pass random, timed)
COMBANK avg > 70% (first pass - did not finish it)
UWorld avg > 60% (first pass)
COMSAE D > 550 (taken 3 weeks earlier)
COMLEX I > 530

I think the comsaes have a +/- 20 buffer. I also wish I had more time to re-review COMQUEST and UWorld. Not a shiny score, but not limiting for what I'm looking to go into.

 

[hockey40]

I was apprehensive to post, but like the above poster stated, I enjoyed these threads/posts while studying so I figured I should give back.

Did purely UFAP + sketchy and savarese (3 days in between exams). I didn't pay too much attention to my UWORLD averages because I was going by system and assumed they were higher than if I did the qbank random. I only did one pass through both UWORLD and FA and make it count because I knew going through it again wouldn't help me as much. As like just about everyone else I felt like crap/was mad leaving the exam. The first 5 blocks were fine but the last three I marked about half of the questions for each. Those last three felt like a game show where you either randomly knew the answer or had to make the best educated guess you could. After 8 weeks of dedicated it was frustrating to say the least. Anyways, here are my practice tests and actual test breakdown.

COMSAE E (one week into dedicated) - 611
UWSA 1 (half way through dedicated) -245
UWSA 2 (one week before exam) - 251
NBME 16 (4 days before exam) - 251

COMLEX 1 - 740

Not entirely sure where that Level 1 score came from. My last couple blocks must've had quite a few experimental questions. All I can say is this test is designed to make you feel awful leaving it, so don't be discouraged if you feel that way. Good luck to all of those yet to receive scores!

 

[TheBDP]

I was apprehensive to post, but like the above poster stated, I enjoyed these threads/posts while studying so I figured I should give back.

Did purely UFAP + sketchy and savarese (3 days in between exams). I didn't pay too much attention to my UWORLD averages because I was going by system and assumed they were higher than if I did the qbank random. I only did one pass through both UWORLD and FA and make it count because I knew going through it again wouldn't help me as much. As like just about everyone else I felt like crap/was mad leaving the exam. The first 5 blocks were fine but the last three I marked about half of the questions for each. Those last three felt like a game show where you either randomly knew the answer or had to make the best educated guess you could. After 8 weeks of dedicated it was frustrating to say the least. Anyways, here are my practice tests and actual test breakdown.

COMSAE E (one week into dedicated) - 611
UWSA 1 (half way through dedicated) -245
UWSA 2 (one week before exam) - 251
NBME 16 (4 days before exam) - 251

COMLEX 1 - 740

Not entirely sure where that Level 1 score came from. My last couple blocks must've had quite a few experimental questions. All I can say is this test is designed to make you feel awful leaving it, so don't be discouraged if you feel that way. Good luck to all of those yet to receive scores!

Congrats, my friend

 

[Batman&Robbins]

Del

 

[col.hanslanda]

For those who took both exams:

Is doing COMBANK or COMQUEST a must? Have access, but haven't used either at all. (Focusing solely on UWORLD knowledge gaps). COMLEX in 4 days/Step 1 next week. Can I continue with UW& green book or should I switch over? If so, how many questions should I do minimum?

Com bank won't help at all for the omm maybe use it to review neuro, cardio, and msk. The omm now is super lengthy memorize your viscerosomatic, sympathetics and chapmans points


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[Batman&Robbins]

Del

 

[jnmdz]

For those who took both exams:

Is doing COMBANK or COMQUEST a must? Have access, but haven't used either at all. (Focusing solely on UWORLD knowledge gaps). COMLEX in 4 days/Step 1 next week. Can I continue with UW& green book or should I switch over? If so, how many questions should I do minimum?

I used combank for micro and OMM, but it wasn't very high yield for me. There was only 1 question on comlex that I can attribute a correct answer selection to combank.

The highest yield subject on combank is probably neuroanatomy, even though I didn't use it for that subject. That's the only thing that I would've changed about my prep if I wanted to focus on comlex. You may want to do OMM questions in one of the qbanks if it's a weak subject for you. Other than that, I would suggest sticking with USMLE-oriented resources.

 

[TheBDP]

For those who took both exams:

Is doing COMBANK or COMQUEST a must? Have access, but haven't used either at all. (Focusing solely on UWORLD knowledge gaps). COMLEX in 4 days/Step 1 next week. Can I continue with UW& green book or should I switch over? If so, how many questions should I do minimum?

I only used UWorld, FA, Pathoma, and sketchy and studied the green book in between my USMLE and COMLEX. 3 days is plenty for OMM.

 

[Batman&Robbins]

Del

 

[Poliscidoc]

I had more repro and neuro than anything else, I had 1 ekg and you didn't need to read the question it was obvious as could be


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[Sloosha]

I also passed.

Everything here happened within 6 months. I did COMBANK first, hated it with a fiery passion. I took COMSAE E, did not feel happy with the score, so I switched to UWORLD entirely, felt completely stupefied but loved it. I then did COMSAE D, felt better but not so confident. I freaked out, purchased COMQUEST, loved it. I took COMSAE C, felt worse since there was no improvement. I decided to finish COMQUEST while redoing COMBANK's OMM (they added a lot more questions.) After that, I took one last COMSAE B, there was some improvement. Days before the exam, I crammed on Kaplan Qbank by subjects (Pharm, Micro, Anatomy, Social Sciences, Biostats) - I just felt numb around this time.

I spent an exorbitant amount of time reading the explanation of the question banks and wrecked my FA with notes. Every day I reviewed some Sketchy Micro and Pathoma, all golden materials. By the time Sketchy Pharm came out I was too burnt out to get them in my brain.

The poor Uber guy was concerned since I was tearing up on the way back from that exam. That was how bad I felt.

Here comes the juicy part

UWORLD - 60%
Kaplan QBank - 66%
COMBANK - 65%
COMQUEST - 77%

COMSAE Form E - 440+
COMSAE Form D - 520+
COMSAE Form C - 520+
COMSAE Form B - 560+

COMLEX - 620+

 

[hanz504]

Wondering if DIT + Savarese is enough to be adequately prepared just to pass COMLEX Level 1? Not looking for a great score

yes

 

[recycledpaper]

So what's the general correlation with COMLEX and Step scores? I'm aiming for 245+, but seeing a 606, not sure if that makes me super confident I'd hit 245. Any stories/experiences that say otherwise? I guess we'll all find out next Wednesday anyway.

 

[jnmdz]

So what's the general correlation with COMLEX and Step scores? I'm aiming for 245+, but seeing a 606, not sure if that makes me super confident I'd hit 245. Any stories/experiences that say otherwise? I guess we'll all find out next Wednesday anyway.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...h-both-comlex-usmle-scores-2013-2015.1180482/

 

[drklouds]

comsae D (5/25): 523
UW1 (2 weeks out): 210
UW2 (1 week out): 211 (strong week between LOL)
UW avg (60% completed): 65%
Combank avg (all of OMM a lil micro): 80%

other resources used:
-FA read through 2x and then setions I felt weak on the last week
-DIT (w/o OMM)
-Pathoma

real deal comlex on 5/28: 579- I'm happy with it...exceeded my expectations
cancelled my USMLE a week before bc a 210 just wouldn't cut it...: (
feel free to ask questions-happy to help!

 

[versicolorDO]

Now just to wait for USMLE scores.. July 13th, I didn't post my nbme stats previously, I took 2.

Nbme 15 >225
Nbme 17 >230
Uworld avg >60%

They were taken maybe 3 weeks apart around the same timeline as my comlex. Let's see how that goes.

If I get around a 230 I will be very satisfied and it'll be equivalently above average to my comlex

 

[versicolorDO]

For those who took both exams:

Is doing COMBANK or COMQUEST a must? Have access, but haven't used either at all. (Focusing solely on UWORLD knowledge gaps). COMLEX in 4 days/Step 1 next week. Can I continue with UW& green book or should I switch over? If so, how many questions should I do minimum?

not necessary - Just go through the videos posted above the thread w viscerosomatics(levels). Tbh OMM wasn't that hard on my exam.

 

[versicolorDO]

I had more repro and neuro than anything else, I had 1 ekg and you didn't need to read the question it was obvious as could be


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There were a lot of EKGs on my version of the exam I felt that comquest helped with that portion.

It goes to show that no one test is the same - future test takers - just prepare the best you can

 

[astrocyte_18]

Now just to wait for USMLE scores.. July 13th, I didn't post my nbme stats previously, I took 2.

Nbme 15 >225
Nbme 17 >230
Uworld avg >60%

They were taken maybe 3 weeks apart around the same timeline as my comlex. Let's see how that goes.

If I get around a 230 I will be very satisfied and it'll be equivalently above average to my comlex

I had similar NBME averages and I'm just so anxious ( Every time I think about the test, I start freaking out! I really hope the score is close to the NBME's, I just found the test so different and more difficult.

 

[heraclez]

I want to contribute back to the Student Doctor community because I’ve found everyone else’s experiences so helpful. Thank you all. Here’s my experience.

Comlex-1: 735

Studying for Boards:

Key Points:

1. Start studying early- as early as humanly possible:

a. All the endless advice I heard starting from first year was insane. “Don’t start studying for boards yet- it’s too early, you’ll burn out!” or some sort of variation of this. This was the most detrimental piece of advice I’ve ever heard and I am so sad that people believed this. The one thing you should be doing starting even before med school is preparing yourself with how to google and look up pertinent information. I found Medscape pretty early on in the first year which helped infinitely. I also bought and started firecracker from DAY ONE. Just tagging topics and forcing myself to spend a minimum of an hour a day working on review questions etc. If I finished all my questions in less than an hour or I had extra time- I would tag new topics and do those questions. I would find topics that I found interesting and just learn about it. Live and breathe this ****.

i. I’m a relatively lazy person- I hate the idea of having to go back and do something- cause that just takes more effort. I’ve always been like this. Minimal effort is best. Thus for medical school- it was much easier for me to study a bit everyday versus CRAMMING. So much less stressful.

2. Know WHEN and WHERE you are productive, and know WHAT makes you productive:

a. When: I seemed to be most productive in the mornings- PLUS I need structure. So I would wake up 2 hours before class every day. Go to the gym and maybe have 30 minutes to review **** before class- or work on my firecracker deck. Sometimes if class started late- I was way more productive, being able to study for a few hours on my own after I went to the gym. Weekends- same thing. Wake up at the same time, sleep at the same time. Of course- I would allow myself to sleep in every once in a while. Productivity for me came in waves- which makes it even MORE important to start this cycle early, in first year- so there is more room for error. I was also only productive until around 5 or 6pm. Sometimes I would push myself to 7pm, but I ALWAYS found time to unwind- Netflix, video games (which was actually a bad idea- see WHAT category below), and reading a non-stressful book.

i. When I was studying for dedicated- I did almost no studying. I would say I had Uworld and Kaplan done at least a month before hand. So I would do practice tests- Like almost all of them- and it became kinda fun. I studied at most 4-5 hours a day.

b. Where: I only studied outside my house- basically don’t **** where you eat. (**** = study, even though I would study at a buffet sometimes: don’t judge me.) If you study in bed- you might as well sleep. Don’t mix business with pleasure or your mind will wander. I’m sure there are people who are super productive in bed- but I am too easily distractable. I’ll just immediately play video games in my room or just take a nap if I’m at home. So I went to a coffee shop- anywhere with internet.

c. What: My mentality was super important- stop fighting the answers, stop thinking that everything is out to get you. If you get a question wrong- Figure out why. Don’t ignore it and move on. That’s the worst thing you can do. If you have a question- FIGURE IT OUT THEN AND THERE- DO NOT WAIT—Or you will forget it forever. That was my experience. I stated this already, but having a structured schedule was super important as well. Also keeping my life simple was also very helpful. Simple meals, simple clothes, simple whatever. Have everything ready for the week if possible. Grab the same bag everyday, grab the same clothes etc etc etc. Make everything simple and easy so the ONLY thing you are really stressed about is Medical stuff. Keep your stress minimal! That includes social events- it may not seem stressful and may seem like it’s “relaxing”- but evaluate what it’s really doing to you. If it doesn’t recharge you, and you don’t feel re-energized the next morning- keep that **** to a minimum. (Don’t get me wrong- I played video games SO MUCH and it was always way more stressful to me then relaxing- BAD IDEA!!! But whatever. It was fun- DON’T JUDGE ME! YOU’RE NOT MY REAL MOM!)

i. I may be a weird kid- but I think I got my own method of doing questions DOWN:

1. I rush through a question. I read the LAST sentence, then read the answers. If I can’t figure out the answer from this- I read one sentence back- then answers again. Etc. The average time I would spend on any multiple choice question is probably at MOST 30 seconds.

2. I also speed read questions- Skip words like: the, of, and, is, what, who, etc etc etc. When you get better- you start skipping almost ALL common words and only see the buzz words that are specific to the question. And you notice that most questions have a lot of common words like “patient, symptoms started, blah blah blah”. All useless. Even words like “Fever, Abdominal pain, Discharge, elevated liver enzymes, alcohol use, smoking history” were ALMOST useless- because they are TOO non specific to just ONE disease process. Until you see something like “abdominal pain with positive murphys sign” then you can narrow it down.

3. Keep your resources simple:

a. My resources included: Firecracker, Medscape, Uworld qbank, Kaplan qbank

b. I never watched sketchy-micro, used picmonic, DIT, whatever whatever. I didn’t even use the holy grail of board studying: First aid. None of that ****. I would watch a few youtube videos every once in a while- like for heart sounds (to hear them) or weird Cell Bio things. Otherwise- Medscape, firecracker and Wikipedia was enough.

c. I started doing Kaplan questions DURING THE SECOND YEAR- which I regret. I think starting early WITH each school subject like Microbio or whatever would have been SUPER helpful. Unfortunately we have anatomy at my school first- and that’s too general to do only ANATOMY specific questions… so I guess I would have started within the first couple months of school maybe the 2nd semester of first year.

d. ONLY TIMED mode: I never did tutor mode- I’m sure it would have been fine. But when I did questions I wanted to make sure it was similar to a BLOCK of questions. I had to tone back the number of questions I did per week- I was doing 88 questions a day minimum and one of my classes dropped to less than Honors- which I found upsetting. Once I toned it down to like 44 questions every other day with 88 questions on Saturday and Sunday each- it was much more manageable.

4. Don’t take everyone’s advice:

a. You have to figure out which advice you hear applies to you.

b. General Rule: If the piece of advice you get seems too good to be true, it almost ALWAYS is

i. Examples:

1. “You don’t need to study your first year in medical school for boards! Just wait!”

a. Worst idea ever- WHEN has Procrastination EVER been the answer to doing well? Sure you may be able to do really well by cramming later- but I ain’t about that stress.

2. “Just memorize this mnemonic- it helps me with this”

a. I ****ing HATED mneumonics! It has never worked for me ever. It takes me more effort remember the nonsense mneumonic and then I have no idea Wtf it even meant. This is the problem I think with Eponymous diseases like “Krabbe’s disease” or “gaucher’s disease” or “Kaplan syndrome” or whatever. IT TELLS YOU NOTHING ABOUT the disease!!!

b. There were a few I did and couldn’t help remember- Like MUDPILES. But very few helped me

3. “Grades don’t really matter.”

a. Bull**** that lazy people say to make them feel better about not doing well in class. Yes to some extent it is absolutely true. If you crush boards and everything else and get average grades- then no problem, but my point is that doing well in classes- Understanding the MATERIAL almost always correlates with better board scores.

b. This doesn’t mean you should QUIBBLE over POINTS! If you get something wrong- just understand WHY you got it wrong. Don’t fight so hard for your own answer that you miss the ENTIRE learning point- This happens a lot with people.

4. “You did to well on that test, you can relax for now”

a. You really can’t. Sure you did well. But never rest on your laurels- you get lazy, you forget everything and you everything falls apart. It’s like dieting or exercise. It’s a LIFESTYLE change- not a fad or a temporary thing. You’re spending a **** ton of money to pursue this career goal- you better know how to succeed, and you better not be lazy about it.

5. “People who talk to the professor after class are just trying to score brownie points”

a. Bull****- talk to your professors- talk to your betters- LEARN SOMETHING MORE than what they lecture you on. You can always learn MORE one on one then in a group lecture. ALWAYS HANDS DOWN 100% always all the time. Don’t be scared to ask questions, don’t be scared to talk to your teachers. You’re here to learn- **** posterity.

i. Side note: I actually stopped asking questions in class because I think my questions started stressing people out too much. I had a genuine curiosity of something, but it would always be construed as “Holy **** do I need to know that for the exam???”- Ugh.

6. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, you’re doing fine.”

a. I’m so tired of this bull****. If being hard on yourself works for you to become more productive. Then do it. Just stay practical about it. No use in worrying over something you cannot change. LEARN what you can CHANGE based on EVIDENCE. Also don’t just change your study habits COMPLETELY just because you didn’t get 100% on the exam. You have to figure out what works for you:

i. Example: if I got a 94 on the first exam (with the same professors) and then I got a 98 on the second test- I immediately check the average and std deviation. I only truly did BETTER if I was in a higher percentile: meaning that given all the same resources and time- was I MORE efficient at learning the material than my peers- and then I think- What did I do differently then them? If I did really well- I keep doing what I did. If I dropped to AVERAGE or even within 0.5 to 1std deviation- I would spend MORE time studying than usual.

7. “Gunner’s only care about getting good grades themselves.”

a. Not true! The best way to learn something is to teach it- and to teach it CORRECTLY. If you can help your peers by explaining topics- you will ****ing remember it FOREVER. This is one of the BEST ways to study.

b. But never try to LEARN SOMETHING TOGETHER. It’s just too inefficient. Learn it on your own first. Then Go over it together- that works. Teach each other new things. Interesting things.

5. My Scores:

a. May 17th: Comsae-E (school purchased)

i. 679 (finished in about half the allotted time)

b. May 19th: NBME12

i. 630 / 256

c. May 20th: NBME16

i. 620/ 254

d. May 21st: NBME13

i. 630/ 256 (I started getting frustrated and studied a bit harder)

e. May 22nd: UWSA1

i. 690/ 269

f. May 24th: NBME15

i. 640/ 258

g. May 26th: NBME17

i. 640/ 258

h. May 28th: NBME18

i. 670/ 267

i. May 30th: UWSA2

i. 660/ 262

j. COMLEX ON JUNE 10th!

i. 735

1. Surprised! Didn’t study as much the days before the exam. At most 3 hours a day.

2. I finished the exam in less time that Step 1. I was RUSHING through it. I would only read the last sentence. Then read the answers- if I didn’t come up with an answer, I’d read the sentence before the last one. Etc. I started at 8:00am and left the testing center at 1:00pm. Took all my breaks etc etc. I just stopped caring- and I think it helped. But that could just be me. It stopped me from overthinking stuff. I’m sure I got some things wrong because I rushed through it too quickly- but whatever. J

 

[Mad Jack]

Sketchy is enough for the USMLE, but COMLEX, not so much unfortunately. I honestly don't know how I would reasonably prepare for COMLEX micro, as some of it wasn't even zebras, it was ****ing unicorns. Sketchy will cover some of it, but not all of it.

 

[guylewis]

I want to contribute back to the Student Doctor community because I’ve found everyone else’s experiences so helpful. Thank you all. Here’s my experience.

Comlex-1: 735

Studying for Boards:

Key Points:

1. Start studying early- as early as humanly possible:

a. All the endless advice I heard starting from first year was insane. “Don’t start studying for boards yet- it’s too early, you’ll burn out!” or some sort of variation of this. This was the most detrimental piece of advice I’ve ever heard and I am so sad that people believed this. The one thing you should be doing starting even before med school is preparing yourself with how to google and look up pertinent information. I found Medscape pretty early on in the first year which helped infinitely. I also bought and started firecracker from DAY ONE. Just tagging topics and forcing myself to spend a minimum of an hour a day working on review questions etc. If I finished all my questions in less than an hour or I had extra time- I would tag new topics and do those questions. I would find topics that I found interesting and just learn about it. Live and breathe this ****.

i. I’m a relatively lazy person- I hate the idea of having to go back and do something- cause that just takes more effort. I’ve always been like this. Minimal effort is best. Thus for medical school- it was much easier for me to study a bit everyday versus CRAMMING. So much less stressful.

2. Know WHEN and WHERE you are productive, and know WHAT makes you productive:

a. When: I seemed to be most productive in the mornings- PLUS I need structure. So I would wake up 2 hours before class every day. Go to the gym and maybe have 30 minutes to review **** before class- or work on my firecracker deck. Sometimes if class started late- I was way more productive, being able to study for a few hours on my own after I went to the gym. Weekends- same thing. Wake up at the same time, sleep at the same time. Of course- I would allow myself to sleep in every once in a while. Productivity for me came in waves- which makes it even MORE important to start this cycle early, in first year- so there is more room for error. I was also only productive until around 5 or 6pm. Sometimes I would push myself to 7pm, but I ALWAYS found time to unwind- Netflix, video games (which was actually a bad idea- see WHAT category below), and reading a non-stressful book.

i. When I was studying for dedicated- I did almost no studying. I would say I had Uworld and Kaplan done at least a month before hand. So I would do practice tests- Like almost all of them- and it became kinda fun. I studied at most 4-5 hours a day.

b. Where: I only studied outside my house- basically don’t **** where you eat. (**** = study, even though I would study at a buffet sometimes: don’t judge me.) If you study in bed- you might as well sleep. Don’t mix business with pleasure or your mind will wander. I’m sure there are people who are super productive in bed- but I am too easily distractable. I’ll just immediately play video games in my room or just take a nap if I’m at home. So I went to a coffee shop- anywhere with internet.

c. What: My mentality was super important- stop fighting the answers, stop thinking that everything is out to get you. If you get a question wrong- Figure out why. Don’t ignore it and move on. That’s the worst thing you can do. If you have a question- FIGURE IT OUT THEN AND THERE- DO NOT WAIT—Or you will forget it forever. That was my experience. I stated this already, but having a structured schedule was super important as well. Also keeping my life simple was also very helpful. Simple meals, simple clothes, simple whatever. Have everything ready for the week if possible. Grab the same bag everyday, grab the same clothes etc etc etc. Make everything simple and easy so the ONLY thing you are really stressed about is Medical stuff. Keep your stress minimal! That includes social events- it may not seem stressful and may seem like it’s “relaxing”- but evaluate what it’s really doing to you. If it doesn’t recharge you, and you don’t feel re-energized the next morning- keep that **** to a minimum. (Don’t get me wrong- I played video games SO MUCH and it was always way more stressful to me then relaxing- BAD IDEA!!! But whatever. It was fun- DON’T JUDGE ME! YOU’RE NOT MY REAL MOM!)

i. I may be a weird kid- but I think I got my own method of doing questions DOWN:

1. I rush through a question. I read the LAST sentence, then read the answers. If I can’t figure out the answer from this- I read one sentence back- then answers again. Etc. The average time I would spend on any multiple choice question is probably at MOST 30 seconds.

2. I also speed read questions- Skip words like: the, of, and, is, what, who, etc etc etc. When you get better- you start skipping almost ALL common words and only see the buzz words that are specific to the question. And you notice that most questions have a lot of common words like “patient, symptoms started, blah blah blah”. All useless. Even words like “Fever, Abdominal pain, Discharge, elevated liver enzymes, alcohol use, smoking history” were ALMOST useless- because they are TOO non specific to just ONE disease process. Until you see something like “abdominal pain with positive murphys sign” then you can narrow it down.

3. Keep your resources simple:

a. My resources included: Firecracker, Medscape, Uworld qbank, Kaplan qbank

b. I never watched sketchy-micro, used picmonic, DIT, whatever whatever. I didn’t even use the holy grail of board studying: First aid. None of that ****. I would watch a few youtube videos every once in a while- like for heart sounds (to hear them) or weird Cell Bio things. Otherwise- Medscape, firecracker and Wikipedia was enough.

c. I started doing Kaplan questions DURING THE SECOND YEAR- which I regret. I think starting early WITH each school subject like Microbio or whatever would have been SUPER helpful. Unfortunately we have anatomy at my school first- and that’s too general to do only ANATOMY specific questions… so I guess I would have started within the first couple months of school maybe the 2nd semester of first year.

d. ONLY TIMED mode: I never did tutor mode- I’m sure it would have been fine. But when I did questions I wanted to make sure it was similar to a BLOCK of questions. I had to tone back the number of questions I did per week- I was doing 88 questions a day minimum and one of my classes dropped to less than Honors- which I found upsetting. Once I toned it down to like 44 questions every other day with 88 questions on Saturday and Sunday each- it was much more manageable.

4. Don’t take everyone’s advice:

a. You have to figure out which advice you hear applies to you.

b. General Rule: If the piece of advice you get seems too good to be true, it almost ALWAYS is

i. Examples:

1. “You don’t need to study your first year in medical school for boards! Just wait!”

a. Worst idea ever- WHEN has Procrastination EVER been the answer to doing well? Sure you may be able to do really well by cramming later- but I ain’t about that stress.

2. “Just memorize this mnemonic- it helps me with this”

a. I ****ing HATED mneumonics! It has never worked for me ever. It takes me more effort remember the nonsense mneumonic and then I have no idea Wtf it even meant. This is the problem I think with Eponymous diseases like “Krabbe’s disease” or “gaucher’s disease” or “Kaplan syndrome” or whatever. IT TELLS YOU NOTHING ABOUT the disease!!!

b. There were a few I did and couldn’t help remember- Like MUDPILES. But very few helped me

3. “Grades don’t really matter.”

a. Bull**** that lazy people say to make them feel better about not doing well in class. Yes to some extent it is absolutely true. If you crush boards and everything else and get average grades- then no problem, but my point is that doing well in classes- Understanding the MATERIAL almost always correlates with better board scores.

b. This doesn’t mean you should QUIBBLE over POINTS! If you get something wrong- just understand WHY you got it wrong. Don’t fight so hard for your own answer that you miss the ENTIRE learning point- This happens a lot with people.

4. “You did to well on that test, you can relax for now”

a. You really can’t. Sure you did well. But never rest on your laurels- you get lazy, you forget everything and you everything falls apart. It’s like dieting or exercise. It’s a LIFESTYLE change- not a fad or a temporary thing. You’re spending a **** ton of money to pursue this career goal- you better know how to succeed, and you better not be lazy about it.

5. “People who talk to the professor after class are just trying to score brownie points”

a. Bull****- talk to your professors- talk to your betters- LEARN SOMETHING MORE than what they lecture you on. You can always learn MORE one on one then in a group lecture. ALWAYS HANDS DOWN 100% always all the time. Don’t be scared to ask questions, don’t be scared to talk to your teachers. You’re here to learn- **** posterity.

i. Side note: I actually stopped asking questions in class because I think my questions started stressing people out too much. I had a genuine curiosity of something, but it would always be construed as “Holy **** do I need to know that for the exam???”- Ugh.

6. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, you’re doing fine.”

a. I’m so tired of this bull****. If being hard on yourself works for you to become more productive. Then do it. Just stay practical about it. No use in worrying over something you cannot change. LEARN what you can CHANGE based on EVIDENCE. Also don’t just change your study habits COMPLETELY just because you didn’t get 100% on the exam. You have to figure out what works for you:

i. Example: if I got a 94 on the first exam (with the same professors) and then I got a 98 on the second test- I immediately check the average and std deviation. I only truly did BETTER if I was in a higher percentile: meaning that given all the same resources and time- was I MORE efficient at learning the material than my peers- and then I think- What did I do differently then them? If I did really well- I keep doing what I did. If I dropped to AVERAGE or even within 0.5 to 1std deviation- I would spend MORE time studying than usual.

7. “Gunner’s only care about getting good grades themselves.”

a. Not true! The best way to learn something is to teach it- and to teach it CORRECTLY. If you can help your peers by explaining topics- you will ****ing remember it FOREVER. This is one of the BEST ways to study.

b. But never try to LEARN SOMETHING TOGETHER. It’s just too inefficient. Learn it on your own first. Then Go over it together- that works. Teach each other new things. Interesting things.

5. My Scores:

a. May 17th: Comsae-E (school purchased)

i. 679 (finished in about half the allotted time)

b. May 19th: NBME12

i. 630 / 256

c. May 20th: NBME16

i. 620/ 254

d. May 21st: NBME13

i. 630/ 256 (I started getting frustrated and studied a bit harder)

e. May 22nd: UWSA1

i. 690/ 269

f. May 24th: NBME15

i. 640/ 258

g. May 26th: NBME17

i. 640/ 258

h. May 28th: NBME18

i. 670/ 267

i. May 30th: UWSA2

i. 660/ 262

j. COMLEX ON JUNE 10th!

i. 735

1. Surprised! Didn’t study as much the days before the exam. At most 3 hours a day.

2. I finished the exam in less time that Step 1. I was RUSHING through it. I would only read the last sentence. Then read the answers- if I didn’t come up with an answer, I’d read the sentence before the last one. Etc. I started at 8:00am and left the testing center at 1:00pm. Took all my breaks etc etc. I just stopped caring- and I think it helped. But that could just be me. It stopped me from overthinking stuff. I’m sure I got some things wrong because I rushed through it too quickly- but whatever. J

I'm not saying you didn't do stellar, but it basically felt like I was just talked down to for that entire advice column. But congrats on the score

 

[Back 5]

I'm not saying you didn't do stellar, but it basically felt like I was just talked down to for that entire advice column. But congrats on the score

Dude, just score 250+ on all your practice tests. It's easy.

 

[heraclez]

I'm not saying you didn't do stellar, but it basically felt like I was just talked down to for that entire advice column. But congrats on the score

I'm sorry. Re-reading my post- it did feel really ... negative.

 

[LittleFoot]

I'm sorry. Re-reading my post- it did feel really ... negative.

Random question- do you go to COMP?

 

[AlgernonMed]

My wife had a dream I got a 440....I'll let you all know if she's psychic. Lol


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[dfib slim]

My wife had a dream I got a 440....I'll let you all know if she's psychic. Lol


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

Sounds more like a nightmare.

 

[AlgernonMed]

Sounds more like a nightmare.

Yeah, let's just say my level of anxiety shot up after she told me that....

 

[Postictal Raiden]

Sounds more like a nightmare.

Yeah, but at this point, knowing that you passed, even with a lower than average score, would be a great relief.

 

[Ubiquinator]

For all the students who have yet to take COMLEX level 1, please don't listen to the hype everyone on this thread gives it. Med students absolutely love to complain, especially those with a sub-par intellectual capacity. Sure, the COMLEX is tough and has a good number of wth questions but it is absolutely doable. It's no where near the level of difficulty or ambiguity that students on this thread make it out to be. Study hard, do your best, and you will be just fine.

 

[ray656712]

What source did yall use for the tender point stuff? We have an "Atlas of common counterstrain tender points" that ive used the past two years, but some of the info is different than what's in the green book.

 

[TheBDP]

For all the students who have yet to take COMLEX level 1, please don't listen to the hype everyone on this thread gives it. Med students absolutely love to complain, especially those with a sub-par intellectual capacity. Sure, the COMLEX is tough and has a good number of wth questions but it is absolutely doable. It's no where near the level of difficulty or ambiguity that students on this thread make it out to be. Study hard, do your best, and you will be just fine.

Absolutely doable, but I disagree on the ambiguity aspect of your argument. Far too many questions required assumptions that I wouldn't be comfortable making in real life.

 

[drwatson1575]

What source did yall use for the tender point stuff? We have an "Atlas of common counterstrain tender points" that ive used the past two years, but some of the info is different than what's in the green book.

How many questions on tender points have previous test takers encountered?

 

[ray656712]

How many questions on tender points have previous test takers encountered?

I've spoken to several that have mentioned them, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to learn the big ones. Would hate to lose easy points.

 

[LittleFoot]

For all the students who have yet to take COMLEX level 1, please don't listen to the hype everyone on this thread gives it. Med students absolutely love to complain, especially those with a sub-par intellectual capacity. Sure, the COMLEX is tough and has a good number of wth questions but it is absolutely doable. It's no where near the level of difficulty or ambiguity that students on this thread make it out to be. Study hard, do your best, and you will be just fine.

I don't think complaining has any correlation with intellect. But if it did, med school must be full of idiots lol...

 

[JustaDO]

Med students absolutely love to complain, especially those with a sub-par intellectual capacity.

Funny, I was thinking the same of those who try to speak from a high pedestal.

 

[something interesting]

I wanted to share this because I have received a lot of advice from these threads in the past.

In an 8 week semi-dedicated study period (had to do psychiatry, shelf exams, and ACLS in the middle of this), I used DIT/First aid for the bulk of my studying. Other than that I only used pathoma to supplement my pathology knowledge (second pass). I also used UWorld and combank for my Qbanks (1 pass for both of them). But I think one of the most important aspect of my studying was the full day practice tests I took. It is worth the money to buy two exams at a time and do them in 1 day.

Combank question bank (78%)

Uworld question bank (72%)

Combank Assessment exam:

1. 1/22/16 – 71%

2. 5/6/16 – 92%

Uworld assessment exam:

1. 4/4/16 – 234

2. 4/16/16 – 247

NBME practice exams:

NBME 13 (4/16/16) – 232

NBME 15 (5/2/16) – 258

NBME 16 (5/18/16) – 243

NBME 18 (5/18/16) – 251

COMSAE D (5/6/16) -- 767

DIT practice exam:

1. 92%

2. 92%

COMLEX Level 1 (5/24/16) – 710

USMLE Step 1 (5/27/16) – 252

I was very excited with both of my scores. It was a lot of hard work to get to that point. There are no easy short cuts, but reading pathoma and first aid during the 2nd year really helped when it was time to review all the material during my study period. Even more so, because my school only gave us 3 weeks of actual free time to study for the exams.

Good luck to all those still waiting for their scores or have yet to take the exams.

 

[ortnakas]

How many questions on tender points have previous test takers encountered?

Admittedly I don't remember. However, on principle I refused to cram counterstrain, and I overall I don't regret that decision. I probably missed a couple, but in general I just went with the "find it fold it hold it" logic and called it good. Save your valuable brain space for viscerosomatics and Chapman's (as far as OPP goes)

 

[Skynnyrd]

I wanted to share this because I have received a lot of advice from these threads in the past.

In an 8 week semi-dedicated study period (had to do psychiatry, shelf exams, and ACLS in the middle of this), I used DIT/First aid for the bulk of my studying. Other than that I only used pathoma to supplement my pathology knowledge (second pass). I also used UWorld and combank for my Qbanks (1 pass for both of them). But I think one of the most important aspect of my studying was the full day practice tests I took. It is worth the money to buy two exams at a time and do them in 1 day.

Combank question bank (78%)

Uworld question bank (72%)

Combank Assessment exam:

1. 1/22/16 – 71%

2. 5/6/16 – 92%

Uworld assessment exam:

1. 4/4/16 – 234

2. 4/16/16 – 247

NBME practice exams:

NBME 13 (4/16/16) – 232

NBME 15 (5/2/16) – 258

NBME 16 (5/18/16) – 243

NBME 18 (5/18/16) – 251

COMSAE D (5/6/16) -- 767

DIT practice exam:

1. 92%

2. 92%

COMLEX Level 1 (5/24/16) – 710

USMLE Step 1 (5/27/16) – 252

I was very excited with both of my scores. It was a lot of hard work to get to that point. There are no easy short cuts, but reading pathoma and first aid during the 2nd year really helped when it was time to review all the material during my study period. Even more so, because my school only gave us 3 weeks of actual free time to study for the exams.

Good luck to all those still waiting for their scores or have yet to take the exams.

very impressive! especially with only 3 weeks

 

[ray656712]

Took it today, was terrified about the ambiguity I had read about, but I don't think I had a single question that was lacking the detail needed to answer! Was not nearly as bad as I was expecting. Compared to USMLE, the breaks SUCKED, though.

 

[RusticLadyDO]

Original Post:

I can't even describe how happy I was to receive my score. COMLEX was a really ridiculous test and I walked out feeling as defeated as anyone. The following were my scores leading up to the actual COMLEX exam.


12/26/2015 – COMSAE C - 457
1/17/2016 – COMSAE A – 520
2/17/2016 – COMSAE B – 500
3/4/2016 – COMSAE E – 564
3/13/2016 – Uworld Assessment 1 - 209
4/15/2016 – NBME 12 – 198
4/29/2016 – NBME 13 – 205
5/21/2016 – NBME 15 – 237
06/03/2016 – Uworld Assessment 2 - 239
06/04/2016 – NBME 18 – 241

Uworld First Pass – 64%
Uworld Second Pass – 78%

COMBANK Second Pass – 75% (Don’t remember 1st pass)

COMLEX: 705

Good luck to everyone!


Addendum:
Officially received my USMLE score yesterday and am happy to say that I scored in the low 240's.

The NBMEs are so accurate, as I took my last NBME just a few days prior to the actual exam and scored within a few points of it.

I wish everyone the best luck!! Do what works for YOU! Everyone is going to tell you to do things a certain way, but in the end you will do you. I honestly just focused on pathoma, first aid, and doing as many questions as I could, just hitting the 10,000 mark before sitting for both tests. That is the best advice I can give anyone out there. Please feel free to PM me if you need any more advice, or just some plain old good fashioned encouragement.

Go out there and make A.T. Still proud!!!!

 

[cronaldo7]

I'm sorry if this has been asked before but how are the scores released ? Do they send an email ?

 

[Sloosha]

They send you an email letting you know that the score is available. You will then have to log into your nbome account to view it

 

[cronaldo7]

They send you an email letting you know that the score is available. You will then have to log into your nbome account to view it

Thank you

 

[Mal.Assezia]

Does anyone know around what time COMLEX scores are typically posted? Morning, noon?

 

[KP2AZ]

My wife had a dream I got a 440....I'll let you all know if she's psychic. Lol


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

If there was ever a time to wish your wife didn't have super powers, this is definitely it.
-and congrats to all these high scores I'm seeing! now please cross your fingers for the rest of us that find out on Monday/Tuesday.