the official COMAT shelf thread

[Spectreman]

Just took family med. each of the 125 questions has a full 2 paragraphs of info and there are usually multiple lab value tables. The values are pointless except for 1 or 2 that will be “slightly abnormal”... unbelievable our futures are dictated by these exams. I’m done studying for them... may as well go play trivia night at a bar. Probably would cover some of the content tbh

You know SDNers here will be pulling 120+ so keep gunning cause someone’s crushing these things.

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[Ho0v-man]

Still have to take omm comat how was it. Was going to hope school forgot about it but they didn’t lol
Tips?

I got a low 100s score on it and I suck at omm. Did the turnup2path anki deck for a couple weeks and went for it. Not too unreasonable.

 

[hawthorn9797]

Anybody get scores today? Is the NBOME site just crashed rn lol?

 

[Ho0v-man]

Took the psych comat today. Used uworld and Dorian and thought it was a complete dumpster fire. I must have had 10+ second order questions about which screening questionnaire to fill out. Probably 5 or so about the right type of therapy (dialectical/motivational/interpersonal/etc). I think there were enough freebies to pass but I ain’t impressing anyone today.

 

[mang0]

Took the psych comat today. Used uworld and Dorian and thought it was a complete dumpster fire. I must have had 10+ second order questions about which screening questionnaire to fill out. Probably 5 or so about the right type of therapy (dialectical/motivational/interpersonal/etc). I think there were enough freebies to pass but I ain’t impressing anyone today.

Damnit... I am using Dorian too and was hoping it would be beneficial for the shelf

Any advice for resources that were most similar? Or random toopics that you feel weren't covered on OME and stuff?

 

[Medic741]

Damnit... I am using Dorian too and was hoping it would be beneficial for the shelf

Firecracker for psych clerkship // COMAT was really good. Just used FC and true learn and got a 120, otherwise would have been completely lost. If you still have time before the COMAT I'd give it a try if you're looking for a different resource. GL!

 

[mang0]

Firecracker for psych clerkship // COMAT was really good. Just used FC and true learn and got a 120, otherwise would have been completely lost. If you still have time before the COMAT I'd give it a try if you're looking for a different resource. GL!

Thank you i appreciate it. When you say True Learn, is that COMBANK?

and what do you mean COMAT was good? Isnt the shelf called COMAT? What resource are u referring to?

Sorry its my first shelf so im little lost right now

 

[Ho0v-man]

Damnit... I am using Dorian too and was hoping it would be beneficial for the shelf

Any advice for resources that were most similar? Or random toopics that you feel weren't covered on OME and stuff?

Mainly got blindsided by the screening questionnaires. I had only a handful of x symptoms for y time period type questions. I thought the pharm was worse than uworld but I’m hoping step 1 knowledge carried me there bc it wasn’t near that intense.

Don’t freak out too bad. This was my lowest section on step 1 and second lowest section on comlex.

 

[sunshinefl]

Took the psych comat today. Used uworld and Dorian and thought it was a complete dumpster fire. I must have had 10+ second order questions about which screening questionnaire to fill out. Probably 5 or so about the right type of therapy (dialectical/motivational/interpersonal/etc). I think there were enough freebies to pass but I ain’t impressing anyone today.

Also took the Psych Comat today. Used Dorian, Zanki Step 2, FA for psychiatry clerkship, Combank, and OME.

Was a psych major in undergrad, had psych nursing experience.

Found Comat today to be a nightmare. Hoping just to pass. Which sucks because I got an honors level eval (which would be negated completely) and I’m potentially interested in Psychiatry (2nd leading after Primary care).

 

[Ho0v-man]

Also took the Psych Comat today. Used Dorian, Zanki Step 2, FA for psychiatry clerkship, Combank, and OME.

Was a psych major in undergrad, had psych nursing experience.

Found Comat today to be a nightmare. Hoping just to pass. Which sucks because I got an honors level eval (which would be negated completely) and I’m potentially interested in Psychiatry (2nd leading after Primary care).

I too, was a psych major. I hope next week we’re back in here reporting a generous scale.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Score came back from the psych shelf. Got a 109. Not great but totally cool with me.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

About to start my surgery rotation on Monday, and advice or tips for honoring the COMAT? My plan is to hit the OME sub-deck in Dorian/UWorld/COMBANK Comat questions. Do you think that will be enough? That's what I did for IM and I hit ~120 but I can't tell if that study method actually worked or my Step knowledge just carried me

 

[Neopolymath]

About to start my surgery rotation on Monday, and advice or tips for honoring the COMAT? My plan is to hit the OME sub-deck in Dorian/UWorld/COMBANK Comat questions. Do you think that will be enough? That's what I did for IM and I hit ~120 but I can't tell if that study method actually worked or my Step knowledge just carried me

Having the same issue here.

 

[sunshinefl]

Score came back from the psych shelf. Got a 109. Not great but totally cool with me.

I just checked and I got a 98. ☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️

 

[Spectreman]

I just checked and I got a 98. ☹☹☹☹☹

I got a 104! These freaking COMATs!!! I got ALL 5’s on my eval and pt presentation too, but none of it matters without the 111, at Nova you automatically drop to a P! Ugh, so stupid.

 

[Ho0v-man]

I got a 104! These freaking COMATs!!! I got ALL 5’s on my eval and pt presentation too, but none of it matters without the 111, at Nova you automatically drop to a P! Ugh, so stupid.

This is indeed a stupid system. I have no clue why residencies actually care about third year clinical grades when they vary so wildly between schools.

I was doing the math after my anxiety cooled off s/p comat and realized I could get honors just passing my comat (85) bc my evaluation was really good. This directly benefits me and I still think it’s BS.

 

[Neopolymath]

This is indeed a stupid system. I have no clue why residencies actually care about third year clinical grades when they vary so wildly between schools.

I was doing the math after my anxiety cooled off s/p comat and realized I could get honors just passing my comat (85) bc my evaluation was really good. This directly benefits me and I still think it’s BS.

Dang that's nice. Take advantage!

 

[Kalam]

About to start my surgery rotation on Monday, and advice or tips for honoring the COMAT? My plan is to hit the OME sub-deck in Dorian/UWorld/COMBANK Comat questions. Do you think that will be enough? That's what I did for IM and I hit ~120 but I can't tell if that study method actually worked or my Step knowledge just carried me

I did only COMBANK + OME with Dorian's OME cards (minus the surgical subspecialities section) and got a 118. Thought it was a fairly straightforward COMAT, mainly focusing on screening/treatment algorithms.

 

[sunshinefl]

I got a 104! These freaking COMATs!!! I got ALL 5’s on my eval and pt presentation too, but none of it matters without the 111, at Nova you automatically drop to a P! Ugh, so stupid.

Yeah I got straight 5s oh my eval and presentation and glowing written comments as well, but it doesn’t matter.

This is indeed a stupid system. I have no clue why residencies actually care about third year clinical grades when they vary so wildly between schools.

I was doing the math after my anxiety cooled off s/p comat and realized I could get honors just passing my comat (85) bc my evaluation was really good. This directly benefits me and I still think it’s BS.

Yeah they’re not averaged for us. And there is no high pass. Oh well. Stuck in this system my goal is to at least pass everything and with good written comments for the MSPE.

 

[mang0]

jesus.
just took the psych shelf
****ing brutal

honors is 109 at my school

 

[Medic741]

Just did family med and can confirm it is an absolute dumpster fire.

 

[Medic741]

It’s family med what do you expect half of them can’t even read much less write exam questions

Eh, think that’s not fair to family med docs. The NBOME is the enemy

 

[Dr_Curry]

Took the peds comat shelf today. I used dorian heavily, 1 early pass of OME, comquest qbank +comat questions and powered through master the boards the week before. Honors is 112 for my school. Not sure if I hit that but think I'll be pretty close. Felt like I got around 75% of the questions give or take. Felt comquest did a solid job minus some of the really LY facts it tested on. Not a whole lot of obscure content but will say that step 1 knowledge came in clutch for content that wasnt covered in the major peds resources.

 

[MakeLifeHappen13]

Family Med COMAT - 110

Don't just study the typical FM bread and butter stuff as I thought it was only like 10-15% of the test. There was a lot of variety in subjects tested, things you will never see during your rotation, but you had to know for Step 1. Doing an IM Anki deck was a huge help.

 

[Prehealth1011]

Family Med COMAT - 110

Don't slave over the typical FM bread and butter stuff for the whole rotation as I thought it was only like 10-15% of the test. There was a lot of variety in subjects tested, things you will never see during your rotation, but you had to know for Step 1. Doing an IM Anki deck was a huge help.

Any recommendation? Taking my FM COMAT in a few days.

 

[MakeLifeHappen13]

Any recommendation? Taking my FM COMAT in a few days.

If your test is really in a few days, you're better off just doing as many COMBANK and COMQUEST questions as possible. These decks take at least a couple of months to get through.

DocDeck IM is what I use.

 

[hawthorn9797]

Any tips on the psych COMAT? Is memorizing FA for psych sufficient? Thanks homies

 

[Ho0v-man]

Any tips on the psych COMAT? Is memorizing FA for psych sufficient? Thanks homies

You’ll definitely have some questions about which type of interviewing/therapy to do. Don't’ blow off that table in uworld/Dorian that has a specific type of therapy for a certain condition, i.e. dialectical for borderline. Know how to treat the different stages of the ADAPT mnemonic. Keep in mind that the rapidly pacing person with pressured speech might not be manic, but it might be akathisia.

I struggled on this thing though so that’s all i got.

 

[hawthorn9797]

You’ll definitely have some questions about which type of interviewing/therapy to do. Don't’ blow off that table in uworld/Dorian that has a specific type of therapy for a certain condition, i.e. dialectical for borderline. Know how to treat the different stages of the ADAPT mnemonic. Keep in mind that the rapidly pacing person with pressured speech might not be manic, but it might be akathisia.

I struggled on this thing though so that’s all i got.

Thanks man! Appreciate the insight

 

[neurodjent]

Just wanted to stop by and share how I've been studying for my COMATS and how it's gone so far.

OB-GYN - 110
Did Tzanki and watched most OME videos. I did all of the UWorld and COMQUEST questions but I crammed most of them the day before.

Family Med - 121
Just Tzanki and COMQUEST questions. That exam was a hot mess.

 

[mang0]

Just wanted to stop by and share how I've been studying for my COMATS and how it's gone so far.

OB-GYN - 110
Did Tzanki and watched most OME videos. I did all of the UWorld and COMQUEST questions but I crammed most of them the day before.

Family Med - 121
Just Tzanki and COMQUEST questions. That exam was a hot mess.

How do you say it was a hot mess then get a 121 .....

 

[neurodjent]

How do you say it was a hot mess then get a 121 .....

That score was honestly a total surprise to me. I walked out of that test feeling not so great. Many of the questions were completely out of left field and not in any of the study materials. Also, I was rarely 100% sure of my answer choices. On both the family med and OB-GYN shelves I marked over 50% of my exam.

 

[hawthorn9797]

That score was honestly a total surprise to me. I walked out of that test feeling not so great. Many of the questions were completely out of left field and not in any of the study materials. Also, I was rarely 100% sure of my answer choices. On both the family med and OB-GYN shelves I marked over 50% of my exam.

I felt like I got a 18 on both family medicine and Obgyn as well, and ended out with a 112, and 105 respectively... idk what kind of whichcraft goes into grading these things but I’ll take it lol. My theory is that some of the questions have “partial credit” seems like the only way because I was only certain on like 5 for family medicine

 

[neurodjent]

I felt like I got a 18 on both family medicine and Obgyn as well, and ended out with a 112, and 105 respectively... idk what kind of whichcraft goes into grading these things but I’ll take it lol. My theory is that some of the questions have “partial credit” seems like the only way because I was only certain on like 5 for family medicine

I agree that there must be some sort of partial credit or else a 60% is a 115. I took my OB/GYN shelf first and then after that I was pretty disillusioned about COMATs in general. I went into the FM shelf with a less nervous mentality since I felt that there was nothing I could do to answer a lot of the completely random questions on the test. That seemed to have helped me out a bit.

 

[Medic741]

Scores up! 105 on Fmed. Starting to wonder why bother trying when HP/H standards are impossible at my school

 

[Mayanqwe]

Hey guys,

Need ANY AND ALL advice for FM COMAT that I have in less than a week.

List of topics you found super HY on it or your opinion on what to focus on more.

Thank you!!! I really don’t want to fail it but feels so frustrated because the subject is so broad and the practice questions have such random stuff

 

[Mayanqwe]

Scores up! 105 on Fmed. Starting to wonder why bother trying when HP/H standards are impossible at my school

Any advice for the FM COMAT? I have it less than week! any topics you think I should really focus on?

 

[Medic741]

Seriously no one has anything to add?

Ok what about this, due to some outside circumstances FM has been a really busy rotation for me and I of course havn't studied a lick.

COMAT is next week. What should I do?
Read Case Files?
Do questions
- Which questions? Uworld? COMBANK? Comquest?

Funny, I'm struggling to get myself to study even a couple hours. A few months ago that seemed so easy

Regrettably there is no studying for this exam. It doesn’t cover any HY topics with more than a question or two.

I’d give you some insight into what to study but honestly you simply can’t.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Lol rumor at my school is that the NBOME has been messing with the COMATs. This is coming from admins who keep very close tabs on the reports they get from the NBOME about what is on the COMATs. Apparently there is a breakdown they get about how many of the questions were "new" questions that haven't been on the COMATs before and for years has been around the same percentage until this year where on some COMATs the percentage is almost up to 40% completely new and untested questions. Probably explains how people can feel like complete crap in the COMAT and end up getting 120s.

I just love the NBOME.

 

[Prehealth1011]

Regrettably there is no studying for this exam. It doesn’t cover any HY topics with more than a question or two.

I’d give you some insight into what to study but honestly you simply can’t.

That's just great. I'm just gonna study as if I'm taking the IM shelf and hope for the best.

 

[Dr.Bruh]

Just found this thread so I thought I’d share my experience.

FM 102
- must have the fattest curve of all time bc I took the first 2.5 weeks off and didn’t study a thing. Then just crammed OME vids and did all FM comquest questions. Thought for sure I failed bc I literally ran out of time and guess C for the last 15 (yes literally 15) and flagged half the test. I cannot stress enough how certain I was I was gunna have to repeat lol.

Psych 121
- waaaaay more chill and straight forward than FM. And psych was one of my lower things on boards. Did Dorian deck, UW, and Comquest. Still took the first week off of studying before I started. Was a lot more like UW than comquest (didn’t have any psychotherapy or questionnaire Qs. Dorian deck were super clutch for this one

Currently studying for IM comat. 5 weeks out. Just started Qs, was just doing Dorian most days up until now.

 

[Mayanqwe]

Just found this thread so I thought I’d share my experience.

FM 102
- must have the fattest curve of all time bc I took the first 2.5 weeks off and didn’t study a thing. Then just crammed OME vids and did all FM comquest questions. Thought for sure I failed bc I literally ran out of time and guess C for the last 15 (yes literally 15) and flagged half the test. I cannot stress enough how certain I was I was gunna have to repeat lol.

Psych 121
- waaaaay more chill and straight forward than FM. And psych was one of my lower things on boards. Did Dorian deck, UW, and Comquest. Still took the first week off of studying before I started. Was a lot more like UW than comquest (didn’t have any psychotherapy or questionnaire Qs. Dorian deck were super clutch for this one

Currently studying for IM comat. 5 weeks out. Just started Qs, was just doing Dorian most days up until now.

What is Dorian???

 

[Dr.Bruh]

What is Dorian???

Dorian Anki. Def download it! This dude made an ankle dec for every shelf. It includes cards on every OME video, Step Up, NBMEs, UW and anything other high yield things. Dude got a 272 on step 2. Each card has pics of the corresponding FA page, sketchy image, UW graph, uptodate info if you’re more visual. 100% recommend.

 

[Mr. D.O.five]

Dat Surgery COMAT doee

Just finished taking that beast. Came in thinking I'm gonna honor it, walked out hoping to pass :/

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

Honored IM shelf.

All I did was TZanki, maybe 3/4 of OME, & some UWorld the week before my exam (couple hundred Q's.)

I felt like I had seen almost all of the content on the exam in TZanki at some point.

I feel like micro & rheumatology were represented more than I expected. No OMM questions.

 

[mang0]

Tzanki over Dope or Dorian, why ? Was it just # of cards? I have my shelf in 3 months

 

[Ho0v-man]

Just took IM shelf yesterday. Decent reflection of uworld I guess. There were 3-ish questions where knowing omm would have been helpful. Also some very vague questions that made me wonder if the question writer understands what they’re even asking.

So not too bad *knock on wood*.

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

Tzanki over Dope or Dorian, why ? Was it just # of cards? I have my shelf in 3 months

It's a reasonable card count to do during rotations while also keeping up with reviews & doing practice questions/trying to maintain an ok social life.. plus it's pretty comprehensive (First Aid, UWorld, & I think Amboss.)

I have Dorian for when I do Family Med though 'cause I read somewhere (I think on here) that the FM deck is really good.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Surgery COMAT on Friday. Haven't been able to study very much at all this month so I fully expect for this will be the exam equivalent of me yelling "Kobe!" and throwing up a fading 40 footer lol

 

[Neopolymath]

Surgery COMAT on Friday. Haven't been able to study very much at all this month so I fully expect for this will be the exam equivalent of me yelling "Kobe!" and throwing up a fading 40 footer lol

Know your anesthesia related topics, friend