DDPHiFive said:
Does anyone know if students who round together in the same rotation in the same medical schools each receive different shelf exams like the USMLE boards? I am curious about this because I have an exam coming up and I am hoping to get the easier one if that is the case since I got the worst possible USMLE step I exam. Again, your input would be appreciated. Also, how do they go about standardizing the exam if they give different exams to each student in the rotation? Thanks.
I do not know if they give the same exam or not but I can imagine them giving different ones each with the same level of difficulties simply because a certain amount of the questions are test questions and will not actually be counted against you if you get the wrong. The questions wiould be used for future exams.
For example, if you and other students get a question on Pagets disease of the breast and nationally, 55% of the students who got that practice question across the country answers the question correctly, this could help the examiners decide that the question is a fair question to use on future exams and rate it on a certain level of difficulty depending on how many students answered it correctly. On that same note, you can receive a test question on Papillary Carcinoma and maybe 90% of students get it correct (for example) and this question will be rated as easy. Considering this scenario, examiners can design different test to administer to a group of students based up the difficulty ratings of each question.
So you can all receive a different question on Pagets disease of the breast but it is still standardized because the questions were rated similarly on a scale of difficulty based on upon the percentage of students who answered the questions correctly when they were used as a practice question on previous exam. For instance, maybe 55% of the students aswered each question on Pagets Disease correctly during the practice phase for questions on past shelf exams.
Just to beat a dead horse (I hate insomnia
😡 )...another way to look at is in form of a math test. If I gave one group of students a math test with the first question asking what is 1+2 and another group with the first question asking them what is 4+2 and another asking what is 2 + 2, and so on and they all get the answers correct, then the questions will be rated as easy and I can make different tests with a different question for the first problem using the above math problems but it will be standardized because all questions are on a similar difficulty scale because 100% of the students answered them correctly so you should have just as much of a chance of answering the first question as the average math student in your group who has different #1 question.
So I really don't think some tests are easier than others even though they may have different questions.
