What percentage of students score a 90 on boards?

[Kong57]

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As I understand it, the score given to students for part I of the dental boards is not a percentage grade, but a grade that is translated from a raw score. I also understand that a score of 90 is critical in most cases for gaining acceptance into many graduate programs. Therefore, I was curious about what percentage of test takers in a given year actually score a 90 or above.

 

[rals]

I believe 10% Do. 90% means you are in the 90th percentile, it is not your raw score percentage grade. It means you did better than 90% of people who took the exam. At least this is what I have been led to believe. Don't know how that works with lower end grading...

 

[Decan]

I believe 10% Do. 90% means you are in the 90th percentile, it is not your raw score percentage grade. It means you did better than 90% of people who took the exam. At least this is what I have been led to believe. Don't know how that works with lower end grading...

I talked to the dean of education at my school and from what I understand that used to be true. He said that a 92 these days is closer to the 94th-95th percentile.

 

[Beatles0467]

I believe 10% Do. 90% means you are in the 90th percentile, it is not your raw score percentage grade. It means you did better than 90% of people who took the exam. At least this is what I have been led to believe. Don't know how that works with lower end grading...

This isn't even sort of true....at all. Think about this, if you need a 75 to pass, then by your logic you would have to be in the 75% percentile, meaning only 25 of every 100 dental students would pass part I. There wouldn't be many dentists then. The composite score (49-99) is a random number that does not mean percentile. I would say its closer to the 80-85% percentile that get 90 or above.

 

[sarah_bellum]

This isn't even sort of true....at all. Think about this, if you need a 75 to pass, then by your logic you would have to be in the 75% percentile, meaning only 25 of every 100 dental students would pass part I. There wouldn't be many dentists then. The composite score (49-99) is a random number that does not mean percentile. I would say its closer to the 80-85% percentile that get 90 or above.

From the back of my official score report:
NBDE part I score:----------- Cumulative percentile:
99---------------------------100
96-98------------------------99.3
93-95------------------------97.1
90-92------------------------91.2
87-89------------------------79.1
84-86------------------------60.6
81-83------------------------39.4
78-80------------------------20.9
75-77------------------------8.8
<75--------------------------2.9

 

[Beatles0467]

From the back of my official score report:
NBDE part I score:----------- Cumulative percentile:
99---------------------------100
96-98------------------------99.3
93-95------------------------97.1
90-92------------------------91.2
87-89------------------------79.1
84-86------------------------60.6
81-83------------------------39.4
78-80------------------------20.9
75-77------------------------8.8
<75--------------------------2.9

Thanks for the numbers, I forgot that was on the back there. So I suppose that by lucky chance, a 90 is roughly the 90% percentile, slightly better than I thought. But as you can see, that's the only score area where they are close and the relationship does not hold up anywhere else.

 

[Decan]

When did you take the exam? I never got any stats on the back of my report...

 

[nchrist]

Thanks for the numbers, I forgot that was on the back there. So I suppose that by lucky chance, a 90 is roughly the 90% percentile, slightly better than I thought. But as you can see, that's the only score area where they are close and the relationship does not hold up anywhere else.

No, a 90 is more like 84th percentile according to the numbers provided.

 

[sarah_bellum]

When did you take the exam? I never got any stats on the back of my report...

I took it in January. If I'm reading the report correctly, a 90 scaled score is comparable to the 91st percentile.

 

[alphaDDS]

From the back of my official score report:
NBDE part I score:----------- Cumulative percentile:
99---------------------------100
96-98------------------------99.3
93-95------------------------97.1
90-92------------------------91.2
87-89------------------------79.1
84-86------------------------60.6
81-83------------------------39.4
78-80------------------------20.9
75-77------------------------8.8
<75--------------------------2.9

there's nothing on the back of my score report that says anything like this.

 

[sarah_bellum]

there's nothing on the back of my score report that says anything like this.

It's written in the same light tan tone as the background on the front of the report. It looks to be pre-printed on the paper the report was on. I took my test in January of this year.