Importance of Step I Score - I'm confused

[wannabmed]

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Today I was reading Iserson's "Getting Into a Residency" - in his chapter on Grdes, Tests & Clinical Clerkships he wrote...

"How do you interpret the scores? The percentile score that rated examinees against a standard group is no longer being reported, resulting in a more-or-less "Pass-Fail" system. This makes it more difficult for residency directors and licensing boards to determine how well examinees who passed the exam did on the USMLE (although many residency directors try to interpret the relative scores individulas get)."

I was under the impression that the value of relative scores mattered quite a bit, right? I thought that the relative scores were relatively standardized so they could be compared among students, right?

It's not a "more-or-less 'Pass-Fail' system", right? Certainly passing is needed, but the number itself also matters quite a bit too, right?

 

[FutureInternist]

Today I was reading Iserson's "Getting Into a Residency" - in his chapter on Grdes, Tests & Clinical Clerkships he wrote...

"How do you interpret the scores? The percentile score that rated examinees against a standard group is no longer being reported, resulting in a more-or-less "Pass-Fail" system. This makes it more difficult for residency directors and licensing boards to determine how well examinees who passed the exam did on the USMLE (although many residency directors try to interpret the relative scores individulas get)."

I was under the impression that the value of relative scores mattered quite a bit, right? I thought that the relative scores were relatively standardized so they could be compared among students, right?

It's not a "more-or-less 'Pass-Fail' system", right? Certainly passing is needed, but the number itself also matters quite a bit too, right?

The USMLE is most definitely NOT a pass/fail. While the NBME has the stance that pass= MD (in ANY field), the 3 digit score is VERY important in getting highly competitive residencies.
There are quite a few places that have cut-offs below which they don't even bother interviewing students.
I don't think anyone knows what the heck the 2 digit score is. It says on the score report that it's NOT a percentile NOR the % that you got right. It just IS. 🙄

Bottom line.....No matter what residency in what location with whatever contacts you have in that program.....aim and study for a 260/99

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Iserson's is stupid.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Even without percentiles, programs will have no difficulty comparing your score to that of the other applicants, which is the only comparison that is relevant for them.

 

[GreenShirt]

I know the NBME has been recently kicking around the idea of turning the USMLE into a Pass/Fail test. They sent out a survey at the beginning of this year on the topic. I can't ever see this actually coming to fruition. All RDs would have to go on in that case is recommendations and what tier school they attended/class rank to figure out a student's competitiveness.

 

[bigdan]

OP-

Like anything you do in medical school, you want to do as well as you possibly can on Step I. I know I have only anectodal evidence, but that one score is a huge factor in determination whether or not you get an interview for residency at some programs - especially if the field is competitive. For example, I met a residency director in anesthesiology at a very competitive program in Pennsylvania while at a conference. We got around to talking about interview, and he told me "We set our interview cut-off at a Step I score (two digit) of 90". Mine is an 89. Boom. That program sets their computers to NOT DOWNLOAD MY APPLICATION because of my score. As a third year medical student (at the time) I had spoken to a grand total of one program director in my life, and the only news I'd gotten was that my score, plain and simple, was not good enough. But that's one man's opinion. All I'm trying to tell you is to do well.

I have no idea WTF Iserson was saying - maybe referring to the future scoring, or maybe he meant CS scoring - who knows. But you DEFINITELY want as high a number as you can possibly obtain.

Good luck.

dc

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

Iserson's is stupid.

👍

 

[Law2Doc]

but the number itself also matters quite a bit too, right?

I'd say that this one number is going to make more of a difference as to whether you are competitive for certain fields than anything else in your application. So, though I haven't read Iserson, I have to wonder whether you perhaps pulled something from his book out of context.

 

[UCLAstudent]

Later in the same chapter:

"Although the tests are not designed for this purpose, many --- if not most --- residencies use applicants' USMLE or COMLEX scores as a primary screening device. Because of the unavailability of other information about candidates, the scores on licensing examinations, especially Steps 1 and 2 of the USMLE, have become outrageously important."

And:
"Scores may not be considered at all in non-competitive programs, while some very competitive specialties and programs reportedly use USMLE scores greater than 210 to determine whether they grant applicants an interview ... This alone suggests that the scores may be very important to you and you should take the test very seriously."