Percentile of Step 1 vs score?

[tripwm]

So summer 2013 mean was a 227, SD of 22. Does USMLE release any information on what that equates to in your percentage?

(I understand that you can estimate percentile, but that assumes a normal bell distribution. And it would be impossible for someone to be 3 SD above the mean (or at least I've never heard of a Step 1 higher than mid 270s on SDN or anywhere else).

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[ulikedaggers]

So summer 2013 mean was a 227, SD of 22. Does USMLE release any information on what that equates to in your percentage?

(I understand that you can estimate percentile, but that assumes a normal bell distribution. And it would be impossible for someone to be 3 SD above the mean (or at least I've never heard of a Step 1 higher than mid 270s on SDN or anywhere else).

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/step-1-score-distribution-and-percentiles-real-data.839226/

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...istribution-and-percentiles-real-data.909946/

Older data, but assuming those people did their math right there's a clear upward trend in scores from 2011-2013.

 

[mrange25]

hello tripwm. I have a question for you (unrelated to this post though). I saw you posted a couple of years ago that you have the same name as your dad (with a different middle name) and had some issues with it (like through background check)

Did all of that get rectified ok? The reason I am asking , is that I have a young son whom I named the same way (Same first and last name, with a different middle name). He doesn't have the junior suffix and I don't want it to cause him any grief in the future.

Have you ever had any other issues regading the same name thing, like with the credit bureaus getting you mixed up? Did your background check work out ok? I've been stressing about my son's name and saw your post saw I thought you might be able to provide feedback

 

[tripwm]

hello tripwm. I have a question for you (unrelated to this post though). I saw you posted a couple of years ago that you have the same name as your dad (with a different middle name) and had some issues with it (like through background check)

Did all of that get rectified ok? The reason I am asking , is that I have a young son whom I named the same way (Same first and last name, with a different middle name). He doesn't have the junior suffix and I don't want it to cause him any grief in the future.

Have you ever had any other issues regading the same name thing, like with the credit bureaus getting you mixed up? Did your background check work out ok? I've been stressing about my son's name and saw your post saw I thought you might be able to provide feedback

Everything was easily handled thankfully. It's popped up a few times on official things(background check like you mentioned, AMA briefly) where people have glazed over the middle initial (or if I neglected to put it). The major problem is that despite living a few hours away, I put my parents address as mine for big time important things as I've moved several times during medical school. So at a glance, the only difference between names/address is a single middle initial.

It usually requires a phone call/e-mail to whatever organization confuses me for Dad. It's never taken more than 1 or 2 attempts to rectify the situation. I found that if I try to always include my middle initial under the 'first name' for anything that both Dad and I are members of it forces people to note the discrepancy of the middle name.

 

[mrange25]

Thanks for the response. I'm glad to hear the few things have been taken care of rather smoothly. I was just searching the internet and saw your post about the name thing. Thanks for the info about it. My wife's dad and her grandpa were named the same way and they never had any issues, but it was before advent of "computer technology". Thanks for your feedback.

 

[mrange25]

Trip. Sorry, I have another question for you. I've often heard, and it is one of my concerns, is that credit reports can get mixed up between father & son without the junior designation. Have you been able to get a credit card in your name? Is everything clean with your credit report, as far as not having any of your dad's information on there.

I've just been worrying about my son having the same name as me without the junior

 

[Phloston]

+2SD is 271 strictly for US and Canadian MD students only who are first-time test-takers.

But if you take into account all applicants to the match (IMGs, DOs, second-time takers, current international physicians), +2SD is still about 260, since this collective body roughly doubles the number of applicants to the match.

That's why the score reports say the mean and SD are 227 and 22, respectively, with most scores falling between 140 and 260.

And that's also why a score in the 270s appears to be rarer than 5 out of every 200.

 

[ChessMaster3000]

+2SD is 271 strictly for US and Canadian MD students only who are first-time test-takers.

But if you take into account all applicants to the match (IMGs, DOs, second-time takers, current international physicians), +2SD is still about 260, since this collective body roughly doubles the number of applicants to the match.

That's why the score reports say the mean and SD are 227 and 22, respectively, with most scores falling between 140 and 260.

And that's also why a score in the 270s appears to be rarer than 5 out of every 200.

Interesting that you know the SD is in reference to US/Canadian MD first-time students. Even with that restricted population, I find it hard to believe.

 

[Modeselektor]

Interesting that you know the SD is in reference to US/Canadian MD first-time students. Even with that restricted population, I find it hard to believe.

It's actually written in the score report TBH .

It appears as though the Flynn goes in overdrive for med students.

 

[ChessMaster3000]

It's actually written in the score report TBH .

It appears as though the Flynn goes in overdrive for med students.

Oh ok, didnt know that. but I also heard that even though its 227 with SD 22, it's not a normal distribution.

 

[Modeselektor]

Yeah I don't see 5% of people taking it scoring over 271. The curve must look wonky as heck.

 

[ChessMaster3000]

Yeah I don't see 5% of people taking it scoring over 271. The curve must look wonky as heck.

actually 2.5%. I still dont see it--it's gotta be like 1%.

 

[Modeselektor]

oh..... yeah.... 2.5%.

I'm starting to think it's highly postively skewed. They should give us a mode and a median along with the mean.

 

[notbobtrustme]

Oh ok, didnt know that. but I also heard that even though its 227 with SD 22, it's not a normal distribution.

I remember seeing a graph where it was skewed left, so yea, it's not a normal distrubition