COMLEX Official 2019 Comlex 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[ASGD1983]

It's that time of the year. Anyone took new Comsae recently? Hopefully it's more predicitve than old ones that were all over the place - like +/- 100 points.
Also, interesting to hear if this years comlex is indeed changed? If anyone took it recently - please share your experience. Especially if you can compare it to previous year one.

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[wonko]

The max is not 800

yup, my bad. Don't know where I got that info from.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Yeah LOL I think mine was 72%. Idk i was 3 standard deviations above the national average.

Sick. I remember seeing my score of 60% and being devastated but then saw the national average and literally laughing out loud because all it meant was that the NBOME created a really ****y exam. Surprise surprise

 

[ASGD1983]

Well for better or for worse - I think you guys are right - new Comsae is indeed a bit different and hopefully it will represent and correlate with new Comlex more than a mess we had previously. At least we have 3 new Comsae to test ourselves. That's good news IMHO.

 

[ASGD1983]

Taking my first Comsae in 2 weeks, will post my UW average, NBME and Comsae scores for comparison. Let's share that kind of data so we can have a better idea where this new Comsae/Comlex falls.

 

[Neopolymath]

Took required Combank FL Assessment 3: predicted score ~700 or ~740 according to their new predictor and the old NBOME predictor

When you don't see me update that I got a 700 you can continue to know that Combank is awful lol. What a joke.

 

[MakeLifeHappen13]

Took required Combank FL Assessment 3: predicted score ~700 or ~740 according to their new predictor and the old NBOME predictor

When you don't see me update that I got a 700 you can continue to know that Combank is awful lol. What a joke.

Yeah that test was a joke. Short question stems, nothing but buzz word associations, and very little OMM. I highly doubt the real COMLEX will be anything like that. It also predicted me at around ~700 but I think that is a highly inflated score. Thinking of taking one of the new COMSAEs to slap me back to reality.

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

Did any of you guys take COMSAE Phase-1 New Blueprint? That was what we were required to take this morning. The website (NBOME) says the percentiles are released to our dean (I think for all schools that took this) & it also says that a new passing standard will be announced in June 2019 so I have no idea how to gauge how I did/am progressing.

We're about to start a COMBANK practice exam in an hour & I'm hoping that one will have more info to go off of lol.

 

[wonko]

Did any of you guys take COMSAE Phase-1 New Blueprint? That was what we were required to take this morning. The website (NBOME) says the percentiles are released to our dean (I think for all schools that took this) & it also says that a new passing standard will be announced in June 2019 so I have no idea how to gauge how I did/am progressing.

We're about to start a COMBANK practice exam in an hour & I'm hoping that one will have more info to go off of lol.

We took the 105. School did not release percentiles. Scores were all over the board, with most people in 400s.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Did any of you guys take COMSAE Phase-1 New Blueprint? That was what we were required to take this morning. The website (NBOME) says the percentiles are released to our dean (I think for all schools that took this) & it also says that a new passing standard will be announced in June 2019 so I have no idea how to gauge how I did/am progressing.

We're about to start a COMBANK practice exam in an hour & I'm hoping that one will have more info to go off of lol.

Our school had to calculate percentiles themselves and it came out with a 500 being like 85th percentile with only 2 people breaking 600. Average was low 400s with like 30%+ of the class failing it.

edit: about half the class just took 105 and it doesn't appear like the stats changed all that much.

 

[sunshinefl]

Yikes! We have to pass the 105 proctored at the school. We get to choose from 5 weeks, can take up to 3x to qualify. But if you fail an attempt, you have to go “see them” in between. A majority of my class is planning on taking it the first date. I’m probably going to take it the second date. See how it goes for everyone, plus I need more time to hit some weak spots.

 

[bbos]

I'm taking the school COMSAE tomorrow. How much biochem was in the new COMSAE? I have neglected biochem, should I be worried?

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Very little biochem.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

definitely a few questions but no more than a handful.

 

[ASGD1983]

definitely a few questions but no more than a handful.

I am still not sure what NBOME defines as biochem to be honest lol. For example Lesch-Nyham syndrome could be biochem too rather than path, just because it's due to HGPRT deficiency. A lot of path is basically biochem if you ask 2nd order questions. Genetics can be included in biochem as well lol. All those kids enzyme deficiency and lysosomal diseases one can define as biochem. Maybe I'm way off, but I would still hit biochem at least for comlex if not for comsae. Just my opinion man

 

[ASGD1983]

Our school had to calculate percentiles themselves and it came out with a 500 being like 85th percentile with only 2 people breaking 600. Average was low 400s with like 30%+ of the class failing it.

edit: about half the class just took 105 and it doesn't appear like the stats changed all that much.

I would not be surprised that new comsaes are scored tougher than comlex judging how average across schools is barely low 400's (some school had 380 as average with only 20% scoring more than 400). Whatever it is - I just hope they will not adjust comlex passing standard - as that would hurt.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

I am still not sure what NBOME defines as biochem to be honest lol. For example Lesch-Nyham syndrome could be biochem too rather than path, just because it's due to HGPRT deficiency. A lot of path is basically biochem if you ask 2nd order questions. Genetics can be included in biochem as well lol. All those kids enzyme deficiency and lysosomal diseases one can define as biochem. Maybe I'm way off, but I would still hit biochem at least for comlex if not for comsae. Just my opinion man

I was answering that students question about the COMSAE. But I'll take your advice to study biochem under consideration.

 

[Future.miss.doctor]

Anybody who has taken one of the new COMSAEs can comment on them? How did you feel in terms of difficulty?

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

NBME 15 (5 days ago): 209

COMSAE Phase-1 New Blueprint (today): 466

COMBANK Level 1 Assessment 1 (1 HOUR after COMSAE): 665 (middle of my predicted range)

Just posting to illustrate the crazy difference between COMBANK & this new COMSAE. NBME included to reference an exam that has some decent historically predictive value.

 

[ASGD1983]

NBME 15 (5 days ago): 209

COMSAE Phase-1 New Blueprint (today): 466

COMBANK Level 1 Assessment 1 (1 HOUR after COMSAE): 665 (middle of my predicted range)

Just posting to illustrate the crazy difference between COMBANK & this new COMSAE. NBME included to reference an exam that has some decent predictive value.

Judging from your NBME score of 209 and new Comsae 466 - they sit quite close to each other: both a bit more than pass line. This tips the point towards theory that new Comsae is indeed a lot more realistic (maybe even under-predicting a bit). I want to believe that NBOME for once created assessment that correlates to comlex much better (at least in score if not content).
Hopefully with first new Comlex scores we'll roughly have an idea where chips fell.

Considering everything 466 is not a bad Comsae score!

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

Judging from your NBME score of 209 and new Comsae 466 - they sit quite close to each other: both a bit more than pass line. This tips the point towards theory that new Comsae is indeed a lot more realistic (maybe even under-predicting a bit). I want to believe that NBOME for once created assessment that correlates to comlex much better (at least in score if not content).
Hopefully with first new Comlex scores we'll roughly have an idea where chips fell.

Considering everything 466 is not a bad Comsae score!

This is kinda what I was thinking too, despite a handful of kinda odd questions on the comsae (IMO.)

Kinda hoping the 209 was first exam jitters/fatigue & I'm actually sitting between that higher combank score & the other two scores. Maybe when more people post we can get a better idea of what's going on.

 

[Espressso]

Is it safe to assume that these new comsae scores/forms are going to be underpredicting our actual performance on the real deal? I remember last year the new scale on the level 1 exam screwed a lot of now third years at our school and our administration has been preaching how the NBOME is changing the scale again this year.

But it seems like these new comsae form grades are brutal. Even for students doing really well. It's kinda sketchy going into the real deal with the lights off.

 

[ASGD1983]

Is it safe to assume that these new comsae scores/forms are going to be underpredicting our actual performance on the real deal? I remember last year the new scale on the level 1 exam screwed a lot of now third years at our school and our administration has been preaching how the NBOME is changing the scale again this year.

But it seems like these new comsae form grades are brutal. Even for students doing really well. It's kinda sketchy going into the real deal with the lights off.

We can only hope, study and wait for first comlex scores and stats posted by people. I think to some degree it's safe to assume that new comsaes should be underpredicting (maybe even heavily underpredicting) just because if they are not - this years NBOME average will be a lot lower than usual 520. I don't think NBOME wants another wave of complaints from schools and everyone. I'm hoping they know it and their main purpose to score new comsaes harsher was to avoid giving people false inflated hopes. Schools and students complain when they get much lower score, but rarely complain if they get a better score on real deal. So it might be NBOME is playing safe this time.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Is it safe to assume that these new comsae scores/forms are going to be underpredicting our actual performance on the real deal? I remember last year the new scale on the level 1 exam screwed a lot of now third years at our school and our administration has been preaching how the NBOME is changing the scale again this year.

But it seems like these new comsae form grades are brutal. Even for students doing really well. It's kinda sketchy going into the real deal with the lights off.

We can only hope, study and wait for first comlex scores and stats posted by people. I think to some degree it's safe to assume that new comsaes should be underpredicting (maybe even heavily underpredicting) just because if they are not - this years NBOME average will be a lot lower than usual 520. I don't think NBOME wants another wave of complaints from schools and everyone. I'm hoping they know it and their main purpose to score new comsaes harsher was to avoid giving people false inflated hopes. Schools and students complain when they get much lower score, but rarely complain if they get a better score on real deal. So it might be NBOME is playing safe this time.

Yes I think it's pretty safe to assume these under predict pretty heavily. Because if not then our school is about to have a COMLEX average in the low 400s after having a low 500s average almost every year in the last decade. I definitely agree with the idea that the NBOME is trying to overcompensate for the fiasco that happened last year. Not a bad idea though to tell yourself that they are right on the money and then be pleasantly surprised when you outperform them by 70-100 points on the real thing.

I think the NBOME is recognizing they over did it lol, because at the beginning of the COMSAE I took last Friday there was a disclaimer that wasn't on the other ones that straight up said the scores on the COMSAEs shouldn't be used to predict COMLEX scores. I hadn't seen that on the other ones I've taken.

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

Yes I think it's pretty safe to assume these under predict pretty heavily. Because if not then our school is about to have a COMLEX average in the low 400s after having a low 500s average almost every year in the last decade. I definitely agree with the idea that the NBOME is trying to overcompensate for the fiasco that happened last year. Not a bad idea though to tell yourself that they are right on the money and then be pleasantly surprised when you outperform them by 70-100 points on the real thing.

I think the NBOME is recognizing they over did it lol, because at the beginning of the COMSAE I took last Friday there was a disclaimer that wasn't on the other ones that straight up said the scores on the COMSAEs shouldn't be used to predict COMLEX scores. I hadn't seen that on the other ones I've taken.

This disclaimer was on ours too lol.

So... the point of practice exams are to see where you are at... but the NBOME says you can't do that with their COMSAEs.......... hmmmmm.

I'm no business fiend, but writing exams to predict your score, that have a disclaimer that says "Yo, this exam actually doesn't actually predict your exam at all haha, but take it anyways" doesn't seem like a sustainable business plan to me.

 

[wonko]

Word is on the street that a big osteopathic school in a state with wonky weather is making 300 students take ASA 105 tomorrow. I'm interested to see what the results will be.

 

[ASGD1983]

Word is on the street that a big osteopathic school in a state with wonky weather is making 300 students take ASA 105 tomorrow. I'm interested to see what the results will be.
[/QUOTE]
Hopefully someone will share it with us.

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

A wonky school in a state with good weather took ASA 103 today. Result analysis will come in tomorrow. Stay tuned.

 

[SpecialField]

what are the differences between ASA 105, 103, and 104? Is 105 the hardest?

 

[ASGD1983]

As someone who took level 1 last year I have no idea what fiasco you’re referring to. Sharing is caring

And the older comsaes said that but it was stated in the actual score report (I did all the old ones last year).

The NBOME website said to exercise caution with new comsaes as they are still gathering data for it. Basically it looks a lot like they are saying they might have overdone it and results so far confirm it.
Fiasco he is referring to is the fact that old comsaes were heavily overpredicting scores. A lot of people from my school had a 100-120 point drop on comlex compared to comsaes. My friend at another school confirmed similar situation with their school. If you read previous year threads - % of people who got burned is unproportionally high. Of course not everyone was affected by that much discrepancy, but compared to previous years, last year was so bad that a lot of schools were concerned about it and hence NBOME rushed out new comsaes this year. It's just my opinion, we'll never know the facts. however, the fact that new comsaes are scored way harsher is apparent looking at averages and the drop.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

As someone who took level 1 last year I have no idea what fiasco you’re referring to. Sharing is caring

There were a number of schools who were hit hard by the fact that the COMSAEs over predicted by so much.

 

[Chibucks15]

Any word on 103 would be awesome. Take it in a week and a half and would love to not get screwed by it

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

Any word on 103 would be awesome. Take it in a week and a half and would love to not get screwed by it

Honestly, ~60% of questions are fair, ~30% are absolute trash, and ~10% are OMM. So ~40% are absolute trash. Didn't break 500, but I'm hoping as everyone is saying here, that they under-predict. It seems that NBOME's idea of challenging questions is just vague nonsense. It's not like UWorld where you know there is something you are missing.

 

[wonko]

Honestly, ~60% of questions are fair, ~30% are absolute trash, and ~10% are OMM. So ~40% are absolute trash. Didn't break 500, but I'm hoping as everyone is saying here, that they under-predict. It seems that NBOME's idea of challenging questions is just vague nonsense. It's not like UWorld where you know there is something you are missing.

I would add that of the 60% fair, 10-20% are ridiculously easy questions. Some of the trash ones are... well.. no comment. The OMM was surprisingly fair though. I am thankful for every block that does not have energy cysts or dolphins in them though, so the bar is low.

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

I would add that of the 60% fair, 10-20% are ridiculously easy questions. Some of the trash ones are... well.. no comment. The OMM was surprisingly fair though. I am thankful for every block that does not have energy cysts or dolphins in them though, so the bar is low.

so easy, it's scary

 

[Chibucks15]

so easy, it's scary

as long as I can snag a 450 and get the school off my back that's all that matters haha given that I'm probably hanging out around 220 or so on USMLE predictions I feel like I should be okay. Take the day before to review some OMM and hopefully that'll be enough

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

as long as I can snag a 450 and get the school off my back that's all that matters haha given that I'm probably hanging out around 220 or so on USMLE predictions I feel like I should be okay. Take the day before to review some OMM and hopefully that'll be enough

That sucks they do that to you. I'd bet at least half of your class won't pass with that score threshold, but I'll know more tomorrow.

What sucks most of all about COMSAE, is that there is no percentage break-down and no review of the horribly written questions. For instance, I scored very low in the "Public Health" domain, according to the bar-graph breakdown, but have never had any indications of that being a weakness in UWorld or otherwise. Total garbage. The more 'subjective' questions felt very subjective.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

That sucks they do that to you. I'd bet at least half of your class won't pass with that score threshold, but I'll know more tomorrow.

What sucks most of all about COMSAE, is that there is no percentage break-down and no review of the horribly written questions. For instance, I scored very low in the "Public Health" domain, according to the bar-graph breakdown, but have never had any indications of that being a weakness in UWorld or otherwise. Total garbage. The more 'subjective' questions felt very subjective.

Don't worry, even on the COMSAE where I happened to break 600 I was still to the far left for "osteopathic principles in systems based practice." I literally have no idea what that means and they offer no explanation. I asked a professor and they had no idea. The COMSAEs are honestly pretty worthless. They don't even give you a score breakdown that is helpful, and they blatantly say the new COMSAEs are not indicative of actual COMLEX score. Feels like a money grab to me. Even though the NBMEs are also a money grab at least they give you a decent breakdown and let you see the answers, and even if the correlation isn't super great they at least give you an idea of where you are at. I don't know why it surprises me the NBOME can't even put out a decent product.

 

[Chibucks15]

That sucks they do that to you. I'd bet at least half of your class won't pass with that score threshold, but I'll know more tomorrow.

What sucks most of all about COMSAE, is that there is no percentage break-down and no review of the horribly written questions. For instance, I scored very low in the "Public Health" domain, according to the bar-graph breakdown, but have never had any indications of that being a weakness in UWorld or otherwise. Total garbage. The more 'subjective' questions felt very subjective.

That was the old cutoff so they know you’re “ready”. They already sent us an email about how they’ll look at the data and adjust that cutoff if need be

 

[ASGD1983]

Guys if you are unsure about specific percentage breakdown on comsae - you can go to NBOME website and check their new blueprint. It has breakdown of everything down to specific disciplines included in each category. For those who are passing confidently there's probably no need to do it, but for those who are on a fence - this might be a good idea.

 

[wonko]

Don't have much to go off but the second round of 105 seems to have yielded many 530+ scores today.

 

[ASGD1983]

Don't have much to go off but the second round of 105 seems to have yielded many 530+ scores today.

So there's hope. 530 is like 260 nowadays for new comsae lol.

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

Looks like average in our class for 103 was actually pretty good--above 450. Still a stupid test that should burn : )

 

[Scrubs101]

Took comsae 105 today and got a 617

how predictive is this form?

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Took comsae 105 today and got a 617

how predictive is this form?

Nice. No idea we'll all find out together in July I guess lol

 

[Scrubs101]

Nice. No idea we'll all find out together in July I guess lol

Thanks brah. Love it lol, that exam was straight hot garbage compared to UW. Apparently I'm deficient in "osteopathic principles" and "interpersonal communication skills in the osteopathic profession", so thats helpful in guiding my studying lol

 

[Neopolymath]

Thanks brah. Love it lol, that exam was straight hot garbage compared to UW. Apparently I'm deficient in "osteopathic principles" and "interpersonal communication skills in the osteopathic profession", so thats helpful in guiding my studying lol

Me too, bro. Me too

 

[Mr. D.O.five]

Took the COMSAE administered by our school last a couple days ago. Love how my breakdown has OMM to the far left. That said, is this new COMSAE accurate in terms of predicting value? I scored a 530 and I probably did wild guesses on ~5-7 questions per block (indicating some lack of content knowledge). The breakdown report doesn't really give me anything to go buy and just grossly tells me what I succ on (OMM that is).

Lastly, would it be advisable to buy a COMSAE to gauge where I'm at a few days before COMLEX (taking USMLE, then COMLEX four days after)? Or just stick with the new NBME forms?

 

[sunshinefl]

Took the COMSAE administered by our school last a couple days ago. Love how my breakdown has OMM to the far left. That said, is this new COMSAE accurate in terms of predicting value? I scored a 530 and I probably did wild guesses on ~5-7 questions per block (indicating some lack of content knowledge). The breakdown report doesn't really give me anything to go buy and just grossly tells me what I succ on (OMM that is).

Lastly, would it be advisable to buy a COMSAE to gauge where I'm at a few days before COMLEX (taking USMLE, then COMLEX four days after)? Or just stick with the new NBME forms?

Hoping more experienced people chime in. Our school bought us 102 and 104 to take on our own, and 105 for proctored qualifying exam. I planned on taking one a couple days before the proctored exam to see if I’m ready (we can pick from 5 proctored dates), and one between my Step and my comlex.

 

[cookiegrub]

would someone care to share if doing uworld and supplementing OMM material would be enough for comlex?

 

[wonko]

would someone care to share if doing uworld and supplementing OMM material would be enough for comlex?

Have only taken COMSAE so grain of salt is necessary. UWORLD is an excellent learning tool but for me it did not translate in a stellar score on the COMSAE. I do much better on "MD" questions across the board than "DO" questions - my UWorld average, ComBank USMLE, Amboss are much higher than my Combank DO/Comsae. I will have to fox something out after I take step to improve my comlex performance. Actually my mates that studied with coursepack and more school based did better than I for Comsae.