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I recently took step 3 and am now left waiting anxiously for months for my score to return. I've been going over everything in my mind and came across an important issue that I couldn't seem to find the answer to anywhere else...
I'm an intern in radiology. My prelim year is a mix between medicine, surgery, and whatever other miscellaneous rotations they throw our way. When I took the exam, I had pretty much been "practicing medicine" for all of 7 months, give or take. It seems as if different people take this at all different times throughout their residency, so I'm wondering if that is taken into account when each person's exam is scored. Exactly how USMLE scores these exams is a mystery, but I think it's safe to say that it's not simply the number you got correct divided by the total number of questions. There is some sort of curving/scaling of the scores based on the percentage of correct answers over a period of time. Everyone in medical school takes Step 1 after second year, so regardless of where you are, your step 1 exam is graded against other people who are the same year as you and have had the same medical education exposure. Step 2 is slightly different, but more or less the same during fourth year or sometime just before residency starts. Step 3, however, does not work like that. Interns 3 months into training take the exam that third year residents take. I am curious as to how, or should I say "if," this is taken into account. Seems rather unfair that residents at the end of their training with years of experience under their belts can skew the results of this exam that interns with only months of experience also take. This exam is all about curving and scaling the correct response percentages.
Does anyone know if there is some sort of way by which this is taken into consideration to level the playing field????
I'm an intern in radiology. My prelim year is a mix between medicine, surgery, and whatever other miscellaneous rotations they throw our way. When I took the exam, I had pretty much been "practicing medicine" for all of 7 months, give or take. It seems as if different people take this at all different times throughout their residency, so I'm wondering if that is taken into account when each person's exam is scored. Exactly how USMLE scores these exams is a mystery, but I think it's safe to say that it's not simply the number you got correct divided by the total number of questions. There is some sort of curving/scaling of the scores based on the percentage of correct answers over a period of time. Everyone in medical school takes Step 1 after second year, so regardless of where you are, your step 1 exam is graded against other people who are the same year as you and have had the same medical education exposure. Step 2 is slightly different, but more or less the same during fourth year or sometime just before residency starts. Step 3, however, does not work like that. Interns 3 months into training take the exam that third year residents take. I am curious as to how, or should I say "if," this is taken into account. Seems rather unfair that residents at the end of their training with years of experience under their belts can skew the results of this exam that interns with only months of experience also take. This exam is all about curving and scaling the correct response percentages.
Does anyone know if there is some sort of way by which this is taken into consideration to level the playing field????
