Official comlex 1 2012 experiences, advice, and scores thread

[Pink Candy]

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.

Thanks for everyone's help, and I hope we all rock this test!!!

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[StressedMedStud]

Just took it today.. Worst test ever, and very poor representation of medical knowledge, I would rather have taken USMLE any day. I guess tests prior to mine were a lot easier or something. For example, 75% of the micro was pretty abstract ( they would describe an ear infection and the gram stain would be something weird aka not strep pneumo, H. infulenza, or moraxella ).
Compared to what everyone says, my test wasn't "heavy" on any subject... it was everywhere. If I HAD to say what mine was heaviest in, I would say MAYBE in the following order:

Micro: Like i said, mostly "low yield" viruses and bacteria

Neuro: Had a bunch of epidural, subdural, subarachnoid, and weird variety of concussion questions that I would have never got even if I studied for another 5 months. Few vascular lesions.

Pharm: compared to what everyone says, I didnt have much pharm at all. Probably 5 pharm questions a block on average

Repro: Few breast diseases, prostates, placenta

GI: few GERD, cholecystitis

Resp: few resp path questions

Biochem: some genetic stuff, few vitamins

Edocrine: some thyroid stuff , cushings

cardio: some murmurs, pericarditis

msk: probl like 3 questions on RA, and 1 rickets

Renal: 1 or 2 renal questions?

Thats all I can think of. The OPP was ridiculous. Aside from the standard ribs, sacrum, innominates etc. I had maybe 6-8 questions on what bone in skull had a dysfunction causing some sort of symptom. I had 1 chapman point question.

Overall I am not very happy right now....I was expecting a few questions out of left field, but not nearly to the extent to what I experienced. I guess I will just have to wait and see.

I think you probably did better than you think. Alot of people come out of the exam thinking they failled. In my school, the 2 people that got the highest score thought they for sure failed the thing.

When you said OMM was ridiculous, do you mean ridiculously easy or hard?

Also for the micro, are you saying that FA is not enough? What source would you suggest studying from?

Also was your exam more like Comsae C than B?

Good luck, and dont worry, hopefully alot of the hard questions you got were experimental.

 

[frankyazz]

I meant it was ridiculously unfair and abstract. The stuff they were asking, I would have never learned even if I studied for another year.

I used Micro Made Ridiculously Simple ( I know that got me a few points) and got some points from stuff i remembered from class( for example I had a question on Ispospora or how ever its spelled that I recalled from class). Another example of abstract micro that they had on there was about Frascellia- they never mentioned anything about rabbits: you just had to know it can cause a pneumonia and that it causes ulceroglandular disease.

I never had the chance to take C... but B i felt pretty good about when I took it ( and got a 687).. which is opposite about how I feel about this one. Ill be happy if I broke 550 to be honest.

 

[teacherman84]

I meant it was ridiculously unfair and abstract. The stuff they were asking, I would have never learned even if I studied for another year.

I used Micro Made Ridiculously Simple ( I know that got me a few points) and got some points from stuff i remembered from class( for example I had a question on Ispospora or how ever its spelled that I recalled from class). Another example of abstract micro that they had on there was about Frascellia- they never mentioned anything about rabbits: you just had to know it can cause a pneumonia and that it causes ulceroglandular disease.

I never had the chance to take C... but B i felt pretty good about when I took it ( and got a 687).. which is opposite about how I feel about this one. Ill be happy if I broke 550 to be honest.

I took mine yesterday as well...sounds like we had a pretty similar test. Very micro heavy with some left field bugs, or neuro I also had a lot of head injuries, but must were worded well enough I didn't need the poor quality CT image. OMM was either very simple or really random. I had a few Chapman's questions, one was very obscure.

I was a little surprised that I had only one biostats question. And it wasnt even sensitivity/specificity free points that I was hoping for.

Oh well....now the waiting game.

 

[StressedMedStud]

I took mine yesterday as well...sounds like we had a pretty similar test. Very micro heavy with some left field bugs, or neuro I also had a lot of head injuries, but must were worded well enough I didn't need the poor quality CT image. OMM was either very simple or really random. I had a few Chapman's questions, one was very obscure.

I was a little surprised that I had only one biostats question. And it wasnt even sensitivity/specificity free points that I was hoping for.

Oh well....now the waiting game.

How did you study for it? What tools/qbanks did you use? Did combank help you?

Thanks!

 

[hinduthug]

Quick question for all the people that took it, could you increase the font size at all?

 

[frankyazz]

Quick question for all the people that took it, could you increase the font size at all?

Like increase the font size on the computer screen at the testing center? No.. but you shouldn't need to

 

[frankyazz]

I took mine yesterday as well...sounds like we had a pretty similar test. Very micro heavy with some left field bugs, or neuro I also had a lot of head injuries, but must were worded well enough I didn't need the poor quality CT image. OMM was either very simple or really random. I had a few Chapman's questions, one was very obscure.

I was a little surprised that I had only one biostats question. And it wasnt even sensitivity/specificity free points that I was hoping for.

Oh well....now the waiting game.

Ya.. I felt like every other question they were describing a epidural ( some sort of way of describing a lucid interval, although a lot of the times it didn't seem clear cut). I only had 1 chapman point.. it was for the sinuses, which I knew from doing comquest.

I talked to my buddy who scored VERY well, and he said coming out of it he felt exactly like I did ( pissed off and not even hitting 600), but everything turned out to be good. We prepared the same way, and had similar scores on all our mock boards etc. so hopefully I get the same turn out. Its just hard to imagine I could of gotten anything above 550 when i was marking 15-20 questions a section. Going to be a painful month.. I woke up this morning thinking of questions on my test, Ugh. Hopefully 6 months of studying wasn't all for nothing.

 

[StressedMedStud]

Ya.. I felt like every other question they were describing a epidural ( some sort of way of describing a lucid interval, although a lot of the times it didn't seem clear cut). I only had 1 chapman point.. it was for the sinuses, which I knew from doing comquest.

I talked to my buddy who scored VERY well, and he said coming out of it he felt exactly like I did ( pissed off and not even hitting 600), but everything turned out to be good. We prepared the same way, and had similar scores on all our mock boards etc. so hopefully I get the same turn out. Its just hard to imagine I could of gotten anything above 550 when i was marking 15-20 questions a section. Going to be a painful month.. I woke up this morning thinking of questions on my test, Ugh. Hopefully 6 months of studying wasn't all for nothing.

Is there a thread where you describe how you prepared for this beast?

 

[The kitchen sink]

can any recent test takers talk about whether they prefer combank vs comquest (if you had to choose one) and/or do both?

 

[hinduthug]

Like increase the font size on the computer screen at the testing center? No.. but you shouldn't need to

Yeah the font size at the testing center. I just didn't know if you could or not. Thanks for answering.

 

[JRjcu08]

Apparently it won't be needed, but is there a calculator on the screen?
Can you hit 'ctrl + F' on the lab document to quick search for things?

 

[frankyazz]

Is there a thread where you describe how you prepared for this beast?

I posted some of the stuff I did on the first page of this thread. I basically read through everything I could ( MMRS, BRS phys, HY neuroanatomy, Goljan RR, pathoma, first aid). I also completed four question banks: I did Uworld 1.5 times, comquest, combank, and kaplan ( USMLE, and comlex), and then I did some of the DIT qbank questions. I also did Uworld Sim exam 1, and uworld sim exam 2, NBME 13, and comsae A and B, on top of the two mock boards the school gives us.

Hope all that work was worth it.. but like I said, I feel like it was all for nothing. I went through all of that material with a fine tooth comb, and I felt like half of the comlex was "wtf, I've never seen anything like this before"

 

[StressedMedStud]

Does anyone know if the COMLEX exams given Aug - Dec are easier than the ones from Apr - July because they know everyone takes it during those times?

 

[frankyazz]

Does anyone know if the COMLEX exams given Aug - Dec are easier than the ones from Apr - July because they know everyone takes it during those times?

hahaha don't try to play that game. It's okay, I thought about it too. If anything they would be harder cause you have more time to study.

 

[JRjcu08]

Does anyone know if the COMLEX exams given Aug - Dec are easier than the ones from Apr - July because they know everyone takes it during those times?

I would seriously doubt it. In fact, the level of difficulty is probably the same all the time, but what is difficult for some may be easy for others; it all depends on your strengths and how you prepared for the exam. Most of all, it is just if you were lucky enough to be tested on your strengths- then the test will of course seem easier.

 

[Pink Candy]

Hi Frakyazz, and congrats on being done!!!! you probably did awsome (like your study buddy). I wanted to ask you about the questions in series (2 or 3 questions connected to the same stem of information). I heard than on the usmle once you answer the 1st question in the series, you can't go back to change it. Is it the same for the comlex, or is it just like the combank, where you could come back to change the answer to the first or second question?

thanks so much, and enjoy your time off!!!

 

[marshac]

I heard than on the usmle once you answer the 1st question in the series, you can't go back to change it.

You can go back.

 

[StressedMedStud]

You can go back.

how was ure comlex experience. can you describe it? what did u do to study?

 

[frankyazz]

Hi Frakyazz, and congrats on being done!!!! you probably did awsome (like your study buddy). I wanted to ask you about the questions in series (2 or 3 questions connected to the same stem of information). I heard than on the usmle once you answer the 1st question in the series, you can't go back to change it. Is it the same for the comlex, or is it just like the combank, where you could come back to change the answer to the first or second question?

thanks so much, and enjoy your time off!!!

As marshac said, yes, you can go back. It was key cause it helped me narrow down answers a lot since half my test was WTF questions. And what you heard about usmle is true.
I hope I did awesome... the waiting already sucks, and I'm going to be depressed until I get my score haha.

Unfortunately I have no time off... first rotation on Monday. It's going to be miserable.. only thing will be on my mind is my score!

 

[ab12]

for anyone that took the comsae c (or any of them for that matter) i feel like the questions are really vague compared to the q banks that I'm doing .. did you notice it was just as vague for the actual complex exam or are the question stems a bit longer/informative?

 

[WonderBoy]

for anyone that took the comsae c (or any of them for that matter) i feel like the questions are really vague compared to the q banks that I'm doing .. did you notice it was just as vague for the actual complex exam or are the question stems a bit longer/informative?

I did a few combank questions and yea those comsae questions were weird. I didn't expect so many CNS/psych drugs either. I have read a few places that its harder than B and people do better on real comlex than comase. But thats just what I have "read".

Planning on taking B in a few weeks.

 

[frankyazz]

for anyone that took the comsae c (or any of them for that matter) i feel like the questions are really vague compared to the q banks that I'm doing .. did you notice it was just as vague for the actual complex exam or are the question stems a bit longer/informative?

Real COMLEX is just as vague and sometimes worse.

 

[WonderBoy]

Real COMLEX is just as vague and sometimes worse.

Sounds like fun

Thats what I heard throughout the year from people who took the test last year, never knew what they meant until I took the comsae.

I also hate those multi-part questions, where you have to be able to answer the first question to get the next two right, are those on complex too?

 

[ab12]

Real COMLEX is just as vague and sometimes worse.

ah thats what i was afraid of! any recommendations? com bank vs conquest?

ps thank you for taking time to reply to us !

 

[frankyazz]

Sounds like fun

Thats what I heard throughout the year from people who took the test last year, never knew what they meant until I took the comsae.

I also hate those multi-part questions, where you have to be able to answer the first question to get the next two right, are those on complex too?

Yup... and sometimes the last 15-20 questions were just a bunch of 2-5 part questions.

And your right, it should be called the comPlex

 

[The kitchen sink]

did any of you guys happen to get those car seat questions and milestones stuff?

 

[frankyazz]

ah thats what i was afraid of! any recommendations? com bank vs conquest?

ps thank you for taking time to reply to us !

No problem.. I had a lot of help along the way from 3rd years so just glad to help out.

I completed both comquest and combank.. I personally feel like comquest is the way to go. Just a better all around question bank and their customer service is great.

 

[frankyazz]

did any of you guys happen to get those car seat questions and milestones stuff?

I studied it.. but didn't have any. Figures.

 

[Big McHuge]

took it today, didn't think it was terrible. a few things that stood out: lots of micro questions that FA cannot answer, I didn't do CMMRS (know moraxella catarhalis in the same detail as you would strep pneumo). I had a lot of antibiotic questions. Tons of questions dealing with bilirubin. Pharm was heaviest in psych and neuro. Lots of bleeding disorders. Repro phys was huge, also know all the details for complete mole vs partial mole. Lastly, COMBANK was great for the legal/ethical questions. Do these bc they are easy points come exam time. Good luck.

 

[StressedMedStud]

took it today, didn't think it was terrible. a few things that stood out: lots of micro questions that FA cannot answer, I didn't do CMMRS (know moraxella catarhalis in the same detail as you would strep pneumo). I had a lot of antibiotic questions. Tons of questions dealing with bilirubin. Pharm was heaviest in psych and neuro. Lots of bleeding disorders. Repro phys was huge, also know all the details for complete mole vs partial mole. Lastly, COMBANK was great for the legal/ethical questions. Do these bc they are easy points come exam time. Good luck.

thanks for the post! what micro source should we use if FA is not enough? i feel like micro is easy points since its straight memorization and i dont wanna lose points on that, vs physio.

i hoope i get ob/gyn. do you think i should get step 2 and do ob/gyn ques from there?

 

[The kitchen sink]

took it today, didn't think it was terrible. a few things that stood out: lots of micro questions that FA cannot answer, I didn't do CMMRS (know moraxella catarhalis in the same detail as you would strep pneumo). I had a lot of antibiotic questions. Tons of questions dealing with bilirubin. Pharm was heaviest in psych and neuro. Lots of bleeding disorders. Repro phys was huge, also know all the details for complete mole vs partial mole. Lastly, COMBANK was great for the legal/ethical questions. Do these bc they are easy points come exam time. Good luck.

were there any of those healthcare adminstration and HMO, PPO questions?

 

[Big McHuge]

thanks for the post! what micro source should we use if FA is not enough? i feel like micro is easy points since its straight memorization and i dont wanna lose points on that, vs physio.

i hoope i get ob/gyn. do you think i should get step 2 and do ob/gyn ques from there?

My guess is to go through clinical micro made simple. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of easy micro questions that FA does answer. But there was a good amount of bugs not even mentioned in FA. As for repro, my exam was not clinical so I think you are fine with FA and maybe BRS Phys.

 

[Big McHuge]

were there any of those healthcare adminstration and HMO, PPO questions?

Yeah I had 2 of them.

 

[teacherman84]

How did you study for it? What tools/qbanks did you use? Did combank help you?

Thanks!

I did DIT, ran through FA a few times, finished 3/4 or USMLERX, did all of COMBANK questions once and started redoing the ones I missed the first time USMLERX. In retrospect I wish I had sucked it up and went through pathoma...I had a busy month leading up to the test though and figured I wouldn't get to it...but I could've/should've squeezed it in because I'm pretty mediocre in path.
I avgd mid 60s on COMBANK, low 500s on COMSAE B a few weeks before my test.
No clue about COMQUEST for those asking...I wish they had released it a few months earlier because it sounds nice.
Franky, sounds like we had a VERY similar test

 

[StressedMedStud]

I did DIT, ran through FA a few times, finished 3/4 or USMLERX, did all of COMBANK questions once and started redoing the ones I missed the first time USMLERX. In retrospect I wish I had sucked it up and went through pathoma...I had a busy month leading up to the test though and figured I wouldn't get to it...but I could've/should've squeezed it in because I'm pretty mediocre in path.
I avgd mid 60s on COMBANK, low 500s on COMSAE B a few weeks before my test.
No clue about COMQUEST for those asking...I wish they had released it a few months earlier because it sounds nice.
Franky, sounds like we had a VERY similar test

I"m currently doing Combank too, did you feel like the questions are similar to the comlex in terms of difficulty?

Also was comsae B similar to the real deal.

Thank you for ure help!

 

[frankyazz]

I did DIT, ran through FA a few times, finished 3/4 or USMLERX, did all of COMBANK questions once and started redoing the ones I missed the first time USMLERX. In retrospect I wish I had sucked it up and went through pathoma...I had a busy month leading up to the test though and figured I wouldn't get to it...but I could've/should've squeezed it in because I'm pretty mediocre in path.
I avgd mid 60s on COMBANK, low 500s on COMSAE B a few weeks before my test.
No clue about COMQUEST for those asking...I wish they had released it a few months earlier because it sounds nice.
Franky, sounds like we had a VERY similar test

It was a terrible test huh? I feel like I got robbed from all the hard work I put in.

 

[teacherman84]

I"m currently doing Combank too, did you feel like the questions are similar to the comlex in terms of difficulty?

Also was comsae B similar to the real deal.

Thank you for ure help!

It was all over the place. I felt much better about B then the real thing

It was a terrible test huh? I feel like I got robbed from all the hard work I put in.

Yeah, it was garbage...hopefully in 6 weeks well be pleasantly surprised.

 

[frankyazz]

It was all over the place. I felt much better about B then the real thing



Yeah, it was garbage...hopefully in 6 weeks well be pleasantly surprised.

Ya same here. I hope the system works out the way it should.. It would suck if someone who nearly didn't put in the same amount of work scored better just because of the test they were dealt with. Wouldn't make sense

 

[1Cor1557]

Ya same here. I hope the system works out the way it should.. It would suck if someone who nearly didn't put in the same amount of work scored better just because of the test they were dealt with. Wouldn't make sense

You guys are all fine, if you've been sitting on 550/600+ the whole home stretch in, its good to go...400Q test has the breadth to remove the possibility of getting stiffed by it...even multiple easy/rough Q's here or there won't help sub-preparedness or hurt many months of hard work...because it is 400Q, not 50. I would argue once you are in the thick of 650+, the diff b/w that & 750 is a few Q's, but who would complain b/w the two. 95% correct doesn't get 600+, it is far less than that, don't discount yourselves b/c you didn't cruise thru it like cake, this test isn't intended to be "aced" in the sense we all remember from the classroom, but that's why very high scores are attainable with a good chunk of Q's forfeited.

 

[frankyazz]

You guys are all fine, if you've been sitting on 550/600+ the whole home stretch in, its good to go...400Q test has the breadth to remove the possibility of getting stiffed by it...even multiple easy/rough Q's here or there won't help sub-preparedness or hurt many months of hard work...because it is 400Q, not 50. I would argue once you are in the thick of 650+, the diff b/w that & 750 is a few Q's, but who would complain b/w the two. 95% correct doesn't get 600+, it is far less than that, don't discount yourselves b/c you didn't cruise thru it like cake, this test isn't intended to be "aced" in the sense we all remember from the classroom, but that's why very high scores are attainable with a good chunk of Q's forfeited.

Thanks for the reply.. I really hope you are right. I was scoring consistently in the 600s, with my last two exams being in the upper 600s. I was hoping to score high, but I feel like those hopes have been destroyed due to "those few questions" as you mentioned. At this point, I will be extremely pleased if I even hit 600, although I will still feel somewhat "gypped" knowing I received one of the worst exams out of the bunch. Hopefully rotations will get me to stop thinking about this, cause this has really put me into a slump.

 

[sylvanthus]

Ehh don't worry about it, you will be fine. Anything over a 600 is very respectable and like the dude above said, there is very little separation between a 650 and 700+, it literally probably is a few questions.

Also, the COMSAEs are not very predictive. I looked up the statistics on how predictive they are and it was pretty durn bad. I got something like a 550 on a COMSAE (the only one I took) and ended with a 732. Yes, N=1, but if you look at the stats you will see they are not meant to be predictive.

 

[StressedMedStud]

Ehh don't worry about it, you will be fine. Anything over a 600 is very respectable and like the dude above said, there is very little separation between a 650 and 700+, it literally probably is a few questions.

Also, the COMSAEs are not very predictive. I looked up the statistics on how predictive they are and it was pretty durn bad. I got something like a 550 on a COMSAE (the only one I took) and ended with a 732. Yes, N=1, but if you look at the stats you will see they are not meant to be predictive.

How did you preepare??? what an awesome score

 

[frankyazz]

Ehh don't worry about it, you will be fine. Anything over a 600 is very respectable and like the dude above said, there is very little separation between a 650 and 700+, it literally probably is a few questions.

Also, the COMSAEs are not very predictive. I looked up the statistics on how predictive they are and it was pretty durn bad. I got something like a 550 on a COMSAE (the only one I took) and ended with a 732. Yes, N=1, but if you look at the stats you will see they are not meant to be predictive.

I see what you are saying.. but shouldn't a higher score correlate to higher preparedness? The way you put it makes it sound like comlex is completely all luck (awesome score by the way). Shouldn't someone who is more prepared consistently score higher (including on comsaes)?

 

[sylvanthus]

Kaplan videos, MMRS, FA along with UW (by systems, not random like most people), goljan audio, and about 500 questions of combank to get the feel of the style of questions. That made up the majority of what I did. Oh and a few practice NBMEs.

 

[sylvanthus]

I see what you are saying.. but shouldn't a higher score correlate to higher preparedness? The way you put it makes it sound like comlex is completely all luck (awesome score by the way). Shouldn't someone who is more prepared consistently score higher (including on comsaes)?

Not necessarily. You are assuming the test is a good test and your score reflects your preparedness. There are many threads talking about how bad the comlex is overall as a test and many well-prepared people did much worse than a person would expect. I'm not saying that to scare you, just that the test can be a crap shoot at times.

If it truly reflected how well you prepared why the 180 point difference between my comsae and the real thing when they were taken relatively close together? Also, why aren't the COMSAEs predictive according to their very own website? If I get done with the crap I have to get done today, I will pull up the stats if you'd like.

 

[frankyazz]

Not necessarily. You are assuming the test is a good test and your score reflects your preparedness. There are many threads talking about how bad the comlex is overall as a test and many well-prepared people did much worse than a person would expect. I'm not saying that to scare you, just that the test can be a crap shoot at times.

If it truly reflected how well you prepared why the 180 point difference between my comsae and the real thing when they were taken relatively close together? Also, why aren't the COMSAEs predictive according to their very own website? If I get done with the crap I have to get done today, I will pull up the stats if you'd like.

I believe you, you don't need to post the stats, and yes, you completely scared me. Why even study at all is basically the message I'm getting. It is complete luck. The people who are the most prepared don't score the best (something is wrong with that).

Bottom line: I wasted 6 months of hard work for nothing.

 

[sylvanthus]

Noo you are fine dude, it isn't a complete crapshoot. Obviously studying will make an impact. But, it isn't as clearcut as it is with the USMLE. Pretty much your score on the USMLE is nearly completely under your control depending on how much effort you put into it and how good of a test taker you are.

But, the COMLEX has more random **** in it that just either doesn't make sense or you just don't understand what in the world they are even asking. So, no matter how well you know the material, if the question sucks, you can't figure it out. There are many more of those questions on the COMLEX than the USMLE.

Course there are also good questions, so if you know the material you will know the answer. There is just a higher chance of a wider variability. The key is obviously knowing the material well so that you get the good questions right, and guessing well on the crappy questions.

Im not saying that it is total luck, just that luck plays a roll in it based on how many of those bad questions you get.

 

[Heartkiller]

Congrats to whomever is done, quick question did anyone try the doctors in training omm videos? If you did, do you think they were helpful, thinking about buying them, but dnt wanta waste the money if they are garbage, Ty.

 

[sylvanthus]

I havent look at them but dont see the point. Saverese is really all you need for OMM. Save the cash.

 

[WonderBoy]

Congrats to whomever is done, quick question did anyone try the doctors in training omm videos? If you did, do you think they were helpful, thinking about buying them, but dnt wanta waste the money if they are garbage, Ty.

Heard they aren't really good. Stick with Saverese was I advice I received from upperclassmen.