Step 1: Change in Number of Items/Delay in Scoring

[studentsmu]

Change in Number of Items/Delay in Scoring

Starting on or around May 15, 2008, a transition period will begin in which the number of items in current forms of the Step 1 examination will change from 350 items to 336 items. Although the transition will occur quickly at many test centers, there may also be some locations where the changes take slightly longer to complete. The overall transition period will likely last approximately 6 weeks. The length of the examination day will remain unchanged.
The decrease in the number of items per form will be accounted for in scoring the examination results, so that scores on new and old forms will be comparable. Because of these changes in timing, as well as modifications to the test item pool and the processing load caused by a heavy volume of test takers, there will be a delay in score reporting for most Step 1 examinations administered in the second half of May and June.
The target date for reporting Step 1 scores for most examinees testing from May 15 through late June will be Wednesday, July 16, 2008.

[got milk?]

i wish i had this option. now you don't have to rush through the questions so much.

i had only 1-2 minutes left on each section.
in real life, you're not expected to come up with an answer in 1.1 minutes, 99% of the time.

the USMLE has always been a game of recognizing key/buzzwords and picking an answer based on that. You don't even have time to read those long paragraph questions completely (I know.... you're not supposed to anyway).

[jonasp]

That still 48 questions per block instead of 50. Its not such a big deal. whatever helps i guess.

[UFTim]

From 50 to 48--not a huge deal.

[Scott1981]

From 50 to 48--not a huge deal.

it is to somebody that sometimes didnt have time to read those last two questions of each block ;)

[Mehrdad1]

i wish i had this option. now you don't have to rush through the questions so much.

You have all failed to point out why this change has taken place. They are giving you a bit more time to answer questions, because they have finally added audio/visual questions to the Step 1 exam. These "media clips" will take longer to figure out, so they are now being generous and pulling a few questions out of the total to give everyone more time.

So basically, nothing has changed for the better or worse. This is neither an advantage nor a disadvantage.

If you're taking any of the Steps (1, 2, or 3) you should have this site bookmarked: USMLE™ : General Information: Announcments (http://www.usmle.org/general_information/announcements.html)
Any announcements about the Steps are posted there before anywhere else. Best of luck to everyone.

P.S.- Just because the media clips are new to the exam, does not mean that they are among the unaccounted "experimental" questions.

I just had to say that before someone tried to negate the importance of tweaking their studying for these new questions.

[got milk?]

can't you listen to the sound while reading the question?
sound bites are only a few seconds long, no?

[Mehrdad1]

can't you listen to the sound while reading the question?
sound bites are only a few seconds long, no?

No one can answer that question honestly, because they haven't yet incorporated the "media clips" into the test. Come May 2008, we'll know the answer for sure.

[rokshana]

No one can answer that question honestly, because they haven't yet incorporated the "media clips" into the test. Come May 2008, we'll know the answer for sure.

actually, they started using media clips in step II CK last year...usually they are the last 2 questions in a block (and CKs blocks are 48 questions long) and yes you can read the questions at the same time as hearing the clip, but usually you need to hear the clip (heart murmurs in CK for the most part) to answer the question, so they do take a little longer.

[MD999]

actually, they started using media clips in step II CK last year...usually they are the last 2 questions in a block (and CKs blocks are 48 questions long) and yes you can read the questions at the same time as hearing the clip, but usually you need to hear the clip (heart murmurs in CK for the most part) to answer the question, so they do take a little longer.

On my Step 2 CK exam I was able to answer the audio/video clips without even playing them. If you read the question stem good enough, or correctly interpret the EKG, you can probably get the question correct without playing the media. At least that was the case in my exam and a couple other people I know had similar experiences.

[madeofiron]

hey does anyone know if the questions were reduced from 350 to 336 and the passing grade remains the same 185,...... doesnt it mean that u have less questions to work (336) with but u still need to get 185....if so then the passing grade did increase indirectly? any insight on it would appreicate it :)

[M.E the MD]

Also how does it work percentage wise? If we have less questions, doesn't that mean its easier to score lower?