I also frequent usmle-forums because they post a lot more personal experiences (and it's less biased towards high achievers than SDN, so I feel like reading from both gives me a more realistic approach.). It's basically 100% IMGs so it's good reading about people in similar situations, but some people on that site are lost cases...
Here are some of the rumors I've heard that I can remember now. Well, not all of these are rumors, but misconceptions/myths/common utterances among students at the school I graduated from (and where I teach some courses):
- Lots of rumors about experimental questions, eg. "the weird questions are experimental" and then I have to explain that "experimental" means it's a question that's going through a trial run (to see around how many answer correctly and stuff) and it can be even the easiest of questions, so you'll never be able to pinpoint which they are
- Just today someone told me that the experimental questions are all in one block which isn't marked at all, and they said this like they were 100% sure (this person has not taken any of the tests)
- Some IMGs believe Step 2 CS is "harder" for IMGs in certain centers because of cultural bias. While I'm sure that in certain places the standardized patients or staff could definitely feel more prejudiced towards foreigners, I'm also sure the exam is designed to be standardized and as objective as possible so an IMG's experience should be the same regardless of the center. This kind of thinking is rampant on usmle-forums, where the spoken English part of the test is a major concern for many test takers...
- Similar to above, people who don't understand the grading system prefer to take the exam in other cities (even flying to the US to take their exams) because they think it's easier or harder. Certainly there may be some advantage but not grade-wise. I took it in my home country, where the power is known to go out - I didn't believe anyone about this until it happened to me during my CK. Luckily it was fixed and I started the test exactly like I had left it.
- "The test is just First Aid". Here on SDN everyone knows that FA is pretty good and all but not everything is in there. Without a good foundation to work on, FA is just full of seemingly random facts. I have seen way too many IMGs with very weak foundations stating "First Aid is all you need" and recommending this to other people without having taken the test themselves. When I hear this I get a little shiver down my spine.
- Lots of misconceptions about the actual registration process, but I think this is understandable since it's actually a convoluted process. Some schools don't have dedicated officials to act as a liaison between the school and the ECFMG. Best source of information for this is the ECFMG website itself but some people just like asking on forums for some reason.
- I've heard this one frequently: "Pay for the exam and schedule it for a date when you think you'll be ready; that will put pressure on you and make you study!" Oh boy. It's usmle-forums all over again, people scheduling tests for dates when they don't even know when they'll be ready! For both my Step 1 and CK I waited until 2-3 days before my desired dates. I risked the Prometric center being full for the day and not being able to select the date but big deal, I could take it a few days later no problem. That way I wouldn't have had to pay if I had to reschedule for some reason.
- And the classic: "I'll do awesome on my Step 1 so I can get into residency." If only it were that easy
I think that the averages are quite similar simply because those that actually match are predominantly well-rounded candidates with decent-ish applications (CV, etc.) and not just scores. I know people who have matched with just good scores and no US clinical experience, no work experience even in their home countries, no visa/GC, etc. but these seem to be the exception rather than the rule. Also, they seem to tend to match at crappy programs for obvious reasons...
Disclaimer: This post might make me sound like an ass but I'm just trying to be as realistic as possible