ABA written exam

[Arch Guillotti]

Well the piece of paper is finally in my sweaty hand.

Mean was 250 and minimum of 209 was required to pass. SD was 50. I am not sure why they use such a weird scale.

They give you a list of keywords. Strangely all my keywords are duplicated (looks like I have double the amount I think I do).

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[nchhabra]

if i am not mistaken, it seems pretty similar to last year's scale. something like 208 to pass and 250 as the mean. hopefully i will be getting my paper tomorrow.

 

[CambieMD]

if i am not mistaken, it seems pretty similar to last year's scale. something like 208 to pass and 250 as the mean. hopefully i will be getting my paper tomorrow.

Same here.

Cambie

 

[pmichaelmd]

Well the piece of paper is finally in my sweaty hand.

Mean was 250 and minimum of 209 was required to pass. SD was 50. I am not sure why they use such a weird scale.

They give you a list of keywords. Strangely all my keywords are duplicated (looks like I have double the amount I think I do).

If I recall correctly, that is the exact same as last year's exam. Mean 250, pass 209, July 2007.

 

[CambieMD]

I have finally received my ABA results for the written exam. I want to know how my score compares with the rest of the people who took the exam. All you know is if you are above or below the mean. Is there any way that I can extrapolate a percentile ranking from my score.

My keywords also seem to appear in duplicate.

Cambie

 

[drccw]

if scores follow a normal distribution (and that's a big if) then try this website:
http://bayes.bgsu.edu/nsf_web/jscript/normal_cdf/normal_icdf.htm

given that the 90th percentile (enter as .9) would be a 314.

and the 20th percentile would be a 208

thus a 209 would mean about a 79% pass rate....

that's if scores follow a normal distribution...

are any programs out there reporting their graduating classes pass rates yet?

 

[Calilove]

still havent gotten mine yet, will check 2mrw. I want to see that PASS on paper also!!! I keep looking at the ABA website every couple weeks just to make sure that it still says "PASS"🙁

 

[gasguy79]

i am a CA2 and i got a 30. What does that translate to interms of the 3 digit score? would i have passed if it had counted for real?

 

[pgg]

i am a CA2 and i got a 30. What does that translate to interms of the 3 digit score? would i have passed if it had counted for real?

From what I was told in years past, 33-34 has typically equated to passing. 30 is certainly a good score for end of your CA-1 year.

This year though, who knows, since the ITE and for-credit exams were different days, different questions, different formats. I don't know if anyone really knows how to compare scores between the two this time around.

 

[gasguy79]

i'm actually a CA3, i was ending my CA2 year when i took the test and go a 30. I was told by my PD that its equal to a 59% and indeed, my class avaerage was in the mid 40s. Thats y i thought it was a pretty good score, but if anyone has more info., please let me know.

 

[oskigas]

Got the paper confirmation today! Now I can relax and focus on the oral. Pm me if you have Ho's oral prep material for sale.

 

[lakerjock]

Does anyone know how this standardized scaled score works? I really would like to know my percentile....like what's the max score? Anyone got any input from their P.D.?

 

[pgg]

Does anyone know how this standardized scaled score works? I really would like to know my percentile....like what's the max score? Anyone got any input from their P.D.?

The standardized scaled score is deliberately inscrutable so they can justify their consultant fees. A "passing" score of 33 probably correlates to the number of shots of tequila they did the night they came up with the scale.

You can get your %ile from the chart in this thread.

 

[turnupthevapor]

where did you get the scaled score from....i only got a three digit score

thanks

 

[nchhabra]

where did you get the scaled score from....i only got a three digit score

thanks

i only got a 3 digit score as well. if i remember from last year, the program gets a 2 digit score, but it doesn't come in your report. so maybe ask your residency program.

 

[nchhabra]

i'm actually a CA3, i was ending my CA2 year when i took the test and go a 30. I was told by my PD that its equal to a 59% and indeed, my class avaerage was in the mid 40s. Thats y i thought it was a pretty good score, but if anyone has more info., please let me know.

i don't think you can really extrapolate anything from this year's ite, since it wasn't the same test as the boards, like pgg said. last year a 32 on the ite corresponded to the 54th percentile, and a 33 was like 59th percentile. i was told that a 33 or 34 correlated to a passing 3 digit score of 209ish. this is all assuming the adjustments for the questions that are thrown out in the actual test compared to the ite. ie, as long as you didn't get a disproportionately high number of the the questions correct that the graduates missed/had thrown out, and you scored a 33/34, you would have passed if your test was scored like the real thing. in my opinion, if you scored in the 59th percentile: 1) you scored pretty well and 2) if you come up with a reasonable study plan, you should have no problem passing when its for all the marbles. but that's just my 2 cents.

 

[siednarb]

if you add up the total number of "items" on the performance report it gives you 220 - so i think the exam only consisted of 220 questions that "counted" - i always thought that the items were the number of items you got wrong - but this year - for example next to anatomy i have only 2 items listed (but they are listed twice so four lines appear) but next to the word Anatomy it says "18 items" - if you add up all these "items" it comes to 220. You can then figure out how many items you got wrong and figure out your percentile of questions you got right...i think

 

[pgg]

if you add up the total number of "items" on the performance report it gives you 220 - so i think the exam only consisted of 220 questions that "counted" - i always thought that the items were the number of items you got wrong - but this year - for example next to anatomy i have only 2 items listed (but they are listed twice so four lines appear) but next to the word Anatomy it says "18 items" - if you add up all these "items" it comes to 220. You can then figure out how many items you got wrong and figure out your percentile of questions you got right...i think

Might one question be included in more than one category? That's the way it was reported on the ITE this year. When adding up the "# of questions" in each subject the total was 309, but the test itself had a lot fewer.

 

[siednarb]

no - i think the 220 makes sense - the items didn't repeat by section in the score report. If 220 was the total amount of questions that would mean 15 questions in each block were thrown out as experimental questions.

You can also figure out what your percentile correct was
and then use that to do a simple calculation knowing that they tell you that 209 is passing that in order to pass one had to get 72% of the questions correct (or 158 of the 220 questions that counted...keep in mind there were 250 questions on the exam)

The mean that they report as 250 then works out to be about an 86%

I really don't know how they come up with this scaled 3 digit score.

 

[Test Boy]

if you add up the total number of "items" on the performance report it gives you 220 - so i think the exam only consisted of 220 questions that "counted" - i always thought that the items were the number of items you got wrong - but this year - for example next to anatomy i have only 2 items listed (but they are listed twice so four lines appear) but next to the word Anatomy it says "18 items" - if you add up all these "items" it comes to 220. You can then figure out how many items you got wrong and figure out your percentile of questions you got right...i think

not sure if this applies to everyone. my total items only added up to 199. i think the questions that "counted" were randomly generated by a computer.

 

[nchhabra]

no - i think the 220 makes sense - the items didn't repeat by section in the score report. If 220 was the total amount of questions that would mean 15 questions in each block were thrown out as experimental questions.

You can also figure out what your percentile correct was
and then use that to do a simple calculation knowing that they tell you that 209 is passing that in order to pass one had to get 72% of the questions correct (or 158 of the 220 questions that counted...keep in mind there were 250 questions on the exam)

The mean that they report as 250 then works out to be about an 86%

I really don't know how they come up with this scaled 3 digit score.

i can't remember where i saw it, either the aba/asa website or in a mailer for the test, but i think 225 out of the 250 questions were supposed to count. 25 questions were thrown out.

edit: it was in a mailing that was on green paper from the aba.

 

[nchhabra]

for those who care. i called the aba to see if they had a percentile to correspond to the 3 digit score. the lady told me to calculate my z score and then look on a table to get my percentile. i asked specifically if this meant the scores followed a normal distribution, and she said that they were instructed to tell inquirers to calculate their z scores.

for those not so mathematically inclined. the z score can be calculated by taking your 3 digit score subtracting 250 and dividing by 50.

i.e. (y-x)/sd where y is your score, x is the mean (250), and sd is the standard deviation (50)

 

[pgg]

i asked specifically if this meant the scores followed a normal distribution, and she said that they were instructed to tell inquirers to calculate their z scores.

🙄 Well, this would explain why it took them 3 months to get the norm tables wrong for the ITE.

 

[CambieMD]

I was told that the minimum percentage of correct questions to pass was 70%. This is if you took the test on 8/5/08. 220 questions were graded. You had to get 154 out of 220 to pass.

Cambie

 

[siednarb]

did anyone ask them about the fact that some of us took the exam on the 4th of august but on the website it had us listed as taking it on the 5th of august?

 

[drjsg]

Would I be able to get a list of the keywords from one of you?
Thanks