Approach to COMP?

[dingaling]

Is the COMP a standardized test or written by the faculty of Ross? When preparing for it, are we supposed to prepare like it was the Step and study the big picture high yield information or more of the knitty gritty details tested on the ross finals and minis?

what I'm basically asking is, what approach do most students use in studying for the COMP?

thanks for the help!

[rockjock2010]

The COMP is the comprehensive shelf offered by the NBME, it is meant to approximate the step. Your score comes from NBME and can be converted to an approximate shelf score aka an 64 on the comp is equivelant to a 185 on the Step, a 70 to approx a 200 ect. It is step material, no nitpicky stuff, although the questions are hard. Best prep are the practice comps/steps on the NBME website which can be purchased for 45$ and will give an identicle readout based on subject and topic, just like the comp. The comp is 200 q's, I think you get 4 hours. The form is curved to US students. Pass rates fluctuate but are generally correlated to GPA, High gpa USUALLy ='s higher comp score. Any question bank is good, I used USMLE rx, read first aid and you will pass, but not excell. Annotate it and you are on your way. Do a course or watch videos and you are even better off. The main problem is time, I understand the current classes will take the exam in Miami, is that true?

[dingaling]

Yes... about a month from the end of 4th semester, the COMP will be administered in Miami. Not sure of the exact date.

But if this is supposed to simulate step 1, and a passing score is equivalent to passing the step, isn't it a tall order to be able to study for this in such a short time and still pass? I mean, there are people that study for months and barely pass or even fail Step 1, yet we are expected to pass this with less than a month of preparation?

insane! but a lot of people find a way i suppose

[UnknownHero]

The pass rate from first timers usually hovers around 35%, and is always less than 50. Good luck!

[pk.coffee]

the next comp is scheduled in Miami for May 23

[VSR]

First Aid and USMLErx for the comp. I basically when through 1 system(cardio, resp, etc) every 2 days and did a little micro everyday. I only reviewed a couple of high yield points in biochem and didnt review any anatomy or neuro. Ended up with 74%. For micro, i noticed on the comp you can answer a lot of questions just based on the fact you know whether bacteria's are G+ or G-, cat+, etc. If that helps at all.

For Pharm definitely review ANS and Antibiotic drugs.

I think USMLERx questions are a good study tool for the comp, but i dont think they represent Step 1 type questions at all. They give away too many clues on usmlerx.

[i_am_going_2_eat_ur_lunch]

Just wondering what happens if you fail the COMP test for the third time? Do you get kicked out? Do you ve to go back and take some classes?

[medic300107]

Just wondering what happens if you fail the COMP test for the third time? Do you get kicked out? Do you ve to go back and take some classes?

kicked out

[jabee_usm]

I'll take "get kicked out" for a hundred dollars please!:0

[argazul]

Just wondering what happens if you fail the COMP test for the third time? Do you get kicked out? Do you ve to go back and take some classes?

what happens is that you transfer to AUA or someplace similar.

[Neo2011]

First Aid and USMLErx for the comp. I basically when through 1 system(cardio, resp, etc) every 2 days and did a little micro everyday. I only reviewed a couple of high yield points in biochem and didnt review any anatomy or neuro. Ended up with 74%. For micro, i noticed on the comp you can answer a lot of questions just based on the fact you know whether bacteria's are G+ or G-, cat+, etc. If that helps at all.

For Pharm definitely review ANS and Antibiotic drugs.

I think USMLERx questions are a good study tool for the comp, but i dont think they represent Step 1 type questions at all. They give away too many clues on usmlerx.

Hi VSR,

you said above that you went through each system every 2 days, did you use any other review book to accompany the First Aid for each system or just FA alone?

Thank you for all the advices.

[brob311]

what happens is that you transfer to AUA or someplace similar.


I know people who failed out of Ross for failing the comp 3 times, and they transfered to AUA. They had to repeat 5th semester, but they were allowed to take the step after that.

[VSR]

Hi VSR,

you said above that you went through each system every 2 days, did you use any other review book to accompany the First Aid for each system or just FA alone?

Thank you for all the advices.

First Aid + lectures notes (if the prof. was good), otherwise Path Secrets.

In the end, use books/review material you are comfortable with and have used before.

After studying for the step, i found the Kaplan Notes to be the best review + FA + Qbank. But i dont think you will have the time to read all that for the comp!

[allstarforever]

First Aid + lectures notes (if the prof. was good), otherwise Path Secrets.

In the end, use books/review material you are comfortable with and have used before.

After studying for the step, i found the Kaplan Notes to be the best review + FA + Qbank. But i dont think you will have the time to read all that for the comp!

which Qbank? Kaplan Qbank book, usmlerx, online qbank, etc?

[VSR]

which Qbank? Kaplan Qbank book, usmlerx, online qbank, etc?

Kaplan Q bank is what i used for Step 1. USMLErx is pretty useless. I didnt use USMLEworld for Step 1, but i heard it was good from fellow classmates.

Good luck!

[TennisMan]

I agree, USMLERx is not very useful. Their questions are too biased toward their First Aid Book, which is only the tip of the iceburg in terms of info you need to know. Also, the questions are too easy. Kaplan Q Bank was what I used and I found their questions to be slightly harder than the COMP questions. I also used USMLE World, which was way harder than the COMP. But you know what the saying is, practice harder than you play on game day. Some people may say that Kaplan is too reliant on buzz words. I would agree that only some of their questions are, but they started adding hundreds of new questions that were not so heavy on buzz words. This added some extra challenge to their question format.

[UnknownHero]

I vote Kaplan QBank. You can get them for free (they get passed around on the island) and they are excellent examples of what comp questions are like, especially for Path. Knowing the First Aid helps, but only gets you halfway there. Robbin's Review of Pathology is the ultimate book for Path as far as I'm concerned (a question book for Path). The Pharm Recall is excellent. The Physio BRS: Case Studies and Problems is awesome. Those 4 books might be all you need. Not a whole lot of pure micro (most is rolled into path) or pure Biochem (most are genetic conditions in path) on the comp. Know the "Flashcard" stuff - tumor marker protiens, enzyme tests, enzyme deficiencies, etc.

There are some gnarly questions. How to raise the HR of a patient with a transplanted heart (not Atropine), how to tell a patient they are dying, a terrible picture of a gangrenous foot and asking what the chronic condition is (diabetes), and some pretty insidious immunopath questions (I forget, but they had a really weirdly presenting SLE).