Official 2017 COMLEX Level 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[Roxas]

Alright friends, let's do this.

I'm planning on sitting sometime in late June (COMLEX only). FA 2017 is on the way, starting UWorld in January and Combank around April.

Feel free to share and help keep each other accountable until we slay the beast.

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[Dr.Jekyll75]

That sucks, is it like that every year? Wondering if all schools have that many performing sub-450 after two weeks of dedicated.

Every year. The lady teaching this course has been there for a while. I feel she's bitter about life . In fact when I went to my PCP for my yearly check up she asked if Dr... was still teaching . I'm like yup we have her this spring. Now my PCP is very formal but she straight up became a bro at that moment and told me " you better hold to your balls because it's gonna be a rough ride" .


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[diiaa36]

20 days till test date. Can't wait for it to be over.

 

[trs88]

If it helps anyone de-stress a little bit. A classmate took comlex within the last few days and said that it felt easier that comsae D. She didn't give any specifics or any study advice lol

I'm registered for the 28th, so 22 days for me!

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

If it helps anyone de-stress a little bit. A classmate took comlex within the last few days and said that it felt easier that comsae D. She didn't give any specifics or any study advice lol

I'm registered for the 28th, so 22 days for me!

ill let yall know when i take next week

 

[trs88]

ill let yall know when i take next week

Appreciate it!

 

[Roxas]

If it helps anyone de-stress a little bit. A classmate took comlex within the last few days and said that it felt easier that comsae D. She didn't give any specifics or any study advice lol

I'm registered for the 28th, so 22 days for me!

ill let yall know when i take next week

Please do. I'm actually kinda disappointed we haven't seen more feedback from people who have taken it so far. Previous years seemed to have people dropping all kinds of knowledge on which areas are higher yield (within the rules of course).

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

Please do. I'm actually kinda disappointed we haven't seen more feedback from people who have taken it so far. Previous years seemed to have people dropping all kinds of knowledge on which areas are higher yield (within the rules of course).

From what i saw last year around this time, heavy neuro, omt and OB. MY friend who took it monday said there was a decent amount of neuro and difficult omt , minimal psych, odd micro, and for omt that was easy there as visceral somatics

 

[mj2323]

From what i saw last year around this time, heavy neuro, omt and OB. MY friend who took it monday said there was a decent amount of neuro and difficult omt , minimal psych, odd micro, and for omt that was easy there as visceral somatics

Thanks for posting this mate. What day is yours next week?

 

[ananasmed]

Legit felt like my exam was 50% micro, 50% OMM. Obviously this is an exaggeration but I can't think of any specific organ systems that stood out to me as being highly test > others. Not sure if repro was heavily tested, or I'm just remembering it more disproportionately because I'm bad at it lol. Don't be surprised by weirdo questions about management i.e. "what would you do next?" or "what is the best next step for this patient?" - no idea how you can really prepare for that, but at least be mentally ready. I'm trying to think of any HY study tips I'd recommend, having taken the test last week, but kind of drawing a blank. Don't hesitate to tag/PM me if you have specific questions.

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

Thanks for posting this mate. What day is yours next week?

Legit felt like my exam was 50% micro, 50% OMM. Obviously this is an exaggeration but I can't think of any specific organ systems that stood out to me as being highly test > others. Not sure if repro was heavily tested, or I'm just remembering it more disproportionately because I'm bad at it lol. Don't be surprised by weirdo questions about management i.e. "what would you do next?" or "what is the best next step for this patient?" - no idea how you can really prepare for that, but at least be mentally ready. I'm trying to think of any HY study tips I'd recommend, having taken the test last week, but kind of drawing a blank. Don't hesitate to tag/PM me if you have specific questions.

Was micro straight forward for you ? for my friend it wasnt. also you take usmle as well or no ? Did you do combank at all ? im taking mine this monday , and honestly i hate reading the green book its like bruuhhhhhh

 

[ananasmed]

Was micro straight forward for you ? for my friend it wasnt. also you take usmle as well or no ? Did you do combank at all ? im taking mine this monday , and honestly i hate reading the green book its like bruuhhhhhh

I took both tests. I actually kind of felt like the micro on USMLE was easier for me, and the COMLEX micro was more convoluted/strange details that I've forgotten/didn't look at recently enough to have stored in my short term memory.

I did about 1/3 of COMBANK, but probably only ~100 of the OMM questions. Idk if doing all of them would have helped, some of the OMM was super out there. If you know nothing else, definitely know your viscerosomatics (the facilitation chapter in general from the green book is good), cranial strain patterns (but I didn't have a zillion questions on this so don't panic if you can't handle this ish), Chapman's, relevant neuro stuff. I tried to get myself to read the green book the day before my COMLEX and I simply could not do it, lol, so I know how you feel.

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

I took both tests. I actually kind of felt like the micro on USMLE was easier for me, and the COMLEX micro was more convoluted/strange details that I've forgotten/didn't look at recently enough to have stored in my short term memory.

I did about 1/3 of COMBANK, but probably only ~100 of the OMM questions. Idk if doing all of them would have helped, some of the OMM was super out there. If you know nothing else, definitely know your viscerosomatics (the facilitation chapter in general from the green book is good), cranial strain patterns (but I didn't have a zillion questions on this so don't panic if you can't handle this ish), Chapman's, relevant neuro stuff. I tried to get myself to read the green book the day before my COMLEX and I simply could not do it, lol, so I know how you feel.

you are my hero, thank you . i hope there minimal omt on my exam that require dx and txt ,

 

[ananasmed]

you are my hero, thank you . i hope there minimal omt on my exam that require dx and txt ,

Yeah on COMBANK I ran into quite a few questions about the positioning for various counterstrain points and kind of panicked, but none of that was on my exam.

 

[The Dayman]

I took both tests. I actually kind of felt like the micro on USMLE was easier for me, and the COMLEX micro was more convoluted/strange details that I've forgotten/didn't look at recently enough to have stored in my short term memory.

I did about 1/3 of COMBANK, but probably only ~100 of the OMM questions. Idk if doing all of them would have helped, some of the OMM was super out there. If you know nothing else, definitely know your viscerosomatics (the facilitation chapter in general from the green book is good), cranial strain patterns (but I didn't have a zillion questions on this so don't panic if you can't handle this ish), Chapman's, relevant neuro stuff. I tried to get myself to read the green book the day before my COMLEX and I simply could not do it, lol, so I know how you feel.

How would you rate the difficulty of the neuro on the COMLEX? I take mine next week and I'm wondering if I should brush through some FA neuro again on top of going through Saverese. I just took Step 1 a couple days ago and I'm so ready for this to all be done.

 

[RavenclawMed]

From what i saw last year around this time, heavy neuro, omt and OB. MY friend who took it monday said there was a decent amount of neuro and difficult omt , minimal psych, odd micro, and for omt that was easy there as visceral somatics

I feel like mine had a lot of endocrine too. Not sure if it was what I'm just remembering or if there actually was a lot lol. That day is a blur except how much I hated being told when I could take breaks. And I second the weird micro questions. Legit felt like it was either super easy because of sketchy micro or some bizarre obscure fact.

 

[ananasmed]

How would you rate the difficulty of the neuro on the COMLEX? I take mine next week and I'm wondering if I should brush through some FA neuro again on top of going through Saverese. I just took Step 1 a couple days ago and I'm so ready for this to all be done.

Wasn't too bad. Be familiar with some classic brain imaging. Just hit the main topics of neuro in Savarese I'd say (sensory distributions, etc.), there weren't really any questions about wacky crazy lesions or anything that I can recall. If you've just studied for Step and felt okay about the neuro, you'll probably be fine.

 

[DJones13]

Just took the exam a few days ago. Here's my two cents.

Felt harder than COMSAE E. But this may have just been because the questions were worded differently. Question stems were also a little longer than the COMSAEs, so if you're short on time in COMSAE you should work on timing.
Also seemed somewhat similar to COMBANK in distribution of difficulty (really easy or very convoluted, not much in between).

Exam distribution
- Women's health was definitely heavily tested.
- Neuro/MSK were second highest tested. The neuro wasn't too bad from what I remember
- Had some biostats stuff I hadn't seen in ANY practice question but felt it could be reasoned out.
- The bacteriology wasn't super hard; however, of the micro questions I had 50/50 bacteria/fungi,parasites which I was pretty surprised about. It was your classic fungi,parasite questions though, with all your favorite buzz words. Distribution for micro as a whole was about what I expected.
- OMM was really straightforward with the exception of 2-3 questions that I hadn't reviewed (or learned ever?)
- There was a lack of renal/GI/endocrine, resp/cardio were well distributed.
- There were way more exhibits than I was expecting; audio/visual and images
- Not much biochem, thankfully.
- Edit: Pharm wasn't bad, wasn't heavy and pharm is something I continue to struggle with.

Some general advice:
Go with your gut, they seem to test the same thing multiple times in various ways. So don't be wishy washy after you're really frick'n tired in sections 7/8.

PM's welcome

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

Just took the exam a few days ago. Here's my two cents.

Felt harder than COMSAE E. But this may have just been because the questions were worded differently. Question stems were also a little longer than the COMSAEs, so if you're short on time in COMSAE you should work on timing.
Also seemed somewhat similar to COMBANK in distribution of difficulty (really easy or very convoluted, not much in between).

Exam distribution
- Women's health was definitely heavily tested.
- Neuro/MSK were second highest tested. The neuro wasn't too bad from what I remember
- Had some biostats stuff I hadn't seen in ANY practice question but felt it could be reasoned out.
- The bacteriology wasn't super hard; however, of the micro questions I had 50/50 bacteria/fungi,parasites which I was pretty surprised about. It was your classic fungi,parasite questions though, with all your favorite buzz words. Distribution for micro as a whole was about what I expected.
- OMM was really straightforward with the exception of 2-3 questions that I hadn't reviewed (or learned ever?)
- There was a lack of renal/GI/endocrine, resp/cardio were well distributed.
- There were way more exhibits than I was expecting; audio/visual and images
- Not much biochem, thankfully.
- Edit: Pharm wasn't bad, wasn't heavy and pharm is something I continue to struggle with.

Some general advice:
Go with your gut, they seem to test the same thing multiple times in various ways. So don't be wishy washy after you're really frick'n tired in sections 7/8.

PM's welcome

question about the womens health, was it actual basic sciences or more what do you do next type of things like recommend pap smear or tell pt to come back in one year for repeat papsmear type questions ?

 

[DJones13]

question about the womens health, was it actual basic sciences or more what do you do next type of things like recommend pap smear or tell pt to come back in one year for repeat papsmear type questions ?

Just a little bit of everything as far as physio, anatomy, mgmt etc...
I looked over Female Repro the night before the exam and it paid off.

 

[mj2323]

The bacteriology wasn't super hard; however, of the micro questions I had 50/50 bacteria/fungi,parasites which I was pretty surprised about. It was your classic fungi,parasite questions though, with all your favorite buzz words. Distribution for micro as a whole was about what I expected.

You didn't have any questions on viruses?

 

[DJones13]

You didn't have any questions on viruses?

The entire test is a virus...

I kid, there were a few, don't remember anything specifically.

Don't read into my original post, it isn't all inclusive, just things I recall off the top of my head.

 

[HippocratesHRC]

A bunch of my friends just took COMLEX (mine is on Saturday) and they said that the questions on combank were most similar to the ones on the exam. More specifically, they said that their exam felt like the combank self assessment. I didn't even know that combank had a self assessment..... Anyways, I just took the self assessment today and it is a 200 question exam(4 hrs) and they charge you $35 to add it to your account. They only give you a percentile, not a score but you can review all of the questions. They don't advertise for it very well, I think that I had to click on the shopping cart icon in the top right and was able to add it somehow.

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

A bunch of my friends just took COMLEX (mine is on Saturday) and they said that the questions on combank were most similar to the ones on the exam. More specifically, they said that their exam felt like the combank self assessment. I didn't even know that combank had a self assessment..... Anyways, I just took the self assessment today and it is a 200 question exam(4 hrs) and they charge you $35 to add it to your account. They only give you a percentile, not a score but you can review all of the questions. They don't advertise for it very well, I think that I had to click on the shopping cart icon in the top right and was able to add it somehow.

would you recommend doing that over comsaes ? and how would you gauage you score depending on percentile cuz thats not that useful

 

[nowaysanjose]

A bunch of my friends just took COMLEX (mine is on Saturday) and they said that the questions on combank were most similar to the ones on the exam. More specifically, they said that their exam felt like the combank self assessment. I didn't even know that combank had a self assessment..... Anyways, I just took the self assessment today and it is a 200 question exam(4 hrs) and they charge you $35 to add it to your account. They only give you a percentile, not a score but you can review all of the questions. They don't advertise for it very well, I think that I had to click on the shopping cart icon in the top right and was able to add it somehow.

I'm trying to add it but can't. Can you explain how you did this?

 

[mj2323]

would you recommend doing that over comsaes ? and how would you gauage you score depending on percentile cuz thats not that useful

CBT Score Conversion
You can maybe use that and plug & chug numbers until you see a score that matches your percentile. Make sure you choose "2016-2017" for dates chosen. Our school bought us the combank assessments for us so I'm definitely going to do them soon.

A bunch of my friends just took COMLEX (mine is on Saturday) and they said that the questions on combank were most similar to the ones on the exam. More specifically, they said that their exam felt like the combank self assessment. I didn't even know that combank had a self assessment..... Anyways, I just took the self assessment today and it is a 200 question exam(4 hrs) and they charge you $35 to add it to your account. They only give you a percentile, not a score but you can review all of the questions. They don't advertise for it very well, I think that I had to click on the shopping cart icon in the top right and was able to add it somehow.

Thanks for letting us know mate

 

[HippocratesHRC]

would you recommend doing that over comsaes ? and how would you gauage you score depending on percentile cuz thats not that useful

I'll let you know on Saturday haha. I'm just working with what my friends told me. Personally, I think that the combank assessment is more valuable because you can review the questions.

I used the percentile conversion that mj2323 posted above to calculate my 3 digit and the conversion was comparable to my best COMSAE.

I'm trying to add it but can't. Can you explain how you did this?

I'll try haha. You click on the shopping cart icon in the top right corner. Then click the link that says "modify subscriptions". There should be something there that tells you how many days you have left in your subscription and on the right it should have three things; upload score, add more time and add assessment. If you click add assessment it will then show up in your cart back in the top right. Click the cart and pay and then the assessment will show up in your bank. I think that was how it worked, mine disappeared because I already bought it. PM me if that doesn't work and ill try to help ya.

 

[TheOther]

CBT Score Conversion
You can maybe use that and plug & chug numbers until you see a score that matches your percentile. Make sure you choose "2016-2017" for dates chosen. Our school bought us the combank assessments for us so I'm definitely going to do them soon.

Thanks for letting us know mate

This would be sweet. I'd be stoked with a 670+...except I felt it was way more straight forward than the actual exam.

 

[Sloosha]

The learning specialist at my school said that form D and E are the hardest since they are relatively much newer than the other three.

I still recommend buying those other three forms for reassurance.

Your real score will most likely be higher than the COMSAE scores!

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

The learning specialist at my school said that form D and E are the hardest since they are relatively much newer than the other three.

I still recommend buying those other three forms for reassurance.

Your real score will most likely be higher than the COMSAE scores!

Any word comsae C ? As in predictive value

 

[mj2323]

Any word comsae C ? As in predictive value

Students from last years class at our school said that it is pretty pharm heavy and underpredicts your score AKA you score at least 30 points lower than the real thing. I'm scared of taking it because I don't want it to ruin my confidence, but I don't know I might just end up taking it anyway :/.

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

Students from last years class at our school said that it is pretty pharm heavy and underpredicts your score AKA you score at least 30 points lower than the real thing. I'm scared of taking it because I don't want it to ruin my confidence, but I don't know I might just end up taking it anyway :/.

lol im on that same boat, ive barely studied anything besides omt for the last 3 days after step. Im just so burnt out, im just straight ashes. Screw it ill take it tomorrow morning

 

[Sloosha]

Any word comsae C ? As in predictive value

Underpredicted my score by 100 points. Do it.

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

Underpredicted my score by 100 points. Do it.

well you sold me on it heres to another 60 dollars with no feedback down the drain. What did you think of E? the school made me take that and i thought it was pretty hard.

 

[mj2323]

Underpredicted my score by 100 points. Do it.

How many days apart did you take Form C and then your real test?

 

[The Dayman]

Any word comsae C ? As in predictive value

My school's academic affairs adviser recommended to take C for it's value in the OMM domain and not to worry too much about the predicted score. My experience with C is that it was very tough. I took "E" about half way though my dedicated period and scored a 664. Then at the end of dedicated after two full passes through Uworld and several passes though FA/Pathoma I took "C" and got a 557. It totally took me by surprise, I was pretty wrecked after that. After talking with my adviser and some upperclassmen, they said don't rely on those numbers at all. Take it for the experience of doing 200 more questions and maybe get a feel for what type of OMM will show up. Best of luck!

 

[Sloosha]

well you sold me on it heres to another 60 dollars with no feedback down the drain. What did you think of E? the school made me take that and i thought it was pretty hard.

They made me take Form E pretty early, ~5 months before my real one so I didn't do very well, my real score was 200 point higher.

Form D was harder than form E for some; lots of people did worse on D in comparison to E.

How many days apart did you take Form C and then your real test?

I took form C 3 weeks before my real one. I then took form B 2 weeks before. I skipped form A and used the money to buy me a boatful of sushi instead.

I've hardly ever heard of anyone whose COMSAEs overpredicted their real scores, but they do exist.

 

[trs88]

I actually just finished form C today. I felt that it was harder than form D even though my score was better on form C. I liked the omm questions as they were near the same difficulty of combank questions. There were only 1-3 that were maybe a level harder.

It did have some super weird questions that I only recognized because uworld had a question about them. I'd like to same that I got them right, but with this test - who knows haha

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

I actually just finished form C today. I felt that it was harder than form D even though my score was better on form C. I liked the omm questions as they were near the same difficulty of combank questions. There were only 1-3 that were maybe a level harder.

It did have some super weird questions that I only recognized because uworld had a question about them. I'd like to same that I got them right, but with this test - who knows haha

I also just finished see know, i honestly found it pretty difficult. Alot of which ones best, and the micro and pharm was pretty challenging on some question. The questions on some did feel like combank, but majority were a little more difficult i would say. The stems are decent , not all 1 sentences, but the 1 sentence stems had the hardest questions too. i honestly thought it was more difficult than form E but, everyone has their opinion. Some how i pulled off a good performance on OMT, so that was a plus.

 

[kenjixshadow]

@Dr.Jekyll75 That's how COMLEX is though. You either know it or you don't. I'm sure that you'll do fine. You survived the USMLE.

 

[trs88]

Quick question for those who took comlex already. How much media is on the test now?

A classmate asked that question on our school facebook group and was told "A ton. It was mostly related to MSK". Problem is, is that I have no way of knowing if it's true because the asker isn't super popular and the person answering them could very easily be giving an answer to troll them and or mess with the person's comlex studying.

Not an important edit, but I really want to thank you guys for giving advice on what to expect. The person who said to watch for the videos, just went and deleted all their rule-following advice on them.

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

Quick question for those who took comlex already. How much media is on the test now?

A classmate asked that question on our school facebook group and was told "A ton. It was mostly related to MSK". Problem is, is that I have no way of knowing if it's true because the asker isn't super popular and the person answering them could very easily be giving an answer to troll them and or mess with the person's comlex studying.

I just asked my friend that took it Monday can confirm he said he at least had 10 media videos and they go by very slowly. He said they were all related to nerves and msk. I think my biggest pet peeve about those damn practice exams is that you don't know what you got wrong.


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[trs88]

I just asked my friend that took it Monday can confirm he said he at least had 10 media videos and they go by very slowly. He said they were all related to nerves and msk. I think my biggest pet peeve about those damn practice exams is that you don't know what you got wrong.

Thanks for clarifying

Any chance you are near a classmate who also took form C recently, you could compare notes and if you both picked the same answer, you would know you, at least, got that one right :/

 

[ananasmed]

Quick question for those who took comlex already. How much media is on the test now?

A classmate asked that question on our school facebook group and was told "A ton. It was mostly related to MSK". Problem is, is that I have no way of knowing if it's true because the asker isn't super popular and the person answering them could very easily be giving an answer to troll them and or mess with the person's comlex studying.

Lots of media on my exam too. Video clips of physical exam basically. I didn't run into a timing issue on COMLEX, but heard several people complain about the length of the clips as well.

 

[Eagles6389]

Has anyone taken the Saverese "Green Book" COMLEX Exams A & B? Were they useful and helpful for the OMT on the actual exam?

 

[Sloosha]

Has anyone taken the Saverese "Green Book" COMLEX Exams A & B? Were they useful and helpful for the OMT on the actual exam?

No the green book exams are overkills. Stick to Combank's omm questions. They are the most relevant.

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

No the green book exams are overkills. Stick to Combank's omm questions. They are the most relevant.

last minute question, is there anything i need to print out when i go in to take the comlex like i had to print out the permit for the usmle ?

 

[RavenclawMed]

last minute question, is there anything i need to print out when i go in to take the comlex like i had to print out the permit for the usmle ?

Nope, just your license or other government ID

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

Nope, just your license or other government ID

cool thanks, i feel like Nbome is disorganized compared to the nbme

 

[Structure_Funk]

Congrats on everyone that's finished! Does anyone have advice on what to quickly jot down on the laminated sheets just as the exam starts? Chapman's points? Equations?

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

Congrats on everyone that's finished! Does anyone have advice on what to quickly jot down on the laminated sheets just as the exam starts? Chapman's points? Equations?

if i was you id just look over the stuff like an hour before , i wouldnt waste time writing them all down, its not the step where you get actual breaks and with all these media presentations it might eat up some of our time