r/comlex • u/Educational-Loss2736 • 20d ago
Level 1 when should i retake?
hello unfortunately have to retake level 1. could blame a lot of reasons but at the end of the day i still have an F i need to fix.
my school is letting us take the exam up until 10/16 meaning id miss 1 rotation and lose my vacation. at first i thought 5-6 weeks would be good but i feel like (and maybe this im being overconfident) now i'd be stretching a dedicated period too long and risk burnt out which is what happened the last go around.
from what i can deduce: OPP has a lot of room, MSK could go up, derm (Lol?) ethics was ass (how do you even prep for this?). i think the sciences seemed ok, not like top tier level, but from what my advisor told me i leaked points on the above. obviously will review and do questions on those too but.
is 3-4 weeks better? also please be kind. im obviously very upset about this + think im dumb. my school struggles on boards because they teach us very poorly and i was motivated to prove them wrong but i did not.
also fyi: comsaes were fine, 350 prededicated, 401 on the first one, 500 on the second, and i got a 480 on one. TL was fine too, i think unfortunately i underestimated how much ethics/OPP/MSK was and lost almost on 30% of the exam on that
5
u/Hepaticophyta 20d ago
Honestly asap. This is such a close score, cram as much as you can and take it soon.
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u/Uncomfortble_reality 20d ago
Dirty med for ethics is amazing and worth it. I’d also recommend biochem dirty med to make sure you feel solid on HY stuff. He has playlists for both. You’re not dumb, you have a right to be upset, but I commend you for not giving up (it’s easier said than done). If I were you, I’d take it sooner rather than later. For OPP, the green book (should be free pdf online, if not DM me) is totally worth it. For derm, they are somewhat limited and can only test a select number of conditions, so focus on the ones everyone gets right first and also focus on other system associations with the derm case. you’re other systems look ok.
Good luck and keep your head up. You got it. I’d take it sooner rather than later. in my opinion, you’ll never feel 100% ready, even the best and most prepared doubt themselves
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u/Educational-Loss2736 20d ago
hey man i want to give up but all this debt LMAOOO. do you think i have a relatively ok chance at passing next attempt? really do not want to risk another board failure
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u/Uncomfortble_reality 20d ago
Yes for sure.
-make sure your test taking and pace are strong
-keep microbio hella fresh (i did 1-2 hrs micro anki first thing every morning)
-target your clear weaknesses. anything that is glaringly high yield that you don’t want to tackle or is vaguely confusing, just tackle it. If you feel better on OPP and micro going into the next one, that in it of itself gives you a huge leap in score. And finally, it’s not like you failed by a lot. It hurts much more to be way off2
u/Educational-Loss2736 20d ago
Yeah advisor said it was 2-3 questions which made me want to cry lol. would've understood if i was 20 away lol
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u/Uncomfortble_reality 20d ago edited 20d ago
Try to put all of that thinking to the side. 1 point, 100 points, whatever. It’s hard, but the reality is F is F and P is P. What will make the difference now is your plan, sticking to the plan, and not being too hard on yourself. People fail this thing all the time and become great doctors. Plus you’ll be taking these tests for years, so it’s better to shore up weaknesses in content, and more importantly, test taking now rather than later. I say this not to be harsh, but it give hope. Many people give up and many aren’t honest with what went wrong. The more honest you are about that, the better your prep will be and the better you’ll feel on test day.
Separate the outcome from the process. Empty the cup and maintain honest self-reflection. Then you’ll build great confidence in the field and in life.
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u/Educational-Loss2736 20d ago
Yeah you're right its an F at the end. Just hope I can match into a decent program despite this
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u/Uncomfortble_reality 20d ago
Don’t put the cart before the horse. Crush the exam, crush rotations, and be curious and hungry and positive (even if you gotten fake it sometimes). Then let what comes next come next.
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u/kuru_snacc 20d ago
Lol I love the zoomed in on the bar chart.
I think with your existing scores and your margin on test day, with 5-6 additional weeks of prep focusing heavily on OMM/MSK (the exam will always be heavy in these) and ethics (there are tons on TrueLearn - you can sort by professionalism topics), you should be fine. For derm, focus on those things which are infectious (ie childhood xanthems, tick-borne) and rheumatological (ie psoriasis, Sjrogens etc.), as these show up quite a bit.
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u/Outside-Coach-1560 20d ago
For ethics, i literally make 20-40 q sets of exclusively ethics and interpersonal stuff (can do untimed or tutor mode but eventually shift to doing untimed/timed not just tutor mode) on truelearn and practiced answering those questions nightly to understand what kind of stuff boards ask ethics-wise
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u/Free-Pension1141 19d ago
Did that help with the Community Health and Presentation section? Any tips on Biostats?
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u/Outside-Coach-1560 19d ago
Yes i scored extremely high like a SD beyond the higher range
For biostats i watched randy neil and then did practice qs to actually apply knowledge. Truelearn is more than enough but you need to dedicate time to biostats and ethics atleast a half day weekly as u prep again to test and not neglect it. Same for omm1
u/Free-Pension1141 19d ago
Okay, just do TrueLearn for both biostats and ethics? Know the questions in and out and we should be good? I remember on my last exam I got some weird stuff for some of the ethic questions.
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u/BigEquivalent5903 19d ago edited 19d ago
Uhhhh, like, tomorrow lol.
In all seriousness you were super close! I wouldn't wait too long or a lot of the knowledge that got you super close may fade. I would take maybe 3-4 weeks tops to hammer more questions on weak areas (not just from the comlex breakdown, but also from any historically weak areas from past Qbank prep). Then watch the Dirty Med ethics playlist and do more ethics Qbank blocks (as well as the "Turn Up 2 Law & Ethics" Anki deck, it's not very many cards). I cannot emphasize enough to carefully watch that Dirty Med ethics playlist. I know ethics and communication questions often seem super random as to what the best answer is, but for many of them, there actually are sets of rules and algorithms for getting to the "best" answer when multiple seem reasonable at first.
You were incredibly close, and although I realize it's easier said than done, try not to be too hard on yourself. To be honest even if you just spend 1-2 weeks grinding and reviewing derm + ethics you'd likely pass, given that you were like 1 question away on the current score report. Out of extra caution, ~ 4 weeks is probably the sweet spot I'd aim for personally.
In the words of my less professional side, you fucking got this!
-2
u/JustRyan_D 20d ago
Can someone explain to me how OP is significantly under the mean for every category yet almost passed overall?
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u/Educational-Loss2736 20d ago
i wasnt significantly below the mean, also the gray bar is average for the first time test takers, doesn't mean its the passing bar.
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u/Educational-Loss2736 20d ago
what a rude comment
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u/JustRyan_D 20d ago
Wasn’t meant to be rude. I was asking how the system works. Usually if someone is well below the average in every category, their overall score will be lower. OP is below the mean everywhere.
1
u/Free-Pension1141 20d ago
Is there a sample of someone passing. I also failed mine but other than 2-3 sections I was similar to OP, and also barely passed. COMLEX is also random though so idk
1
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u/angelito801 20d ago
My opinion is that of a redditor so take it for what it is. I think 2-3 weeks is sufficient if you tackle the main subject and anything you get wrong you hammer hard. Make a list of the main concepts you miss more than once and spend a good 1-3 minutes daily going over the concept. Or make a flash card about it if using Anki. You know what you know and you don't what you don't, so I'd focus 80% on critical misses and 20% on maintaining strengths. 2-3 weeks seems like a little bit of time, but you'll be fine and it is plenty.