As an MD/PhD student, I am often thinking about data. What are the trends? Are there differences between my groups? How am I going to graph this? Any solid biostatistician will tell you that making something “meaningful” out of data requires three things: a sufficiently large dataset, reliable outputs, and...

Most medical students don’t start their exam preparation thinking about whether they should get a tutor. In fact, many are confident they can handle things on their own. They’ve made it this far by studying independently, after all. They’ve passed numerous exams and evaluations. They know how to grind through...

For osteopathic (DO) medical students, one of the biggest decisions during preclinical and clinical training is not just what specialty to pursue or where to apply for residency - but now, it is whether to take the USMLE in addition to the COMLEX.   While it was much more common...

Clinical reasoning is the skill that connects your clerkship experiences with Step 2 CK performance. Whether you are interpreting a long exam vignette or assessing a new patient on rounds, you must be able to identify what matters, filter out noise, and make safe, efficient decisions.   We have worked...

Question Quick Answer Why It Matters What’s the MCAT score range? 472–528 (4 sections, each 118–132). Knowing the scale helps you set realistic goals. Average is ~500 (50th percentile).   What do accepted students actually score? MD: ~511–512DO: ~504–505 Top-tier (Harvard, Hopkins, Stanford): 517+ These benchmarks give you a sense...

Preparing for the COMLEX Level 1 is one of the biggest milestones in the journey of becoming a physician of osteopathic medicine. For many students, this exam represents the culmination of two years of intensive didactic medical school coursework, and it serves as the foundation for residency applications and future...

 Preparing for the COMLEX exams is one of the defining challenges of osteopathic medical school. Whether you’re gearing up for Level 1 at the end of your preclinical years or tackling Level 2 CE during clinical rotations, the right resources—and a clear plan for how to use them—can make the...

Deciding how to study for Step 1 can be a daunting task. There are so many educational resources to choose from, and so much conflicting advice on the internet and from other…

One of the hardest decisions that all medical students face involves picking the resources to help them succeed on their board exams. To provide you the best and most accurate advice, we have our tutors personally utilize the services we review. In this blog post, we will share our impressions of TrueLearn’s SmartBanks for COMLEX Level 1 and COMLEX Level 2 CE.

TL;DR Form 33 feels less like a content exam and more like a reasoning challenge. Expect experiments, mechanisms, and figure interpretation woven into nearly every block. The question style now mirrors real-world medical reasoning - integrating physiology, pharmacology, and behavior rather than isolating them. Use Form 33 as your final...