Are questions weighted on the NBME and Real Exam?

mdeast

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• Apr 25, 2012

• #2

colts said:

Are the NBME practice test questions weighted (harder questions weighted more than easier questions)?

Meaning can two people who both got the same percent on an NBME practice exam have two different scores?

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I don't think so. The real thing will be that harder questions will be the better differentiators between high performing and lower performing students.

There are experimental questions and/or sections on each exam though and I don't think these are scored as part of your exam.

 

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C

colts

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• Apr 25, 2012

• #3

It was my understanding that the real exam there are no weighted questions, but on the NBME practice test there are weighted questions.

Check out this post: http://www.usmle-forums.com/113609-post2.html

 

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J

johndoe3344

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• Apr 25, 2012

• #4

And yet they still are the best predictors of the real score...

I can't even imagine how complex the algorithm (and how meticulously it was derived) for that to work so well.

 

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auburnO5

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• Apr 25, 2012

• #5

I was under the impression that it is scaled, how could it not be?

 

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mdeast

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• Apr 25, 2012

• #6

auburnO5 said:

I was under the impression that it is scaled, how could it not be?

Click to expand...

I think it's scaled by difficulty of the overall exam (i.e. a 65% on one exam does not equal the same board score as a 65% on another exam).

I don't think easy questions on your exam are scaled differently than hard questions though. So, in the case of 1 student getting 20 easy questions wrong and 10 hard questions wrong vs. a student getting 30 hard questions wrong on the same exact test....those individuals would still receive the same Board score.

In other words, hard questions aren't worth 1.5 points, and easy questions worth 1. Which is how I thought the OP was trying to discuss things.

 

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C

colts

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• Apr 25, 2012

• #7

I'm pretty sure the real exam is not weighted in terms of some questions being counted more than other questions, but the NBME practice exams may be weighted only because I have seen people get the same 3 digit score with different percent correct.

 

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