I heard a rumor

[europun]

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I have a friend that recently took the step 1 three times and swears that there are days that the exam is easier than others. Does anyone know if there is any validity to this statement?
I take the test in june.
I am scared $hitle$$

 

[Law2Doc]

I have a friend that recently took the step 1 three times and swears that there are days that the exam is easier than others. Does anyone know if there is any validity to this statement?
I take the test in june.
I am scared $hitle$$

I suspect people feel that every day other than the one they take it is easier.🙄

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

Must not have been too easy if they had to take it three times.

 

[Agent Splat]

I have a friend that recently took the step 1 three times and swears that there are days that the exam is easier than others. Does anyone know if there is any validity to this statement?
I take the test in june.
I am scared $hitle$$

well, i think the difficulty depends on the questions you get, since the tests are variable. you might have a test that you think is hard because it has more content you weren't as prepared for. however, since they're drawing on a large bank of questions, there's also probably tons of questions you won't get that you could nail with your eyes closed.

 

[abc56]

so not true. every test is different and im sure the test you get is random and based on luck. dont freak out, you have SO much time! you will be fine

everyone claims that they had the hardest test. the truth is we all had hard tests

 

[JohnnieBlue]

This discussion goes to the heart of the point of why you don't get your score right away even though you are taking a computerized test. Since different people take different tests, it would be unfair to just grade everyone based on a percentage of questions answered correctly. The USMLE therefore distributes scores along a curve, probably boiled down to each question individually, although I don't think anyone really knows for sure. This curve probably accounts for the phenomenon of many students leaving the test thinking they failed (and not just the paranoid and annoying students who always think that they failed after every exam), only to find out that they didn't do half bad. Just do your best and remember that if you have absolutely no freaking clue about a given question, the odds aren't bad that most students don't know the answer either (SDN gunners excluded).

 

[Wrigleyville]

They have data on each question and are able to rate it's difficulty based on how many people are getting it correct. No one's exam is any harder than anyone else's.

I think anyone who is bombing the test on a regular basis is also likely to overstate its difficulty, but they again the only way someone would know about varying difficulty is if they've had to take it multiple times.

 

[bigdan]

In a vein related to the OP's point, I was told that taking the test away from a big city would make the test easier.

There are no "cheat codes" or tricks to get out of this monster, which is, as everyone has said, why they weight and analyze our scores.

Good luck with whichever day in whichever location you take the test.

dc