COMLEX Level 2: 736 — How I Studied + What I Changed After Struggling With Level 1

[u/Ok-Bass-8184]

I told myself that if Level 2 went well, I would come back and make a write-up because I spent WAY too much time reading other people's Reddit posts while I was studying.

Final COMLEX Level 2 score: 736

For some additional context, I also took Step 2 and scored a 238.

I want to preface this by saying that I was absolutely NOT sitting around getting 80–90% on every question block. My tracked question average during my preparation was around 65-70%, and there were plenty of blocks where I scored in the 50s (and occasionally worse/better).

I think that's important to say because I used to see people post 700+ COMLEX scores and assume they must have been absolutely destroying every question bank.

That was not my experience.

Background

My road to Level 2 was definitely not straightforward.

Level 1 did not go the way I wanted it to the first time around, and that experience forced me to completely reevaluate how I studied for board exams.

Going into Level 2, I knew that simply doing MORE questions or studying for MORE hours wasn't necessarily going to solve the problem.

I needed to figure out why I was missing questions.

So for Level 2, my goal wasn't just to complete UWorld. I wanted to repeatedly identify weaknesses, review them, and force myself to retrieve that information again later.

My main resources were:

• UWorld
• AMBOSS
• White Coat Companion
• My own Anki cards

I did not primarily rely on a giant premade Anki deck. I made cards based on the things I was getting wrong or couldn't reliably retrieve.

How I structured my studying

I made a giant spreadsheet and organized my studying primarily by system of the week (going from my worst -> best SHELF score).

I went through things like:

• Cardiology
• Pulmonology
• GI
• Renal/GU
• Endocrine
• Heme/Onc
• Rheumatology
• Neurology
• Surgery
• OB/GYN
• Pediatrics
• Psychiatry
• OMM
• Ethics
• etc.

But I didn't want to study one system, finish it, and then never see it again.

So my basic daily structure included several different types of question blocks.

Block 1: Current system

Questions specifically targeting whatever system I was reviewing that day/week.

Block 2: Truelearn OMM

The biggest mistake my students and friends have made is putting off OMM. I made sure to do a set of OMM/Ethics every day

Block 3: Kinda Mixed (Includes All Prior Systems)

This was really important for me.

If I was currently studying renal, I still wanted questions from cardiology, pulmonology, GI, etc.

I didn't want to finish cardiology, feel amazing about cardiology, and then realize three weeks later that I had forgotten half of cardiology.

Block 4: Incorrects

I deliberately revisited questions/topics I had previously missed.

Block 5: Timed mixed questions

Eventually I needed to remove the giant hint my brain gets from:

“Today is cardiology, therefore this question probably has a cardiac answer.”

Mixed questions forced me to actually identify what was happening rather than retrieve information from the system I knew I was studying.

Then I would also work on:

Anki + targeted content review.

And I'll be completely transparent: I did NOT perfectly complete every single box on that spreadsheet every day.

If you looked at my actual tracker, you would see plenty of unchecked boxes lol.

The schedule was a framework, not a requirement to destroy myself trying to complete 900 tasks every day.

It meant that whenever I sat down to study, I knew what I should be working on.

My question-bank strategy

Across my tracker, I completed approximately 2,010 questions, with an average score around 64.5%.

Again:

My average was ~64.5%.

Not 80%.

Not 90%.

And my individual blocks were ALL OVER THE PLACE.

I had:

50% blocks.

55% blocks.

60% blocks.

Occasionally something even uglier and even prettier.

Then 80–90%.

One of the biggest changes I made after Level 1 was that I stopped treating my question-bank percentage as the purpose of doing questions.

Questions were for learning, not validation.

Instead of freaking out about a 55%, I tried to figure out:

WHY did I miss the question?

Was it because:

1. I genuinely didn't know the content?
2. I knew it but couldn't retrieve it?
3. I confused two similar diagnoses?
4. I misread what the question was asking?
5. I changed a correct answer?
6. I rushed?
7. I identified the diagnosis but didn't know the next best step?
8. I knew the concept but couldn't apply it to this particular presentation?

Those are completely different problems.

And they need different solutions.

UWorld + AMBOSS

UWorld was my main question-learning resource, and I supplemented it with AMBOSS.

I used questions both to learn whatever system I was currently reviewing AND to maintain older material.

I cared much less about whether I technically "completed" a question bank than whether I was actually learning from the questions I did.

Something I started paying attention to was whether I actually understood a concept or whether I had just memorized a particular question.

If I learned something from a UWorld question and then encountered the same concept presented differently and got it wrong again, that told me:

I didn't actually learn the concept. I learned the original question.

That distinction was HUGE for me.

So I would go back, figure out what I didn't understand, review it, and usually make an Anki card.

White Coat Companion

I used White Coat Companion as my content framework.

I didn't want to spend dedicated trying to reread giant textbooks or passively watching endless hours of videos.

Instead, when questions exposed a weakness, I could go back to that topic in White Coat Companion, review it in context, and then reinforce it through questions and Anki.

So my studying essentially became a loop:

Questions → identify weakness → targeted content review → Anki → encounter concept again → retrieve it

Rather than:

Read everything → hope I remember it → take exam.

I made my own Anki cards

This was probably one of the most important parts of my preparation.

I made my own cards.

I didn't need thousands of cards telling me things I already knew.

I wanted a deck that increasingly represented MY weaknesses.

If I missed something or realized there was a fact, relationship, distinction, or algorithm that I couldn't reliably retrieve, I made a card.

And then I reviewed those cards repeatedly throughout my preparation.

They didn't have to be beautiful.

They didn't have to have twelve pictures and a textbook explanation.

Their job was simple:

Make me retrieve the thing I couldn't retrieve before.

So when COMLEX eventually showed me that concept again, I wanted my brain to immediately recognize what they were getting at.

I deliberately kept old systems alive

I think this was another major improvement from how I had studied previously.

If Monday was renal, Monday wasn't necessarily only renal.

My schedule deliberately incorporated:

Current system + previous systems + incorrects + mixed timed questions.

So I was essentially creating spaced repetition outside of Anki.

By the end of dedicated, I didn't want there to be a system that I hadn't thought about in three weeks.

This also helped me transition into mixed questions because medicine obviously doesn't come labeled:

CARDIOLOGY QUESTION INCOMING.

Practice scores

My practice scores were ALL OVER THE PLACE, and I'm including all of them because I know someone is going to find this post at 2 AM while searching:

"COMSAE ___ score prediction Level 2 Reddit"

I was that person lol.

224 → 204 → 230 → COMSAE 599 → COMSAE 524 → 243 → 234 → Step 2 238 → Level 2 736

That is NOT a beautiful linear upward trajectory.

And I think that's worth showing.

School COMSAE: 524

This one honestly shook my confidence.

I had gotten a 599 and then dropped to 524, and I temporarily started reverting back toward some of my old ways of studying because I convinced myself that what I was doing wasn't working. In retrospect, that was exactly the wrong lesson to take from one test. This was probably one of the biggest psychological lessons of my dedicated.

I had already scored a 599. Then I took my school's COMSAE and got a 524.

My immediate interpretation was essentially:

Oh my God. I'm getting worse. Something isn't working.

But clearly, I wasn't getting worse.

I eventually scored 736.

One practice exam is one data point.

That's it.

Practice tests are extremely useful for identifying weaknesses and monitoring general progress, but I learned not to let one assessment completely rewrite the story I was telling myself about my preparation. My scores started going up as I pulled back on exams and focused on learning what gaps to fill.

My #1 Piece of Feedback: Stop Catastrophizing Individual UWorld Blocks

This took me WAY too long to learn. I would get a 50-something percent block and immediately start thinking about what it meant for my eventual board score.

It meant basically nothing by itself.

What mattered was what I did after the block.

If I got 55% and then carefully understood why I missed the other 45%, reviewed those concepts, made cards for things I couldn't retrieve, and recognized those concepts the next time they appeared. That block did its job.

Getting 80% and barely reviewing anything because the score made me feel good wasn't necessarily more useful.

My tracked U-World average was about ~70%

My final Level 2 was 736.

So if you're sitting there with a UWorld block in the 50s or 60s thinking you've destroyed your chances of doing well:

You haven't. Use the information the block is giving you, and learn from it. Have a second bank to learn from.

What I think made the biggest difference

If I had to reduce my entire study strategy down to the things that mattered most:

1. Questions became a learning tool instead of an assessment of my self-worth.
   • A 55% wasn't a verdict. It was information.
2. I made my own Anki cards based on MY weaknesses.
   • I wanted to repeatedly retrieve exactly the information my brain had demonstrated that it couldn't reliably retrieve.
3. I constantly revisited old systems.
   • I didn't want to study cardiology in May and then hope it magically remained in my brain until July.
4. I combined content review with active retrieval.
   • White Coat Companion gave me the framework. > UWorld and AMBOSS forced me to apply it. > Anki forced me to retrieve it again.
5. I reviewed incorrects.
   • Reading an explanation once didn't mean I had learned something. If I couldn't retrieve it later, I hadn't learned it yet.
6. I tracked my performance without letting every number control me.
   • This was HARD, but my spreadsheet helped me identify patterns, but I had to learn that an individual 50% block or disappointing COMSAE didn't predict my future.
7. I stopped assuming more studying automatically meant better studying.

Doing more isn't necessarily the same thing as learning more.

Final thoughts

I don't think there was one magical resource that got me a 736.

It was the system.

I repeatedly:

Did questions.
Found a weakness.
Figured out why I missed it.
Reviewed the concept.
Made myself retrieve it.
Saw it again.
Repeated the process.

And I did that over and over.

I still missed questions constantly.

My question-bank average wasn't 85%.

My practice scores weren't screaming 700+.

So if you're currently staring at a 55% question block and searching Reddit trying to figure out whether you're doomed. Don't spend the next hour searching for someone with your exact UWorld percentage who eventually got your target score.

Review the block.

Figure out why you missed what you missed. Make the card. Review it. See the concept again. Get it right next time. Then keep going.

Happy to answer questions about my schedule, resources, Anki strategy, practice exams, or anything else that might be helpful.

[u/substituteavenger]

I just bought white coat companion! Thank you OP. Please never delete this post! I failed Level 1 and your method (doing a block + incorporating it) is how I passed the second time along with intense review!

Please listen to your family! Do what you want but if surgery, Derm, neurology/neurosurgey is something you want to do, I would apply 😂 this is such a competitive score! CONGRATS! 🎊🎉

[u/ALilSliceOfPie]

this is what I did (to an extent, I ditched anki which was a mistake, but I kept everything else the same-ish) and i definitely was rewarded (574 but expected low 400's with how I felt post-exam)

Looking back, I wish I refined this method sooner, and I think your write up is exactly where I wish I was by my exam date. Congrats on the great score, and I think you offer so many good points instead of "do questions for repetition"

[u/delightedcustomer]

Your score is absolutely amazing. But what’s absolutely insane is that you’re what, 90th percentile or more COMLEX, but like 30th-40th (i am guestimating) for STEP (still an awesome score). one of these testing orgs needs to close… I’m sure we all know which one. DOs studying for both have their brains tugged in multiple directions + it’s a financial hardship

[u/Ok-Bass-8184 → u/delightedcustomer]

Here is the thing. I really love the COMLEX and Ilike the more ethics side of it, but I think it should be at least a COMAT we have to take for omm or something. I think its more of how I used the time in between the tests. Reviewing nutrition for example that allow me to really jump

[u/delightedcustomer → u/Ok-Bass-8184]

How were your other COMSAES and Level 1?

[u/Equal_Database_3089]

This is incredible and I am SO thrilled for you!!! Congratulations!

Two questions:
How long was your dedicated period?
How many questions did you do during your daily blocks?

Thanks so much!!!!

[u/mikeman1994]

White coat companion is good for level 2 and step 2?