Is USMLE adaptive?

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peripateric

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i know it has not been officially announced as of yet, but is it already getting to be adaptive? any of you past test-takers feel the same way?

what about the coverage of subjects? was it still an even distribution, or did you feel that they were trying to get you on that one thing that you left out of your review....? anyone got a 99 despite feeling like that right after the test?

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I felt like the blocks were getting more difficult especially the 4 thru 7 on step 2.

I felt more like the blocks were adaptive, not sure about the subject. There were several questions on a specific theme but I did feel I was able to answer them correctly. For instance, they would ask a question about b12 defic, the folate defic, then iron defic, and another question on b6 defic.

I am sure of those answers but felt they were assessing my knowlegde in a specific area all at once.
 
My understanding is that there was serious planning on making the test "adaptive" (eg getting questions right would lead you to more difficult quesitons that allowed you to score higher); but those plans never materialized. The plans were so serious that several of my review books even talk about adaptive test taking strategies while acknowledging that the USMLE had not adopted this test administration strategy yet.
 
Originally posted by Kalel
My understanding is that there was serious planning on making the test "adaptive" (eg getting questions right would lead you to more difficult quesitons that allowed you to score higher); but those plans never materialized. The plans were so serious that several of my review books even talk about adaptive test taking strategies while acknowledging that the USMLE had not adopted this test administration strategy yet.


what books are you using?
 
Originally posted by peripateric
what books are you using?

First Aid 2001 has a few pages dedicated to explaining how CAST (computer adaptive sequential testing) works while adding that the NBME has delayed it's implementation indefinitely after a trial period. It also says that the NBME does plan to change the exam to a CAST format though. Interestingly enough, the USMLE didn't go computerized until 1999. Prior to that, it was a 2 day paper and pencil exam.
 
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