Why is USMLE S3 scored if all we need to do is pass?

[TwoDogMed]

This is in regards to high competitive fellowship. Does any fellowship program look at S3 score? I know the residency program that one attends, LOR, connections and residency performance are important for fellowship. The consensus seems to be that no body cares about your S3 score as long as you pass.

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[Lost in Translation]

Does any fellowship program look at S3 score?

No. Many barely even care about in-training exam scores which are arguably more important.

 

[GoSpursGo]

They might care if you score low, but otherwise as far as I know nobody cares.

 

[TakotsuboOkazaki]

This is in regards to high competitive fellowship. Does any fellowship program look at S3 score? I know the residency program that one attends, LOR, connections and residency performance are important for fellowship. The consensus seems to be that no body cares about your S3 score as long as you pass.

I suppose the test was initially developed with the outcome measure being a numerical score.

Though that score is of little impact (provided you pass), there is also little impetus to change the outcome metric because of the lack of impact.

Essentially no one cares enough about the test or its outcome to put forth the effort needed to change it to P/F, so it stays the same.