Is the curve against everybody, or just test takers for your day?

[golfman]

So I think Step 1 is graded on a curve, if I'm not mistaken. Are you just graded with respect to the people that take the test the same day as you, or are you graded against everybody that takes Step 1?

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[bergwood]

Don't quote me on this, but I think they determine a score based on the historical percentage correct on each question. Like they select all of your questions from a large bank of questions that have been asked many times in the past, each with an established percent correct (like UWorld does with each question), and from that they determine the curve. This way if you happen to take the question on the same day as a bunch of geniuses or idiots, it doesn't change how you are graded.

 

[metalrex]

on another note: are the NBME practice tests curved this way as well? It seems to me that the real exam scoring is much more forgiving than the NBME tests, is this true?

 

[vicinihil]

I think it's curved based on the people who took the test "around" your test date. That's what the score report says. I don't know what definition of around is but it seems like its a few days to weeks of test takers and not just those on your day.

 

[PokerDoc]

on another note: are the NBME practice tests curved this way as well? It seems to me that the real exam scoring is much more forgiving than the NBME tests, is this true?

I believe the NBME practice tests are different in the sense that They have set ranges for scores. It never fluctuates

 

[aashkab]

i was wondering the same thing and assumed it has to be based on the percentage of each question. so lets say you get a "hard" test with "tougher" questions. your score won't be affected because those questions also had lower percentages. i dont know though. this is what seems most fair to me and logical.

 

[DRJJ1]

i was wondering the same thing and assumed it has to be based on the percentage of each question. so lets say you get a "hard" test with "tougher" questions. your score won't be affected because those questions also had lower percentages. i dont know though. this is what seems most fair to me and logical.

its all bs to make money

 

[Deucedano]

So how exactly do these "experimental" questions actually factor into your score? What if you got a bunch of those questions right and the "non-experimental" questions wrong? I feel like I got a lot of easy questions wrong and hard ones right... Im wondering how that factors into the score

 

[PokerDoc]

So how exactly do these "experimental" questions actually factor into your score? What if you got a bunch of those questions right and the "non-experimental" questions wrong? I feel like I got a lot of easy questions wrong and hard ones right... Im wondering how that factors into the score

the experimentals are not part of your score but you dont know and never will know which ones those were