Score of 80 on step 1

[seetay212]

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Hi! I score only 80th percentile on my step 1, with a three digit score of 195. what are the chances of my getting into a pediatric residency as opposed to an internal medicine one? help!

Seetay.

 

[edinOH]

You should have no trouble matching either peds or medicine. You won't be going to Mayo or anything but there are enough spots out there that you should be fine.

 

[womansurg]

Originally posted by seetay212
Hi! I score only 80th percentile on my step 1, with a three digit score of 195.

This doesn't make sense. The median three digit score this year is somewhere around 215ish, I believe. That would be the 50th percentile. The 80th percentile means that you scored in the top 20% in the country - so you'd be more than one standard deviation above the mean. Your score would be 240+.

Do you mean that you scored the 20th percentile? The two digit score is not a direct percentile, if I understand correctly. So a score of 80 doesn't mean 80 percent of anything, if that's what you're refering to. It's another method of score standardization that takes into account the variation of the mean from one year to the next, I believe.

Anyone know if this is correct?

 

[maxheadroom]

True, the 2 digit score is not a percentile. I don't know the scoring system very well, but I think the minimum passing for Step 1 is something around 75.

 

[Apollyon]

The USMLE score is coordinated such that the 2 digit score of 75 equals passing (which is 175, or 178, or whatever) - always.

What I think, is that this person's 195 was a 2-digit 80 (not 80th percentile).

From experience 😉 I know that 80/195 are close, if not a match.

 

[seetay212]

Hi!

Thanks for the reassurance, as well as the replies. I am definitely hoping for a better score on my step 2. I don't really intend to join Mayo, becuase the top program require IMG's to have prior US clinical experience for admission. Most of the programs I have emailed to say that they prefered higher scores, so I was worried whether I would match at all.

As for the 2 and 3 digit scores, I thought the 2 digit score was the percentile score. But looks like it might not be, it didn't really make sense to me either.

Seetay.