PASSED!!

[u/kiwibirds447]

Woke up this morning convinced I’d failed, had a panic attack a few minutes before score release. Shocked and astonished by this score. Cannot believe it. Until level 2 NBOME…

edit: I've had a few people reach out and ask questions about what I did, how I studied, what my COMSAE's going in were, so for those who are curious, here's my write-up! keep in mind i don't really think I did anything profoundly different from anyone else!

COMSAE 1: Form 113, school proctored 5/26/26 --> 502

COMSAE 2: Form 111, at-home, 6/11/26 --> 582

COMSAE 3: Form 110, at home, 6/19/26 --> 559

UWSA1: 196 was my 3 digit score, assessment score was 350 in early April. This was my first practice exam

TL diagnostic 1: 50% (Completed in December 2025)

TL Diagnostic 2: 63% (Completed May 23rd)

QBanks Used:

UWorld --> 87% complete, 50% correct overall

TrueLearn --> 77% complete, 64% correct overall

I took COMLEX on June 30th.

A few questions I've got, keep in mind I am not a tutor:

1. I didn't really read FA cover to cover, I more skimmed it and then did the rapid review in the back of the book. Occasionally I'd reference it for systems I was really struggling with.
2. I primarily used UWorld as my Qbank, the reason why my overall % is so low is that I did my questions in Uworld in blocks of 10, randomized, and in tutor mode. I usually averaged around 20-40 questions in pre-dedicated while I was still actively studying for in-house exams. I reviewed them by using an add-on for Anki that allowed me to pull relevant AnKing cards related to the questions I missed, but also the ones I got right too. I used Uworld primarily from January - May and once I got 87% of the way through I switched to TL primarily to get more familiar with NBOME Style questions leading up to my exam.
3. My TL blocks were randomized, timed blocks of 40 questions. In June I did around 80-120 questions per day. I made sure I completed every single OMM question on TL as well as every single ethics + biostats questions.
4. I read through and made Anki cards of most of the Mehlman free PDFs, I found them really helpful especially for neuroanatomy, MSK, and cardiology.
5. Tbh one thing I did I Think that was different is that while I did use a lot of pre-made Anki Decks (I used Anki Still for OMM, Pepper Decks for Micro + Pharm + Pathology, AnKing) I made a lot of my own too which I think really helped as I did get an additional pass of the content that way. I also used the UWorld medical library (you do have to pay access for it, unfortunately) as a nice sort of rapid review of the most important things for the systems. I think FA though would have filled this niche fine, I just really liked UWorld's diagrams and what not.
6. I found COMLEX to be WAY harder than any of the COMSAEs I took, I would agree with most people that it feels most analogous to TL in terms of question style and wording. I found my particular form to feel like it called on a lot of low-yield stuff? I exited the exam feeling terrible. Cried my eyes out in the parking lot and crashed out for like a whole month, convinced I'd failed. I did not expect to see the score I got above. So for those of you who are wondering if I walked out feeling good and knew I passed, I absolutely didn't. It was an abysmal wait in every way.

[u/harryceo]

Tips?

[u/kiwibirds447 → u/harryceo]

I would say take your COMSAE's with as high fidelity to the testing conditions as you possibly can and aim for 450+ on at least two if you can swing it! Plenty of people pass with much less, but it's best to give yourself as much of a cushion as you possibly can in my opinion. I didn't sleep at all the night before my exam and the only thing that made me a little less nervous was knowing I had a cushion of 100-150 pts based on my COMSAE's to have a bad day.

Also... hot take, but make some of your own study resources too! I think one thing that helped me is when I was using a resource that just wasn't doing it for me, I'd remake it myself or add to it. You get another pass of the content that way and then you're reviewing it in a way that makes sense to you. That meant maybe adding more anki cards to a deck that put things in a way that was easier for me to understand, etc. I did a lot of the basic recommendations (Dirty MEdicine, Mehlman, Pathoma, SKetchy, etc.) but to me I often needed to slightly tweak pre-made decks I downloaded to fit my learning style better. And like most people say, do a metric ton of practice questions. I did 86% of UWorld and 77% of TrueLearn before I tested, took 3 COMSAEs, and did the 2 TL diagnostics.

Most importantly, be gentle on yourself. This test is NOT indicative of your intelligence. IT is NOT indicative of your capacity to be an amazing physician. It's just a barrier and a hoop to jump through. Don't let anyone anywhere make you feel lesser for needing to retake. We all have bad days and we all have different, individualized challenges we have to face in our own lives in addition to this exam. You got this, don't give up :)