Step I Penn State Step 1 score analysis

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I am looking at the other thread, I am curious how can WashU take the best test takers in the country and then have them produce an average of 229.
 
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It all stems from the curriculum and the quality of the students.

If basic sciences emphasize high yield concepts and the student body goes beyond "knowing just enough" to get by then you have a formula for success.

Then again, the USMLE exams were created as a P/F licensing exam. They were never meant to measure your basic science knowledge. That is why the SD is 22 points. Anyone could have a bad day and score a 222 or have a good day and score a 244.
 
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:laugh: Supposedly, EVERY medical school's Step 1 average beats the national average... right? At least that's the message I got on my interviews. At the 5th or 6th interview when the medical students said this during the lunch (as they had at every other school), I nearly choked on my pasta salad from uncontrollable laughter.
 
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McGillGrad said:
It all stems from the curriculum and the quality of the students.

If basic sciences emphasize high yield concepts and the student body goes beyond "knowing just enough" to get by then you have a formula for success.

Then again, the USMLE exams were created as a P/F licensing exam. They were never meant to measure your basic science knowledge. That is why the SD is 22 points. Anyone could have a bad day and score a 222 or have a good day and score a 244.
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The SD just means what percentage of people fall within what range of the average score, not how an individual's score varies. The score report actually gives you the standard error of measurement, which is the range an individual would be expected to score if they took several variations of the test. On my score report it says 6 points; if someone scores 230, a good day would have been 236 and a bad day 224.

turkeyjerky said:
It makes sense when you consider that the average includes imgs and people from caribbean schools.
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The average and SD are based on first time test takers at US and Canadian schools, so IMGs are out. I'm not sure if the Caribbean schools are considered US or not.

And average Step 1 scores mean squat. The guy who gets a 250 from State U also gets about a 250 at Harvard. It's a very individualized effort.
 
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