Okay.
So this is normally very private information. And people don’t like sharing their scores or their downfalls. In medicine especially, it is a very dog-eat-dog ideology. It can be cut throat (which makes no sense truthfully because you should be competing with yourself more and betting yourself) but stupid and immature people think cutting others down or their “competition” is they way to get ahead.
Dumbasses.
Anywho, I am sharing my COMAT or shelf scores with you. I am also going to share my board scores with you. I want you to realize that yes, these exams are important BUT THEY WILL NOT MAKE OR BREAK YOU.
Only you have the power to do that. Obviously, the better you do the easier it may be for you. However, you can have amazeballs scores and still not match. That’s right, I said it. A good or even a great score will not guarantee you match somewhere. Just as a poor score won’t prevent you from matching. The difference may be is a poor score (like in my case) may limit your opportunities, or at least make you work harder to find different opportunities.
So, here it is.
COMATs/SHELF
I will list each shelf that I took and the score report associated with my test. You can see the topics they test and how they score. It does not however give you any more information such as the types of questions or not. Since I am a DO, again, using COMQUEST is a very good practice test/resource. It gives you very similar questions if not the same questions and a simulated score. Use this if you are taking DO COMATs. I did not do this, because I’m dumb. But a lot of my classmates did. This is one thing I will continue to truly recommend to you.
The lowest passing score is an 82. Honors is I don’t remember. But the NBOME’s honors and KCU’s honors differ. And that is a can of angry worms I won’t open up.
Pediatrics: Score of 100. Score report.
Internal Medicine: Score of 103. Score report.
Surgery: Score of 98. Score report. This one was hard. Lots of fluids questions and had no idea how to answer them properly.
Family Medicine: Score of 105. Score report.
OPP/Osteopathic Medicine: Score of 102. Score report. Did not really study for this one, at all. I think I looked up ribs and sacrum, viscerosomatics. I did look up cranial but had like 2 questions.
Psychiatry: Score of 108. Score report.
Emergency Med: Score of 97. Score report. I did not study for this exam at all.
Ob/Gyn: Score of 98. Score report. First COMAT. Hella nervous for this one.
BOARDS:
COMLEX level 1. Don’t ask me how I did so well on this one. I have no idea.
COMLEX level 2. This was not so good. Notoriously not a ton of people did well on this one. I honestly think it was a bad exam.
STEP 1. I thought I did better on this exam than my level 1. Jokes on me.
STEP 2. Honestly thought I didn’t pass. I mean, I barely did but I truthfully thought I didn’t pass.
Additionally, I am writing this before Match day 2022. I have already interviewed. It is up to the universe now. I am hopeful that despite crappy scores, I interviewed at 2/3 places I did my sub-I’s. I showed who I was as a person in person. But this is in the past and I cannot change anything. I am hoping to be in a better headspace next time around when I take my level 3 boards at the end of my intern year. And despite whether I match or SOAP, I will find a way into the specialty of my choice.
Again, a score is only one part of you. Well not even a part of you, one part of your application. When you are a physician your scores won’t matter. A better score will open more doors for you, but will not guarantee you anything. What else you do (volunteering, extracurriculars, personal statement, LOR’s, etc) is what will help you.
Cheers and good luck!
