***Update from USMLE re: two means***

[EM Junkie]

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Hey guys, the Director of Student Affairs at my school just sent this to me via email straight from the NBME:

----- Original Message -----
From "Melanie Nelson" <[email protected]>
Date Tue, 27 Jul 2004 15:04:42 -0400
To "Patricia E Caver" <[email protected]>
Subject RE: average score?

Pat - early last week we heard from two other schools about this. And there was an error in the text of recent Step 1 score reports. There is no problem with the scores, however.

Normally the mean is calculated using a full year's group of examinees and is updated once a year. The Step 1 score reports that were mailed on July 14, 2004 listed a mean and sd of 221 and 21; however, this was based on less than a full year's group of examinees. The mean and sd based on a full-year group is 217 and 23, respectively. We are planning to send an e-mail to this effect to students who received score reports that were mailed on July 14. This has been corrected for score reports printed from July 21 onwards.

It has taken us about a week to sort things out. We will be sending an e-mail to all examinees who received the July 14th score reports and I will be notifying schools as well.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Hope you are well and that you are having a splendid summer.

Melanie V. Nelson
Program Officer
Medical School Programs
National Board of Medical Examiners
3750 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: 215-590-9719
Fax: (215) 590-9446
E-mail: [email protected]

 

[bigfrank]

Awesome. Thanks for your help.

 

[NebelDO]

so i guess that it explains it..makes my 237 look a little better...

ik wonder if the NBME will now get slammed with many requests for people on the bubble a re-score???

 

[KyGrlDr2B]

So the mean is actually 217, not 221?

 

[bigfrank]

So the mean is actually 217, not 221?

Per the NBME, the mean is 217, the SD is 23.

 

[AnnaMags]

Is there truth to the rumor that there was a mistake in either the grading or creating of a batch of tests? I heard that this is why such a large group of students received their scores on June 14. It was something about the grouping of questions as either easy, medium, or hard.

I was just curious. I haven't heard anyone in an uproar about it so I figured it probably wasn't true.

Thanks! It's nice to have somewhere to go where someone will always have the info.

 

[bigfrank]

Is there truth to the rumor that there was a mistake in either the grading or creating of a batch of tests? I heard that this is why such a large group of students received their scores on June 14. It was something about the grouping of questions as either easy, medium, or hard.

I was just curious. I haven't heard anyone in an uproar about it so I figured it probably wasn't true.

Thanks! It's nice to have somewhere to go where someone will always have the info.

Scores were reported correctly. It was just that the statistics (mean/SD) were reported as the scores came in as opposed to waiting until the entire "yearly batch" of testtakers had finished.

Score = accurate
Mean/SD = 217/23