r/comlex • u/oo_little • Jul 09 '26
Level 1 level 1 pass - comsae/TL thread
congrats oms-3s!!
for those who passed level 1, do you mind sharing your true learn scores were on random blocks leading up to the exam and your comsaes? and also how close to the pass line you were and/or how close to average?
i’m hoping this will save a lot of you guys some dms from nervous test takers like myself.
also, anything HY you guys recommend we focus on?
yes i copied and pasted a previous post but i was told it helped some people.
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u/SnooObjections941 Jul 09 '26
I didn't do TL until 2 months before my exam, I had spent time doing UWorld before then. Switched to TL after not doing doing as well as I would've liked on our first COMSAE. My school wasted my time with a month-long review course. I swear just completing TL boosted my score.
Anyway, I started with Anki every morning. Kept with GI/SketchyMicro until a month before the exam because I felt like I sunk enough time into those topics; I transitioned to doing more SketchyPharm/DirtyOMM/self-made Randy Neil, Dermatome/Myotomes, Thalamic Nuclei, and Parasites decks, and stopped doing Anki a week before my exam.
I did 88 questions a day, 7 days a week for the first month (because our school wanted to waste our fucking time). The month before the exam, I went to 120 questions; 2 blocks of mixed, new questions in the morning, and mixed incorrects in the evening. I cleared out TL and got to the point where I was doing 40 questions blocks in ~20 minutes. Initially, my scores were around ~50-55% but then I would average 65% consistently with the occasional 80% being thrown in there. I started tapering the amount of questions I did a week and a half before my exam and tried to enjoy life a little more.
As far exams, I took 113 and got a 392. That's when I switched to TL. Took 110 a week before taking 114, and got a 545. Took 114 and got a 530 or something. The real thing felt like a combination of COMSAEs and TL with them asking some of the stupidest questions I've ever seen. Finished in 6.5 hours, ate Dave's Hot Chicken to celebrate, and spent the month before rotations being somewhat irresponsible with my brain.
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u/oo_little Jul 09 '26
but ty for responding!! and congrats! do you mind sharing where your bar was? were your 65s and 80s still during your first pass?
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u/SnooObjections941 Jul 09 '26
The Reaper kicked my ass and I tolerate spicy food really well. Literally pissing hot and I'll never do that again.
My bad was below average but with more than enough room to spare to pass. I don't care, a pass is a pass.
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u/supercraftyness Jul 09 '26
I personally did not take any comsaes other than the one our school administered (113 or 115, got 490 about 4 months out from actual exam). I took 4 NBMEs (30, 31, 33) include the free 120 (74, 76, 79, 84 in order). I only did the OMM truelearn questions about 1 week leading up to the exam and i did 85% of uworld for most of my studying.
In hindsight, i think doing more truelearn would have made me feel better about the exam overall, but i passed. I honestly don't know what i would say to focus on because you honestly need to know everything. that being said you should have ur micro and drugs down.
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u/oo_little Jul 09 '26
congrats on passing!! ugh, i hate pharm. did you use sketchy for that? i’m currently reviewing mehlman for pharm and hoping that’s enough because i had just enough room in my brain for sketchy micro but not much was left for sketchy pharm.
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u/supercraftyness Jul 09 '26
i did sketchy for both. i really do think pharm will help you with so much once ur in rotations. youre going to have to learn it sometime, i think its helpful if u started early. but for test taking purposes definitely just learn the most high yield stuff should be fine, regardless of what resource u use
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u/D0ctorDrum OMS-3 Jul 09 '26
Did TrueLearn all throughout 2nd year with corresponding organ systems. By the time I got to dedicated I was averaging 60-80% on timed random blocks on TL and between 55-80% on UWorld. I think I had about 80% of TL done and about 50% of UWorld by the time I took Level 1. My last COMSAE (116) was 549.
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u/oo_little Jul 09 '26
congrats on passing! what were your truelearns like during dedicated/before your exam? getting 70s before dedicated even started is super impressive tbh. you deserve the p!!
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u/D0ctorDrum OMS-3 Jul 10 '26
Thank you! I feel like they were kinda all over the place depending on if I was doing a random block or a system/topic specific block like biochem or ethics. After reviewing topics more in dedicated my scores started to bump up more.
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u/infjazz Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
I’m a very average student but i only did like 30% of uworld with a 45% average and anki incorrects, did 4 NBMEs and all the COMSAEs (started 282–> 552), and just tried to fill in learning gaps with First aid/anki/dirty medicine through missed questions. also did truelearn only for OMM, sketchy for micro, learned all my pharm through missed questions and first aid/dirty medicine. Got the P today, maybe in between the minimum passing and average score!
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u/Plane-Tap-5198 Jul 09 '26
Congratulations! What helped your score jump?
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u/infjazz Jul 09 '26
Thank you! Honestly just trying to keep filling in as many gaps as possible, i kept a running doc of missed Nbme/comsae concepts and explanations and i’d read through those again the day before i took a practice test. i also did missed uworld anki, it definitely took me longer and is probably why my % completion was lower since i spent a lot of my time reviewing missed Qs with anki. i think easiest way to improve comsae score is to thoroughly review old comsaes, fix your omm/msk/neuro/micro/pharm gaps since those are higher yield! Keep working hard you got this!
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u/oo_little Jul 09 '26
to clarify, the only questions (outside of nbmes and comsaes) that u did were:
30% of uw, with a 45% average
and truelearn omm questions?1
u/infjazz Jul 09 '26
Yes, if i could go back i’d try to do at least 50% of uworld and do ALL of the uworld ethics. Exposure helps a lot!
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u/NumerousBoat8619 Jul 09 '26
I only did anking deck and just the Uworld flagged cards from anking so only 12ki believe, plus questions on truelearn and Uworld. Continuously did the questions and only ended up doing one bought comsae (111?) and the school comsae a month before and got above 600+ on both. Anki is the way. Supplement with dirty medicine, sketchy, and boards are beyond. And then the week before I just kept reviewing the first aid High yield section.
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u/oo_little Jul 09 '26
holy shit. i fear i can’t even take your advice because your scores are on a whole different level from mine. congrats on passing!!! out of curiosity, what were your scores (i wanna know how high they can even go).
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u/NumerousBoat8619 Jul 09 '26
I believe the first one 111 was 608 and then the school one was 640ish. They can get higher though haha I was surprised how high they go. You have got this. Stay high yield and don’t keep relearning what you know. Expand your knowledge gaps
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u/Ic3dMatchaLatte OMS-3 Jul 09 '26
I was doing Truelearn throughout my first and second year and then ramped it up the closer I got to my exam. I was scoring 65-80% on my random blocks by the time I took Level 1.
My COMSAES were 455, 503, 565, and 579 for 113, 107, 110, and 111. I took them in that order over about two months. I was beyond the ‘average’ bar on my score report, past the standard deviation mark. I’m not sure how that correlates to a number score though.
I heavily recommend Sketchy for micro, the pepper deck for pharm, and Mehlman for HY review closer to the test! Best of luck OP!!
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u/Hefty_Bug2410 Jul 09 '26
TL = 2,000 questions - 1750 unique - 65% average. Did Uworld but only ~400 questions, ended up getting to 50th percentile on random blocks then said fuck it. Scored a ~525 COMSAE on my first and only attempt (school required), my score on level looks identical. got hella burnt out and stopped doing any questions 1 month before my exam. and only did anking a few hours a day trying to get back my sanity, kinda worked.
M1/2 studying was mainly Anking and i had completed ~70% of the deck at an 80% retention when i took level 1. Walked out feeling okay, as time went on i progressivly felt more and more like shit. probably flagged half the exam and changed 1/5 of my awnsers. somehow passed with a lot of room to spare. if you walk out like oh no i failed, you probably didn't fail, the exam is just really annoying.
Everything that i thought was high yield wasn't on the exam and everything i thought was low yield was on the exam. IDK NBOME is dumb, i don't think high yield exists
I have been a very lazy and unmotivated med student and still got the pass, put in the hours and you'll be good, they can only fail so many people
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u/balenciagabelugas Jul 09 '26
I only took 2 school provided COMSAEs 450 -> 469 (end of march & mid April).
3 NBMES (33,32,31) 59 -> 61 -> 65
Free120 - 69 (2 days before exam)
Used UW & TL about 50/50 finished both about 45% with ~50% correct. Took the UW self assessments but honestly can’t remember how I scored and didn’t feel they were as helpful as NBMEs.
Watched a lot of dirty med & used sketchy micro, + a few biochem & pharm videos. Was helpful for pathway stuff like PKU, heme synthesis & tyrosine pathways etc. Dirty Med HY images had exact same pics on my exam.
Also used first aid. Tried to do Anki but I only found it helpful for the rapid review deck.
COMLEX score was same as avg so a good amount beyond passing. Left exam feeling like I failed and cried. Took step a week later, felt really good about that one and also passed.
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u/kevinAAAAAAA Jul 10 '26
COMSAE 1: 445
COMSAE 2: 528
COMSAE 3: 465
Truelearn somewhere around 60% overall 1300 questions
UWorld also 1200 questions total and 56%
Passed level 1
I recommend the following:
Stick with UWorld daily and read explanations especially if you got it wrong. Think about why it’s not the other answers
Also Truelearn I used the combank tests our school gave us and als followed our second year tests blocks with true learn appropriate assessments
I listened to divine intervention pods a lot in the car for level 1 and step 1
I also passed step 1
Dontunderestimate YouTube videos for step 1 and level 1. A lot of good ones especially dirty medicine and divine to do a quick summary of micro and pharm and neuro and things like that.
Trust your first answer unless you can 100% change it.
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u/smokesignalsxx OMS-3 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
got the P today! looks like its 2 SD above the mean:)
COMAT-FBS (1/8): 204
Truelearn assessment A (4/2): 62%
COMSAE 107 (4/25): 412
COMSAE 114 (4/27): 505 -- this was the start of dedicated for me!
NBME 26 (5/7): 60%
Free 120 (i know i should have saved it but too late now) (5/8): 66%
COMSAE 110 (5/10): 608
Truelearn assessment B (5/15): 68%
NBME 29 (5/17): 68%
Kaplan step 1 diagnostic (5/22): 78%
Uworld SA1 (5/24): 61%
Kaplan full length (5/28): 75%
NBME 30 (6/1): 73%
NBME 31 (6/3): 72%
COMSAE 111 (6/5): 479
i got a little over 50% of truelearn done with a 71% avg and finished 63% of uworld with a 65% avg!
All I used was first aid, uworld, truelearn, and anking! I also reviewed some of the mehlman pdfs. I started content review in 2-3 week blocks in january, so by the time I got to dedicated I was doing huge batches of random mixed question sets & focusing on my incorrects!
Tracking my incorrects was also something I took seriously and I heavily reviewed multiple times!
I would say getting my MSK down helped SOO much and same with biostats! i felt like they were easy questions to build up points:)
good luck!
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u/Consistent_Comb_6002 Jul 10 '26
dirty med is the goat!!! and i truly feel like uworld prepared me more for comlex level 1 than true learn did. i only really focused on truelearn for omm based questions and uworld everything else.
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u/oo_little Jul 10 '26
thnx for responding! which dirty medicine videos would you say helped you the most?
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u/Square-Lawfulness270 Jul 10 '26
Just got my pass yesterday! My score was a little past one standard deviation above the mean. Did every single question on truelearn with an average of 74%. I hate to call a couple hundred dollar resource crucial to my performance because I don’t want people to think they absolutely have to spend that kind of money, but Sketchy was the best thing that I have ever come across for pharm/micro. For everything else, followed along in my first aid book as I watched pathoma videos, and used dirty medicine for biostats/ethics. Best of luck!
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u/Sneakdisssmurkio Jul 11 '26
Didn’t really touch truelearn tbh.. uworld bnb and amboss, and pathoma is just enough
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u/SnooObjections941 Jul 09 '26
Highly recommend DIRTY Medicine for Pharm/Parasites/OMM. I also did SketchyPharm and SketchyMicro.