Official comlex 1 2012 experiences, advice, and scores thread

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For those of you who have taken COMLEX I, please feel free to post schedules, advice on studying/ how to best prepare, types of questions you saw on the test, something you wish you had done while preparing to improve your score, etc. Also feel free to post your score.

I am taking COMLEX I on June 25th, and I'm getting a bit nervous because I feel disorganized and don't have a solid plan. If I come across good suggestions, I will post them here right away. :D

Thanks for everyone's help, and I hope we all rock this test!!!:smuggrin:
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Will scores be released again this Monday or will they wait a couple weeks before releasing another round of scores?
 
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fellows, is there a specialty I should consider NOT applying with a score of 627? how about ortho or neurosurgery?

thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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manyadoc said:
fellows, is there a specialty I should consider NOT applying with a score of 627? how about ortho or neurosurgery?

thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Don't think so. You should be able to hack those residencies. However, competition is fierce and an away rotation is absolutely required.
 
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Is there a website that post average comlex scores for each specialty? I've been searching for it and can't find a definite answer. Is it because the comlex isn't as important for osteopathic residencies as the usmle is for allopathic residencies?? Can someone list typical cut offs for the more difficult specialties? I'm not trying to have someone else do all the work for me, I just don't know where to find this info!
 
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Took my COMLEX on 6/12 and thought it was pretty fair. I definitely think that COMQUEST>>>>>>>>>>>>COMBANK. Here was the breakdown of my exam:

High Yield Topics: ethics (weird stuff you've never heard of don't worry about it, you can eliminate dumb answer choices), GI, repro (mostly female with occasional prostate questions), OMM (sacrum, innomminate, cranial bones, viscerosomatic - gonads and ureters were the most, chapman, basic principles), neurology (mostly trauma - CNS lesions, hematomas, concussions), micro (wide range, first aid will cover most), psych (most of it was easy)

Medium Yield Topics: cardio, resp, heme/onc, behavioral/psych, msk, path (no basic concepts, just thrown in extremely poor with the systems most notably GI)

Low Yield Topics: embryo, immuno, endocrine (whatever was there was easy), renal (surprisingly extremely low yield, however most of my viscerosomatics were renal), biochem (whatever was there was pretty straight forward), biostats (one math problem on mortality rate)

My Stats:
UWorld 1st Pass: 59%
UWorld 2nd Pass: 73%
Combank: 71%
Comquest: 78%
COMSAE Phase 1A: 503 (1 month out)
COMSAE Phase 1B: 515 (1 week out)
COMLEX: 611

Explanation: I don't take practice exams seriously (which I should). I'm very good on test day which I attribute to positive attitude and relaxed disposition. Feel free to pm me if you have any specific questions.
 
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Hey Guys I need some serious help! I just took Comsae B and I got 449 and my exam is in 5 days. What should I do? I am really looking to get 550+ and I dont want to get around 450 on the real thing.

My rotations start August 1, however the Dean said we dont have to take it if we r not ready. He said we just have to take it before 4th year starts.

Please can someone give me advice. Here is what I have done so far:

Pathoma up to chapter 14
All of combank - 64.9%
Read FA 1 X - Read pharm and micro sections 2X
DIT completed
Completed reading Savarese green book (did not do questions at the back of the book)
 
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StressedMedStud said:
Hey Guys I need some serious help! I just took Comsae B and I got 449 and my exam is in 5 days. What should I do? I am really looking to get 550+ and I dont want to get around 450 on the real thing.

My rotations start August 1, however the Dean said we dont have to take it if we r not ready. He said we just have to take it before 4th year starts.

Please can someone give me advice. Here is what I have done so far:

Pathoma up to chapter 14
All of combank - 64.9%
Read FA 1 X - Read pharm and micro sections 2X
DIT completed
Completed reading Savarese green book (did not do questions at the back of the book)
Click to expand...

Hey MedStud, I scored a 470ish on my COMSAE A and scored about 90 points higher on the real thing. I don't think the COMSAE is a good correlation, however, I did not take form B. I also did about 400 Combank questions and I had a similar average to you. But my main source was ComQuest, which I liked a whole lot more than Combank.

If you don't take it in 5 days, what other options do you have? I would assume it would be real tough to manage rotations and board studying at the same time.
 
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jumpmanv15 said:
Hey MedStud, I scored a 470ish on my COMSAE A and scored about 90 points higher on the real thing. I don't think the COMSAE is a good correlation, however, I did not take form B. I also did about 400 Combank questions and I had a similar average to you. But my main source was ComQuest, which I liked a whole lot more than Combank.

If you don't take it in 5 days, what other options do you have? I would assume it would be real tough to manage rotations and board studying at the same time.
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Our school says that if you dont get 450 you cant sit for comlex, so therefore i cant take the comlex in 5 days. We have to repeat comlex C or B again.
 
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StressedMedStud said:
Hey Guys I need some serious help! I just took Comsae B and I got 449 and my exam is in 5 days. What should I do? I am really looking to get 550+ and I dont want to get around 450 on the real thing.

My rotations start August 1, however the Dean said we dont have to take it if we r not ready. He said we just have to take it before 4th year starts.

Please can someone give me advice. Here is what I have done so far:

Pathoma up to chapter 14
All of combank - 64.9%
Read FA 1 X - Read pharm and micro sections 2X
DIT completed
Completed reading Savarese green book (did not do questions at the back of the book)
Click to expand...
My opinion would be to do the savarese questions and subscribe to comquest. I did not personally use comquest but since you have finished combank it seems like a good idea. I feel savarese questions were harder than most of the omm I saw was but it definitely helped reinforce topics needed.You are so close to the 450 you need to sit.....I guess its how you feel, if you can knock out savarese and maybe high yield comquest and retake a comsae with a passing score to appease your school before the deadline to push back your comlex then go for it! If you can't then try pushing it back a week or two. I can say for me I would be losing information and not gaining if I was trying to study for boards during my rotations now. I'm at the hospital by 645 every morning and am lucky if I'm out by 5......and then I'm so tired from the day I'm lucky if I have energy to prepare for the next day or look up answers to things I didn't know from today. So unless you can take vacay to study if you push back you might find yourself in a worse position than you are now. This is just my outlook on things and by all means may not be what works for you! I hope things go well for you and again I have to agree with the above post......I have friends that have scored almost 100 points better on comlex than comsae. I don't have my score yet so can't comment my self personally.
 
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StressedMedStud said:
Our school says that if you dont get 450 you cant sit for comlex, so therefore i cant take the comlex in 5 days. We have to repeat comlex C or B again.
Click to expand...

It depends on your personal goals of what you want to get. I havent started my rotations yet but from what i heard and what the above poster has stated it will be tough to balance rotations and studying and you have a chance of improving your score significantly from whatever the COMSAE score was. Like i said before i myself and numerous others have increased from scores like that to beyond 550. I have also seen the opposite happen i.e. high comsae and lower actual score

That being said, do comquest. And if you cant finish it all. Finish all the omm questions at least.
 
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hawthorne said:
My opinion would be to do the savarese questions and subscribe to comquest. I did not personally use comquest but since you have finished combank it seems like a good idea. I feel savarese questions were harder than most of the omm I saw was but it definitely helped reinforce topics needed.You are so close to the 450 you need to sit.....I guess its how you feel, if you can knock out savarese and maybe high yield comquest and retake a comsae with a passing score to appease your school before the deadline to push back your comlex then go for it! If you can't then try pushing it back a week or two. I can say for me I would be losing information and not gaining if I was trying to study for boards during my rotations now. I'm at the hospital by 645 every morning and am lucky if I'm out by 5......and then I'm so tired from the day I'm lucky if I have energy to prepare for the next day or look up answers to things I didn't know from today. So unless you can take vacay to study if you push back you might find yourself in a worse position than you are now. This is just my outlook on things and by all means may not be what works for you! I hope things go well for you and again I have to agree with the above post......I have friends that have scored almost 100 points better on comlex than comsae. I don't have my score yet so can't comment my self personally.
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thanks i will try to take another comsae in a week
 
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:scared:Yes, the stress of waiting has been horrible..just want to move on with my life (rotations)! I have gained 4 pounds from 'compensatory snacks' since my exam.
Do you guys think the scores up through 6/27 will be released on Monday 3 or 4pm EST?
(It seems like the scores are being released on Mondays this year?)
 
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I'm hoping they release thru 6/29...then maybe I will get mine the following week. Fingers crossed sigh I hate the waiting game.
 
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just called to see when the next batch would be released. the person gave a vague answer of "beginning of the week". he said the last batch was released last thursday?? and they release scores about every 3-5 days. I'm not sure if he was referencing to other levels (comlex 2, etc) as well though.
 
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June 29th test scores are up

COMSAE B = 550
Actual test = 529/84

Happy with this score especially since I focused more on USMLE than COMLEX.
 
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June 29ther here.......

COMSAE C : 634
COMLEX: 707/96

I am ecstatic! I'm definitely not top of my class and got a 25 mcat so would agree there is no correlation! I would say hard work goes a long way......atleast it did for me! :D
 
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hawthorne said:
June 29ther here.......

COMSAE C : 634
COMLEX: 707/96

I am ecstatic! I'm definitely not top of my class and got a 24 mcat so would agree there is no correlation! I would say hard work goes a long way......atleast it did for me! :D
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Another 24 MCAT breaking 700! Well done, my friend.
 
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hawthorne said:
June 29ther here.......

COMSAE C : 634
COMLEX: 707/96

I am ecstatic! I'm definitely not top of my class and got a 24 mcat so would agree there is no correlation! I would say hard work goes a long way......atleast it did for me! :D
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Wow!!!! congrats. How did you do it?
 
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GTP said:
Wow!!!! congrats. How did you do it?
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I am one who firmly believes in learning things well the first time and therefore worked hard in system courses. I did not really do much studying for boards until my school officially let out the third week of may. I listened to golijan audio in my car during 2nd yr bc I commuted aways to school. Once school was over in may I spent a few days listening to golijan again and then read through FA once. I then did dit with some combank questions. After dit I read all of savarese with the questions in back and did questions from combank up until test day. I reviewed some high yield dit stuff the week of my exam and took comsae c monday which was 5 days before my exam scoring 634. I ended up finishing about 75% of combank avging at 80 %. I spent a solid 5 weeks studying about 8 - 10 hours a day. I have a 2 yo so definitely tried to balance my time so I could spend it with her too. If there is anything else you want to know go ahead and ask me! Overall I was hoping for atleast 600 so am very shocked and very happy with my score. Oh and for what its worth I marked about 10 questions per section. Congratulations to all the other great scores out there!
 
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My score, shockingly was the exact same as COMSAE B which I was not expecting.
Did about 500 combank questions with about 78-80% correct but I couldnt take how bad they were written that I stopped and started doing u world over again ( first pass was 67% 2nd pass 86%)
I came out thinking maybe 500 and guessed on about 1/3 of the questions.
I was so upset after the exam that I wrote a really long comment saying how poor the questions were and how they need make better questions or give us some direction on what they ask instead of just running through Harrison's with their eyes closed choosing completely random topics. ( I didnt actually say that on the comments page but I was thinking it)
Overall I'm very happy with my score but still think the comlex is a terribly written exam.
 
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hawthorne said:
I am one who firmly believes in learning things well the first time and therefore worked hard in system courses. I did not really do much studying for boards until my school officially let out the third week of may. I listened to golijan audio in my car during 2nd yr bc I commuted aways to school. Once school was over in may I spent a few days listening to golijan again and then read through FA once. I then did dit with some combank questions. After dit I read all of savarese with the questions in back and did questions from combank up until test day. I reviewed some high yield dit stuff the week of my exam and took comsae c monday which was 5 days before my exam scoring 634. I ended up finishing about 75% of combank avging at 80 %. I spent a solid 5 weeks studying about 8 - 10 hours a day. I have a 2 yo so definitely tried to balance my time so I could spend it with her too. If there is anything else you want to know go ahead and ask me! Overall I was hoping for atleast 600 so am very shocked and very happy with my score. Oh and for what its worth I marked about 10 questions per section. Congratulations to all the other great scores out there!
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Thank you for this. Did u take the Usmle too?
 
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GTP said:
Thank you for this. Did u take the Usmle too?
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No problem! And no I did not. Despite the fact I hate all day exams I would have probably taken it but the cost was what made the decision for me. I am married with two kids and my husband stays home with my daughter bc its more cost effective than daycare. Therefore we live off student loans which I take the max amt of each semester. For me an extra 500 dollars is almost our house payment for a month so I needed to balance what is most important, and for me its my family. I am thinking of going anesthesia and am not looking at the top allopathic programs so was hoping that if I scored well enough on comlex that it would keep some doors open for me in the allo world in programs that do not demand a usmle score since there are so few osteo spots. I chose this bc I felt it was best for me and I will live with the consequences in terms of residency positions when the time comes as I know there are probably ppl out there who do not agree with my decision. I am hoping I find a spot somewhere despite not having taken both. Anyway, feel free to ask me anything! I read great pieces of info on here and am happy to share my experiences if it will be useful to others!
 
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hawthorne said:
No problem! And no I did not. Despite the fact I hate all day exams I would have probably taken it but the cost was what made the decision for me. I am married with two kids and my husband stays home with my daughter bc its more cost effective than daycare. Therefore we live off student loans which I take the max amt of each semester. For me an extra 500 dollars is almost our house payment for a month so I needed to balance what is most important, and for me its my family. I am thinking of going anesthesia and am not looking at the top allopathic programs so was hoping that if I scored well enough on comlex that it would keep some doors open for me in the allo world in programs that do not demand a usmle score since there are so few osteo spots. I chose this bc I felt it was best for me and I will live with the consequences in terms of residency positions when the time comes as I know there are probably ppl out there who do not agree with my decision. I am hoping I find a spot somewhere despite not having taken both. Anyway, feel free to ask me anything! I read great pieces of info on here and am happy to share my experiences if it will be useful to others!
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Well you won't have trouble matching with that disgusting score. :D. I wish you all the best. Did you have to memorize saverese cover to cover?
 
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GTP said:
Well you won't have trouble matching with that disgusting score. :D. I wish you all the best. Did you have to memorize saverese cover to cover?
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This wasn't directed at me, but I'll give an answer anyways. Since the portion of Savarese that contains information (not the quiz sections) is relatively thing, it wouldn't be all that difficult to memorize; however, you absolutely do not have to do this. A solid foundation from your first two years is probably the most important thing to have. Along with that should come a deep understanding of Osteopathic Principles and Practices. Savarese is great for learning the visceral innervation (vagus vs. splanchnic) as well as viscerosomatic levels (which will be all over your exam). You should supplement another source for learning Chapman's points (although I didn't have a single question on them on my exam). You may have questions about the treatments listed in Savarese, and those are worth a glance.

So, you definitely do not need to memorize Savarese to do well. Know the viscerosomatic levels and know Chapman's points; those may be the majority of the OMM on your exam.
 
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MrBeauregard said:
This wasn't directed at me, but I'll give an answer anyways. Since the portion of Savarese that contains information (not the quiz sections) is relatively thing, it wouldn't be all that difficult to memorize; however, you absolutely do not have to do this. A solid foundation from your first two years is probably the most important thing to have. Along with that should come a deep understanding of Osteopathic Principles and Practices. Savarese is great for learning the visceral innervation (vagus vs. splanchnic) as well as viscerosomatic levels (which will be all over your exam). You should supplement another source for learning Chapman's points (although I didn't have a single question on them on my exam). You may have questions about the treatments listed in Savarese, and those are worth a glance.

So, you definitely do not need to memorize Savarese to do well. Know the viscerosomatic levels and know Chapman's points; those may be the majority of the OMM on your exam.
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Thank you. If I remember correctly, you massacred that exam too. So jealous. I hope I do as well as you guys next year :D
 
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GTP said:
Well you won't have trouble matching with that disgusting score. :D. I wish you all the best. Did you have to memorize saverese cover to cover?
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No I did not think that was necessary. I read through it once and answered all the questions in it. I think if you get a decent foundation to work with from class then you don't have to go over board with memorizing.
 
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hawthorne said:
No I did not think that was necessary. I read through it once and answered all the questions in it. I think if you get a decent foundation to work with from class then you don't have to go over board with memorizing.
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Ditto! My score is nowhere near yours (congratulations by the way! I don't even know you and I'm proud of you lol), but I will echo this anyway. I don't think memorizing Saverese will get you far because outside of the spinal levels, the OMT questions (at least the ones I got) weren't regurgitation. You had to apply the knowledge. I felt like my school's OMT department did a good job teaching us the concepts the first two years and COMQUEST and COMBANK helped to fill in the gaps in my knowledge when it came to applying the information.

I wish I had gone through the OMT questions on the q-banks more than once. What people say is true -- if you know your OMT backwards and forwards, those are quick, easy points, so long as you don't miss them due to carelessness (which I know I did in a few cases). I also consistently had trouble with cranial, both in school and in studying for the exam. In retrospect, I wish I had spent more time on that chapter in Saverese and maybe re-visited some of my school notes. There were a lot of cranial questions I wasn't sure about. I plan to focus more on my OMT weaknesses for Step 2 since I feel like it's fairly straight-forward once you can master it.

Good luck to all those still waiting on scores and those who have yet to take the exam. Now on to third year!
 
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Mass Effect said:
Ditto! My score is nowhere near yours (congratulations by the way! I don't even know you and I'm proud of you lol), but I will echo this anyway. I don't think memorizing Saverese will get you far because outside of the spinal levels, the OMT questions (at least the ones I got) weren't regurgitation. You had to apply the knowledge. I felt like my school's OMT department did a good job teaching us the concepts the first two years and COMQUEST and COMBANK helped to fill in the gaps in my knowledge when it came to applying the information.

I wish I had gone through the OMT questions on the q-banks more than once. What people say is true -- if you know your OMT backwards and forwards, those are quick, easy points, so long as you don't miss them due to carelessness (which I know I did in a few cases). I also consistently had trouble with cranial, both in school and in studying for the exam. In retrospect, I wish I had spent more time on that chapter in Saverese and maybe re-visited some of my school notes. There were a lot of cranial questions I wasn't sure about. I plan to focus more on my OMT weaknesses for Step 2 since I feel like it's fairly straight-forward once you can master it.

Good luck to all those still waiting on scores and those who have yet to take the exam. Now on to third year!
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Thank you! I'm proud of me too......I worked hard and am glad it paid off. I agree that its really not what you know but what you can apply. I felt alot of the questions were ones that had to be thought out. I luckily had a good grasp on cranial bc my school had it in the curriculum and offered an elective in it. But it is definitely worth looking over bc it shows up alot, atleast it did on mine. I had alot of of levels, a few chapmans, and cranial as most of my omm. I also heard there is alot of omm on level 2 so its good to know it for that too.
 
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jumpmanv15 said:
MCAT scores are never an indication of anything. Hard work, however, is.
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Oh yes I agree with you! However when applying to med school many schools out there seen to use it to gauge whether you will succeed in medical school......maybe not the osteopathic programs so much but still. I personally thought physics was as painful as pulling teeth and that definitely showed on my mcat. I however put in the hard work and am doing well in course work and boards so far.
 
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hawthorne said:
Oh yes I agree with you! However when applying to med school many schools out there seen to use it to gauge whether you will succeed in medical school......maybe not the osteopathic programs so much but still. I personally thought physics was as painful as pulling teeth and that definitely showed on my mcat. I however put in the hard work and am doing well in course work and boards so far.
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I actually liked (relative to bio) the physic/chem. Not much of a bio guy, but well here I am.
 
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June 27th Test 651/93

Studied
Feb-March All Kaplan Qbank: 59%
April-May All UWorld: 59%
June All Comquest: 77%
Referenced FA throughout Kaplan Qbank, then as needed thereafter.

Good Luck
 
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