Does anyone know if the USMLE and COMLEX 2 digit scores are suppose to be comparable? If for example you got a 90 on USMLE should you expect 90 on COMLEX or something close to it?
these are completely different. The COMLEX 2 digit is a true percentile (or at least that is what it is supposed to be, I think somehow they have inflated this number). The USMLE 2 digit is something else all together- I don't really know how it is calculated, but it is not a percentile. I believe in USMLE that their 2 digit 70 = pass, whereas in COMLEX something like 5 or 10th percentile is passing. So, no they are not comparable.
But when COMLEX sent out scores they give 3 numbers a three-digit like 577 then a percentile like 78 then a 2 digit like 83. But USMLE gave only a three digit 219 and a two digit 89. So does that mean I did better on USMLE? NO because the mean was 218 on the USMLE so I am at the 50th percentile? But my COMLEX two digit looks like crap and if programs think they are the same I'm screwed. And I know someone else who got 510 with a two digit of 82 and percentile of 53 but our two digits are almost exactly the same. What does it all mean?
these are completely different. The COMLEX 2 digit is a true percentile (or at least that is what it is supposed to be, I think somehow they have inflated this number). The USMLE 2 digit is something else all together- I don't really know how it is calculated, but it is not a percentile. I believe in USMLE that their 2 digit 70 = pass, whereas in COMLEX something like 5 or 10th percentile is passing. So, no they are not comparable.
The COMLEX 2 digit is certainly NOT a percentage. I think it actually says this on their website. What the 2 digit actually means is one of the mysteries of the universe. I know my score is not close to a percentage unless the distribution is horribly unequal or the statistician failed 5th grade arithmetic.
I also don't think there is any parity between the USMLE 2 digit and the COMLEX 2 digit. Additionally, it seems as though the 2 digit varies from year to year (a lot). Look at some of the scores from the last few years. One of our posters here got a 750+ and a 92 two digit. That 3 digit is well above 3 standard deviations above the mean which places him in the 99.99+ percentile, no where close to 92%.
NBOME website states that the 2 digit score on there website (under "view score") is not a percentage, but the two digit score we receive in the mail IS A PERCENTAGE. I for instance have a two digit for step 1 comlex of 87 on the website, but my percentage was 95%
Directly from NBOME website:
"Important Note: The 2-digit scores reported on this page are equivalent to the 3-digit scores, and are NOT the same as the 2-digit Percentile Rank that appeared on your score report."
exactly....the score on your paper score report is a percentile score, whereas with USMLE you will never get you percentile (unless you use the SD and mean to figure it out, which I was gunnerish enough to do).
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