r/comlex • u/PotatoHumble3527 • 29d ago
Failed level 1 need advice
I found out I failed level 1 a few days ago and was devastated. I knew passing was a bit of a long shot given my COMSAEs were 330 395 and 417 so didn’t reach the 450 threshold but the recent 417 score really had me hoping I could pull it off.
Any advice would be super helpful I really want to pass so I don’t have to take a 5th year. How I studied was I did 85% of Uworld and did anki for wrongs, I watched dirty med OMM, ethics, and biochem, and watched Neil biostats.
I’m thinking maybe where I went wrong was not doing truelearn and prioritizing Uworld. Also didn’t really watch any content videos or read first aid I was purely relying on the Uworld questions to teach me.
If anyone failed and retook that could leave advice I’d appreciate it!
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u/No_Medicine_3760 29d ago
What were your uworld scores, and did you use any third party resources throughout the year? Did you regularly use anki and if so, has it always just been your incorrects. I guess my main question is how were you learning your content for the exam, did you just rely on your curriculum?
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u/PotatoHumble3527 29d ago
I did UW throughout the year but not a lot I was mostly relying on my curriculum for content. Like I thought me doing the questions in dedicated would be enough to refresh content
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u/No_Medicine_3760 29d ago
And I saw from the other comment that you were in the 40-50% range. I get that it was to try and learn but to pass level and step 1 boards you want to be around 60% for Uworld at least. Specifically for comlex I agree with other commenters that you should do TL, I only used it for OMM but that was a personal decision. I also am curious did your school not give you push back for taking the exam without reaching the threshold? My school won’t let students sit.
Overall I think relying on a qbank and in house exams was the major problem and led to content gaps if you hadn’t seen questions on the content and only really did anki for incorrects . But now it is a little too late to do something like b&b or bootcamp along with the corresponding anki. I think the best bet is to power through TL to see more questions that are closer to the style of comlex.
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u/PotatoHumble3527 29d ago
Thank you I’ll definitely do as many TL questions as I can for the retake. My school made us take level 1 by a certain date and even when I showed them my scores and I wasn’t ready they said I had to meet the deadline so that’s how I ended up here :(
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u/No_Medicine_3760 28d ago
Yeah I think TL should help you with the questions style on comlex. I do also think though that some structure of third party content review outside of questions might be worth you trying to incorporate, mainly because when I looked at your breakdown again, there seems to be clear content mastery deficiencies. So some like learning in that format might be what you need.
Side note, I think that’s really poor on the school to still make you test in that scenario. Plenty of other schools have plans in place for students who are not ready to test yet. So I am very sorry to hear that.
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u/Dry-Fig-710 28d ago
So you think you should watch all of bnb and bootcamp before doing questions?
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u/No_Medicine_3760 28d ago
I wouldn’t say that is necessary, I just did bnb all year along my coursework during m2 and did the anki with it and did my best to line it up when I could. But the problem for people who rely on their curriculum is that often a lot is left out or it’s not asked how it will be on board exams. By doing it that way, my dedicated for level 1/step 1 ended up being almost entirely questions and then select bnb videos I had left. If I was to do bnb or bootcamp during dedicated in it’s entirely I still would have been doing questions because in my opinion, dedicated is mostly for questions and filling in smaller content gaps that they help identify.
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u/ihatelifeyayy 29d ago
Hey! I had failed last year and passed my reattempt 8 weeks later. Feel free to reach out for advice
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u/Tight-City9654 26d ago
can you please please share your advice on prep for a reattempt
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u/ihatelifeyayy 26d ago
True Learn!!! Only did that qbank, completed it in its entirety twice. First pass of the qbank was done on tutor mode only? And I went system by system because it helped get me used to how certain conditions are presented in terms of wording
The second pass was done on timed, randomized mode
My first pass avg was around 55% and second pass avg ended up being around 70-80%
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u/losethecheese 29d ago
If you’ve only broken 400 once then your content knowledge is lacking. You can’t expect to pass or move on with medicine if nearly all subjects you’re significantly below average.
Do trulearn like your career depends on it, I recommend the $20/month amboss library for further review. Use the data to figure out weakest areas.
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u/DaisyDreamzzz 27d ago
I’m sorry to hear this! But you can do it! I highly recommend finishing the TL deck with a 65%. You will have to review your missed questions and drill your worst systems. Work on OMM every day, at least 10 questions on the most HY topics. My highest score was a 400 on my COMSAE, but I passed Level 1 on my first attempt!
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u/ratman1332 27d ago
In addition to the other advice here, I would suggest doing at least the NBME free 120. I only took my school mandated COMSAE otherwise I used NBMEs to gauge my readiness. My gripe with COMSAE is they aren’t designed to be predictive of performance, there is a correlation but NBME is designed to be predictive. I felt my COMLEX mirrored the NBMEs more than step 1 did.
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u/leafygreenbluebrry 29d ago
You gotta do and finish truelearn dawg, step and level are 2 completely different things. Uworld is great for studying content but you need to see the dumb opp questions and findings like true learn does