Couldn't find a thread for Comlex, so decided to create one. The one for level 1 was really helpful, PLEASE share your experiences taking this exam and study methods. Thanks and good luck everyone!
Thanks for the response. Yeah, I did finish about 90% of Uworld throughout the year and got a measly 50%. Our shelf exams were NBME so I haven't done much OMM at all.
Did you not find the OMM questions on COMBANK useful? I have found COMBANK to be pretty useful for some of the nitty gritty detail questions. I've currently finished half of it in like 2 weeks. I like how they take things out from different review books.
Congrats on finsihing btw, did you read the saverse or just do the omm questions to prepare for omm?
I KNOW that this question has been asking 1,000 times so forgive me to posting it again but.....I've been doing some of the 2011 DIT Step 2 lectures and they are taking way too long and just adding some random material to Step Up. I'm deciding to stop the lectures and just read Step Up and read the MTB book and start using COMBANK. taking my exam July 31st.
Thoughts? I'd really appreciate it! DIT for Step 1 was helpful and helped with my score so I guess I am just nervous about not doing them for Step 2
I have been using onlinemeded.org. In my opinion, much better than DIT and most of the videos are pretty short. I like having a videos to supplement reading at times, especially for things I'm weaker in. I've definitely gotten several combank and comquest questions correct specifically from what I learned on onlinemeded.I KNOW that this question has been asking 1,000 times so forgive me to posting it again but.....I've been doing some of the 2011 DIT Step 2 lectures and they are taking way too long and just adding some random material to Step Up. I'm deciding to stop the lectures and just read Step Up and read the MTB book and start using COMBANK. taking my exam July 31st.
Thoughts? I'd really appreciate it! DIT for Step 1 was helpful and helped with my score so I guess I am just nervous about not doing them for Step 2
Sounds like a good plan. I read FA 2 times, MTB 1.5 and did UWorld for no reason. FA is too long, but Step yo would have been more appropriate and would have not wasted so much of my time.I KNOW that this question has been asking 1,000 times so forgive me to posting it again but.....I've been doing some of the 2011 DIT Step 2 lectures and they are taking way too long and just adding some random material to Step Up. I'm deciding to stop the lectures and just read Step Up and read the MTB book and start using COMBANK. taking my exam July 31st.
Thoughts? I'd really appreciate it! DIT for Step 1 was helpful and helped with my score so I guess I am just nervous about not doing them for Step 2
I just took comsae A.. 313.. got only 4 weeks left.. any tips on what I can focus on to improve (I did good in OMM, OB/GYN).. shocked right now.. 313! I been studying too.. is Comsae A a good evaluator compared to Comsae B or Comsae C?
Hey SMC123, Comsae's are notoriously wild and 313 can be a fluke...Id try doing a harder qbank like UW and maybe even just reading one of the books like MTB or Step up Step 2 for two weeks and then take COMSAE B to see where you at.
I just took comsae A.. 313.. got only 4 weeks left.. any tips on what I can focus on to improve (I did good in OMM, OB/GYN).. shocked right now.. 313! I been studying too.. is Comsae A a good evaluator compared to Comsae B or Comsae C?
WonderyBoy - what was your COMSAE B and actually COMLEX score if you don't mind?For my test OMM wasn't really an issue. I just felt they were similar to comquest more, but if you have the time I would do both off them. I did Saverese as well, in the last few days before the test. My test was a few months ago, I graduated already but thought I should response cause we get very limited info about CE on this forum.
I didn't use DIT because I didn't find it useful for step 1, it was just boring doing exercises. You whatever book you have been using and do combank along with it.
I also would recommend to both of you to take a COMSAE exam B or C, to see where you are. I know its not as accurate as NBME exams but still you kind of want to know where you are, I did mine about a month before my test and my real test scores were higher. I guess the comsae kind of motivated to study more.
Concentrate on OBGYN to both off you is the last think I would recommend.
WonderyBoy - what was your COMSAE B and actually COMLEX score if you don't mind?
Took it today, was unpleasantly surprised by how difficult it was. Step 1 COMLEX was a breeze for me, so this was kind of a shock to me. Not as hard as the USMLE a couple days ago, but very difficult nonetheless.
I am now starting to think that I was not as prepared as I thought I was, but to be honest, I don't know what other resource would be best.
I did well on Step 1 and now I am really expecting to do worse on step 2 which is going to be really uncomfortable explaining to interviewers..
ask if you have any questions, too tired to make a full write up. Just a few points:
-apparently bioterrorism is super high yield
-know OMM of lower extremities (stuff I had never heard of)
-alot of detailed ID stuff on q fever etc
-really light on ob/gyn, but YMMV
-time is not an issue for me
-cranial super easy
-about 1/3 of exam is those multi-part questions but they were the easier ones
-1/2 of questions had some part of OMM in it, but pure OMM was like 10-15% of test
-pure OMM questions were pretty tough, savarese and combank were not enough. Had lots of stuff I didn't learn during preclinical yrs (not stuff I learned and then forgot, but stuff I definitely have not seen before)
now for a long 6-8 weeks to see what the damage is.
Someone above also said 6-8 weeks for the scores, but why am I seeing 8-10 weeks on the NBOME webiste. I would really like to be wrong on this.
I took it yesterday as well. I"m glad I'm not the only one who thought it was a bit challenging. I felt the questions that were in groups (toward the end of sections) were easier than the individual questions. I have no idea how I did though. Scored a 530 on Comsae C and had a 74% combank avg. This really sucks because if I don't do well on this exam I'll have to settle for a less competitive specialty even though my level 1 score is decent.Took it today, was unpleasantly surprised by how difficult it was. Step 1 COMLEX was a breeze for me, so this was kind of a shock to me. Not as hard as the USMLE a couple days ago, but very difficult nonetheless.
I am now starting to think that I was not as prepared as I thought I was, but to be honest, I don't know what other resource would be best.
I did well on Step 1 and now I am really expecting to do worse on step 2 which is going to be really uncomfortable explaining to interviewers..
ask if you have any questions, too tired to make a full write up. Just a few points:
-apparently bioterrorism is super high yield
-know OMM of lower extremities (stuff I had never heard of)
-alot of detailed ID stuff on q fever etc
-really light on ob/gyn, but YMMV
-time is not an issue for me
-cranial super easy
-about 1/3 of exam is those multi-part questions but they were the easier ones
-1/2 of questions had some part of OMM in it, but pure OMM was like 10-15% of test
-pure OMM questions were pretty tough, savarese and combank were not enough. Had lots of stuff I didn't learn during preclinical yrs (not stuff I learned and then forgot, but stuff I definitely have not seen before)
now for a long 6-8 weeks to see what the damage is.
Took it today, was unpleasantly surprised by how difficult it was. Step 1 COMLEX was a breeze for me, so this was kind of a shock to me. Not as hard as the USMLE a couple days ago, but very difficult nonetheless.
I am now starting to think that I was not as prepared as I thought I was, but to be honest, I don't know what other resource would be best.
I did well on Step 1 and now I am really expecting to do worse on step 2 which is going to be really uncomfortable explaining to interviewers..
ask if you have any questions, too tired to make a full write up. Just a few points:
-apparently bioterrorism is super high yield
-know OMM of lower extremities (stuff I had never heard of)
-alot of detailed ID stuff on q fever etc
-really light on ob/gyn, but YMMV
-time is not an issue for me
-cranial super easy
-about 1/3 of exam is those multi-part questions but they were the easier ones
-1/2 of questions had some part of OMM in it, but pure OMM was like 10-15% of test
-pure OMM questions were pretty tough, savarese and combank were not enough. Had lots of stuff I didn't learn during preclinical yrs (not stuff I learned and then forgot, but stuff I definitely have not seen before)
now for a long 6-8 weeks to see what the damage is.
So, 1 day before my exam, I have done COMBANK 1x and COMQUEST 2x, I am just doing random questions from both sets now and looking over notes I took ALL Day tomorrow and tonight. Any weird things I can quickly read up on that seems high yield but isn't in prep books!? I know it's last minute but just thought I'd ask for some feedback! THANKS!
Bolded is what makes up 40% of the test. Took it today and there was so much minutiae I wanted to throw my keyboard at the testing center employees. Typical comlex crap: super vague, minutiae no review source has, tricky wording, etc. I did not feel like it reflected my medical knowledge fairly. I might as well have used nursing books for cardio, pulm, and psych so that was nice. Regardless if I end up doing well, I thought my test was crap.
Bolded is what makes up 40% of the test. Took it today and there was so much minutiae I wanted to throw my keyboard at the testing center employees. Typical comlex crap: super vague, minutiae no review source has, tricky wording, etc. I did not feel like it reflected my medical knowledge fairly. I might as well have used nursing books for cardio, pulm, and psych so that was nice. Regardless if I end up doing well, I thought my test was crap.
Breakdown: Lots of GI, ob/gyn, nephrology/GU and of course OMM. KNOW OMM INSIDE AND OUT. Seriously, all the OMM questions were easy points if you took the time to learn the stuff. Nothing tricky. Lots of sacrum dx, rib dx and treatment, viscerosomatics, minimal cranial for me and LOADS of Chapman's points. For the love of god, do not punt Chapman's points.
Where does everyone study chapmans points? Just savarese? I know that there are a million, ugh.
Thank you! Off to make flashcards...
I have a lighter office based rotation next month and was thinking about changing my date to get a few more days (from aug 4 to aug 14) to help...was wondering if you guys think this is a good idea? as sick of studying as I am, I did poorly on level 1 so I definitely need to improve. thanks
Comsae D? I didn't know there was such a thing
Ive used this for all of my OMM exams and COMAT and COMLEX I---it was easier for me to read this than a list if this helps!
4-6 weeks, subject to delays. I hear it may be pushed back further to 8-10 due to the scoring revision.I took my COMLEX 2 7/7 any idea when I should have my score back?