It appears that the NBME is once again providing exam score percentiles like they used to before 2000. There are percentile tables aggregating 2011-2013 on the USMLE website (scroll to Table 2 on Page 3):
http://usmle.org/pdfs/transcripts/USMLE_Step_Examination_Score_Interpretation_Guidelines.pdf
I don't recall this being up last year when I was worrying about these things for Step 1, so I thought it would be nice to call attention to this here! I apologize if this has already been posted.
It's nice to finally see some transparency in what the numbers mean. Though it's true that averages are going up every year, it's also nice to see that the scores posted on this website are not representative of normality.
By taking differences between percentiles on the column of the table for Step 1, I plotted what the score distribution should look like. The percentile numbers provided by the NBME are only up to the ones place, so this distribution is similarly rough. As expected from the speculation being thrown around here, there is a skew:
I apologize for any mistakes!
Finally, keep in mind that the best source of information for data regarding metrics for specific residencies is still the NRMP Charting Outcomes Document. Set goals based on the information there: even if your score isn't what you wanted, keep in mind all the other parts of an application!
http://usmle.org/pdfs/transcripts/USMLE_Step_Examination_Score_Interpretation_Guidelines.pdf
I don't recall this being up last year when I was worrying about these things for Step 1, so I thought it would be nice to call attention to this here! I apologize if this has already been posted.
It's nice to finally see some transparency in what the numbers mean. Though it's true that averages are going up every year, it's also nice to see that the scores posted on this website are not representative of normality.
By taking differences between percentiles on the column of the table for Step 1, I plotted what the score distribution should look like. The percentile numbers provided by the NBME are only up to the ones place, so this distribution is similarly rough. As expected from the speculation being thrown around here, there is a skew:
I apologize for any mistakes!
Finally, keep in mind that the best source of information for data regarding metrics for specific residencies is still the NRMP Charting Outcomes Document. Set goals based on the information there: even if your score isn't what you wanted, keep in mind all the other parts of an application!
