Drastic Step Changes Step 1,2,3 into one test?

[gatrandy]

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I was at an interview at Virginia and one of the head honchos mentioned that for the incoming class of 08, the Step exam may be just one giant test at the end of 4th year. I cannot find details about this anywhere. I thought this could possibly change the way the curriculum is taught at various places and I wanted to understand more to help me make my decision on where to attend. I need a place that is going to be proactive in training and not let the class of 2012 be the "test" class and watch their scores drop precipitously!

 

[Law2Doc]

I was at an interview at Virginia and one of the head honchos mentioned that for the incoming class of 08, the Step exam may be just one giant test at the end of 4th year. I cannot find details about this anywhere. I thought this could possibly change the way the curriculum is taught at various places and I wanted to understand more to help me make my decision on where to attend. I need a place that is going to be proactive in training and not let the class of 2012 be the "test" class and watch their scores drop precipitously!

I think there was a student member of that committee who posted on here a while back. From what I have heard the committee is meeting sometime in the winter to discuss such a proposal, and any change to the test stemming from such meeting, if even adopted (which hasn't happened yet), will take at least 6-7 years to come into fruition. So I wouldn't really worry about any big changes by 2012.

 

[gatrandy]

Thanks! Does anyone know where that posting can be seen? This admissions person seemed pretty sure it would effect our class, and they would be in a very good position to know (I must assume). I just want as much info about this as I can.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Even if there were changes...

-It would not change the material you would need to know to be a doctor.

-It would probably not change the tested content significantly (ie. more than they change it from year to year anyway)

-It could make the test pass/fail

-How you do will still be 99% you and 1% your school.

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

I don't believe any of this is confidental, but I've spoken with a student who's a liason to the NBME. This was after I read the thread Law2Doc was referring and the original post was basically legit.

The gist? The plan is to combine Step 1 and Step 2 into one monster test you take at around the timetable of Step 2 now. The test would encompass everything you learned in medical school, however it would continue the "clinically relevant" trend the Steps have been trying to take.

The suggestions of why this change has been made are basically to allow schools to integrate more clinically relevent stuff earlier in med school and cut out some early "never see it again except on Step 1" baloney you see in classes like Biochem. The suggestion was made that first year anatomy would include a lot more physical diagnosis and imaging lectures as this would be how it was asked on this new test.

This "new test" will probably not be graded as detailed as the thee digit scores we get for Step 1 and 2. It's been suggested it may become pass/fail to keep residencies from cherry picking based on Step 1 scores, but this guy suggested even the NBME recognizes their's value in having some degree of standardized comparison across different schools, so some degree of "grading" may be retained.

Of course it's being hashed out, so high shoolers now would be the only ones running into it.

 

[SeventhSon]

wow, this would be a disaster for MSTPs

 

[ucsb101]

I was at an interview at Virginia and one of the head honchos mentioned that for the incoming class of 08, the Step exam may be just one giant test at the end of 4th year. I cannot find details about this anywhere. I thought this could possibly change the way the curriculum is taught at various places and I wanted to understand more to help me make my decision on where to attend. I need a place that is going to be proactive in training and not let the class of 2012 be the "test" class and watch their scores drop precipitously!

The dean of our school mentioned something like this as well. But I don't think it will take into effect for a few years (that is if it even happens). When I talked to the Vice Dean she said that this could happen for the class of 2012 or 2013. Pretty scary stuff.

 

[Law2Doc]

The dean of our school mentioned something like this as well. But I don't think it will take into effect for a few years (that is if it even happens). When I talked to the Vice Dean she said that this could happen for the class of 2012 or 2013. Pretty scary stuff.

The class of 2012 is next year's class. Do you mean the class starting in 2012 (ie the class of 2016). This is a huge change and not only implicates the test but to some extent the way residency decisions are made as well. There is no way something like this is going to happen in a mere 2 years even if it's greenlighted, which it hasn't been yet.

 

[Terpskins99]

I was at an interview at Virginia and one of the head honchos mentioned that for the incoming class of 08, the Step exam may be just one giant test at the end of 4th year. I cannot find details about this anywhere. I thought this could possibly change the way the curriculum is taught at various places and I wanted to understand more to help me make my decision on where to attend. I need a place that is going to be proactive in training and not let the class of 2012 be the "test" class and watch their scores drop precipitously!

I doubt it'll ever happen. They make too much money with the current format. The prices they charge for any of the steps is absurd anyway. $900 for Step 2 CS? Ridiculous. But I don't think any of them are going anywhere. If anything, I'd expect them to tack on something else. They can always make up an excuse to charge us extra. 👎mad:

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

I doubt it'll ever happen. They make too much money with the current format. The prices they charge for any of the steps is absurd anyway. $900 for Step 2 CS? Ridiculous. But I don't think any of them are going anywhere. If anything, I'd expect them to tack on something else. They can always make up an excuse to charge us extra. 👎mad:

I didn't mention this, but the guy I talked to made said they made a point of mentioning that CS (or a "CS like portion") would remain a part of this new system.

And who's to say they can't just put the cost of step one and two together for this new test?

 

[Law2Doc]

I didn't mention this, but the guy I talked to made said they made a point of mentioning that CS (or a "CS like portion") would remain a part of this new system.

And who's to say they can't just put the cost of step one and two together for this new test?

I have no doubt that the big money making portions will remain in place even in various parts are shaken up. They will be getting thousands from med students each year regardless of the format.