MCAT and USMLE

[NoMatterWhat]

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I struggled a lot with the MCAT so I'm afraid of what's further down the road 🙁 Is the USMLE (much) more difficult and (possibly) requiring more studying/preparation? I've heard that med students only have 4-6 weeks to review for the test, how did you manage to retain 2 years of information, and do well? Is it possible to do very very well on the USMLE if you found the MCAT to be very challenging??

 

[NoMatterWhat]

Also...... can you tell me or direct me to a website where I can read about end-of-residency board exam? Is it standardized or varied by specialties? I want to know as much as possible about all the hurdles that are waiting down the road.

 

[swamprat]

Chill out dude, if you can't get a good score to get into medical school your not going to have to worry about usmle.. and if you get in, the school obvious thinks you have what it takes to pass the exam - they don't want students not passing it looks bad on them. You have a ton of other hurdles to overcome before even thinking about usmle.. 1) good mcat score 2) maintain good gpa 3) letters of rec and all the other crap u need to APPLY to medical school..if you get in, then we'll talk.

 

[ACSurgeon]

I struggled a lot with the MCAT so I'm afraid of what's further down the road 🙁 Is the USMLE (much) more difficult and (possibly) requiring more studying/preparation? I've heard that med students only have 4-6 weeks to review for the test, how did you manage to retain 2 years of information, and do well? Is it possible to do very very well on the USMLE if you found the MCAT to be very challenging??

There is no correlatio IMHO. You learn a bunch of random stuff in college and the mcat tests your grasp of relatively undefined material. Step 1 tests the foundation that every med student should have built in first and second year. You are NOT expected to retain everything, but will be expected to know the basics very welll. So to answer your question, you can do very well on step1 and 2 with an average MCAT.

For what it's worth, I'd retake step 1 any day over retaking the mcat.

 

[Jolie South]

Moving to Pre-Allo.

 

[aSagacious]

I struggled a lot with the MCAT so I'm afraid of what's further down the road 🙁 Is the USMLE (much) more difficult and (possibly) requiring more studying/preparation? I've heard that med students only have 4-6 weeks to review for the test, how did you manage to retain 2 years of information, and do well? Is it possible to do very very well on the USMLE if you found the MCAT to be very challenging??

For what it's worth, there was a correlational study (red flag!) done to determine the predictive validity of the MCAT for med school grades and step 1/2/3 performance (all of which were pretty weak).

Here's the source:
Julian, E., (2005) "Validity of the Medical College Admission Test for Predicting Medical School Performance." Academic Medicine, 80 (10) pp. 910-917.

Having not taken the USMLE, I won't try to compare the two.

 

[lildave2586]

These are two very different tests. I did poorly on the MCAT (27) and scored in the top 1% of the country on Step 1. Obviously that is an N=1 and not everyone who scores a 27 on the MCAT will score a 259 on step 1. But it's possible, I did it, and I have friends who did similarly. The bottom line is that the first two years of medical school are all about Step 1. You will study for Step 1 a lot more than you did for the MCAT (I studied 10 hours a day for a month straight, plus interval studying before that). Try not to let your poor MCAT performance get you down. I used it as a springboard to dominate step 1.

 

[alwaysaangel]

These are two very different tests. I did poorly on the MCAT (27) and scored in the top 1% of the country on Step 1. Obviously that is an N=1 and not everyone who scores a 27 on the MCAT will score a 259 on step 1. But it's possible, I did it, and I have friends who did similarly. The bottom line is that the first two years of medical school are all about Step 1. You will study for Step 1 a lot more than you did for the MCAT (I studied 10 hours a day for a month straight, plus interval studying before that). Try not to let your poor MCAT performance get you down. I used it as a springboard to dominate step 1.

FYI - a "99" on a step is not equivalent to percentile. There is no correlation between the two digit number and a percentile. In fact 99 starts around the low 230s which is only slightly above average.

I'm assuming thats what you were referring to since the actual bell curve and percentiles for the steps are not released (and I'm not saying your score is not impressive, just correcting the meaning of the number)

To the OP - there isn't a direct or definitive correlation. HOWEVER, if you did poorly on the MCAT because you are a bad test taker then you may also have a hard time with the USMLE. You should start focusing on what it is about standardized tests that you struggle with and try to correct it. You will be taking standardized exams for the rest of your career (step 1, step 2, step 3, boards and recertification board exams). If you struggle with exams you should fix it now so you don't struggle every step of the way (literally) later on.

 

[aSagacious]

If you struggle with exams you should fix it now so you don't struggle every step of the way (literally) later on.

 

[clinicallabguy]

FYI - a "99" on a step is not equivalent to percentile. There is no correlation between the two digit number and a percentile. In fact 99 starts around the low 230s which is only slightly above average.

I'm assuming thats what you were referring to since the actual bell curve and percentiles for the steps are not released (and I'm not saying your score is not impressive, just correcting the meaning of the number)

To the OP - there isn't a direct or definitive correlation. HOWEVER, if you did poorly on the MCAT because you are a bad test taker then you may also have a hard time with the USMLE. You should start focusing on what it is about standardized tests that you struggle with and try to correct it. You will be taking standardized exams for the rest of your career (step 1, step 2, step 3, boards and recertification board exams). If you struggle with exams you should fix it now so you don't struggle every step of the way (literally) later on.

He didn't mention his 2 digit number. I think he knows that it's not a percentage. They might not tell you your percentage, but the rough rule is 220 mean w/ 20 SD, right? You can figure out a ballpark from that. That would mean a 257 probably has a Z score of 1.85 and would be at the 96.7 percentile.

I agree, OP, that the MCAT doesn't have to define the USLME. Whatever correlation there is between them, I think, is that good standardized test takers are good standardized test takers. But that can be overcome with a lot of work when you get to that point. I think medical schools prepare you better for step 1 than pre-med courses prepare you for the MCAT.

 

[alwaysaangel]

He didn't mention his 2 digit number. I think he knows that it's not a percentage. They might not tell you your percentage, but the rough rule is 220 mean w/ 20 SD, right? You can figure out a ballpark from that. That would mean a 257 probably has a Z score of 1.85 and would be at the 96.7 percentile.

It could be. But the certainty with which he said it is what I usually hear from people who still think the two digit number is a percentage. You'd be surprised how many people still think that.

 

[DoctwoB]

It could be. But the certainty with which he said it is what I usually hear from people who still think the two digit number is a percentage. You'd be surprised how many people still think that.

including people involved in the residency selection process. Its scary. Though to be fair, including a two digit number that is not a percentile as a score, and has some weird system is extremely counterintuitive on the part of the NBME.

 

[alwaysaangel]

including people involved in the residency selection process. Its scary. Though to be fair, including a two digit number that is not a percentile as a score, and has some weird system is extremely counterintuitive on the part of the NBME.

Oh yeah, especially when we live in a society where most of our standardized tests in school gave us percentiles.

Although personally, I found 4th years about to match who didn't understand how it worked even scarier. Not knowing the meaning of the two digit number is pretty harmless. Making a bad match list because of crazy ideas on how the match works could be devastating.

 

[NoMatterWhat]

compared to your preparation for the MCAT, how much stress was it to prepare for the USMLE?

 

[2012mdc]

He didn't mention his 2 digit number. I think he knows that it's not a percentage. They might not tell you your percentage, but the rough rule is 220 mean w/ 20 SD, right? You can figure out a ballpark from that. That would mean a 257 probably has a Z score of 1.85 and would be at the 96.7 percentile.

I agree, OP, that the MCAT doesn't have to define the USLME. Whatever correlation there is between them, I think, is that good standardized test takers are good standardized test takers. But that can be overcome with a lot of work when you get to that point. I think medical schools prepare you better for step 1 than pre-med courses prepare you for the MCAT.

He didn't mention his 2 digit number but he did say that he scored in the top 1%. I think a 259 is more in the top 3-5% than top 1%. Splitting hairs though

I think the correlation between MCAT and Step 1 exists because of 2 things:
1) test-taking ability
2) work ethic/study habits

Both of those things can be improved on with practice and desire

I felt like I sold myself a little short in a college (3.15, 33 MCAT) so when I came to med school I was determined to study harder and smarter (a big thing was confronting my weaknesses head on instead of dismissing them) and it has worked out so far (4.0, 260 - outperformed my estimated score by 20 pts)

 

[alwaysaangel]

compared to your preparation for the MCAT, how much stress was it to prepare for the USMLE?

USMLE step 1 is worse than the MCAT. Way more material and its trickier/faster/longer.

I studied for the USMLE for 2 months and basically did nothing but study and work out those 2 months. Seriously sucked. (compared to the MCAT when I took a 2 month review course and studied a couple of hours every day in between working)

Step 2 is much easier, still some preparation but by then its pretty innate. Step 3 I hear I won't have to study for at all.

I personally think Step 1 is the worst test in the medical career, however, I hear some boards (like radiology) are awful.