usmle pass or fail only

[peacefuljourney]

Hi.

I saw a one-liner on a forum suggesting that there may be a meeting in december to decide if the score for the usmle will be replaced by a simple pass/fail system.

Problem is, I can't remember which site or which thread! The comment was very short and may have been at the tail end of another discussion. I saw it for the first time today.

Has anyone else seen it? I wanted to ask the person where they heard that in order to verify or repudiate.

Thanks. S-

[peacefuljourney]

this site. thread called "usmle step 1 info." Hope the poster can tell us more. S-

[Desidoc]

Yes, I read it too on the Ross form, and I think the post title is USMLE info or something like it. But it was on Ross fourm.

[bts4202]

http://www.usmle.org/news/newsstep1minpass.htm

They are not debating whiether to make it pass fail in Dec, they are debating on wheither to increase or decrease the minimum passing score for Step 1.

It seems like this years USMD first time pass rate plumeted to 88% from around 95-98%. I believe that the USMLE people want to lower the minimum score so that teh US students will do better.

[neilc]

[url]http://www.usmle.org/news/newsstep1minpass.htm[/url...It seems like this years USMD first time pass rate plumeted to 88% from around 95-98%. I believe that the USMLE people want to lower the minimum score so that teh US students will do better.

where did you see/hear this info about the dropping pass rate? that is hard to believe, considering the score inflation that seems to be going on. over the past years the mean score has been creeping up pretty quickly.

if it is true that the first time pass rate is dropping, and the min passing score may change, then maybe i can be a little bit happier with my results

[bts4202]

Sorry, I was relying on rumour there, here is some facts.

http://www.usmle.org/news/perfdata.htm

This shows a steady decrease in US first time pass rate from back in '97 when it was 95% till now, a staggering 88%. For US schools that seems pretty low. I have heard rumours that this years scores bring the average down even lower. I think (and hope) that they will try to adjust this trend by decreasing the minimum passing score.

[neilc]

i remember reading somewhere that first time us pass rate hovers around 91%, i think it was first aid. this stat makes me feel a little better. i recall from some converstations on SDN that the mean had gone up quite a bit over the years. i guess that means that the SD is going up, and scores are increasing on both ends. i really get confused with the scoring of the test, and the fact that it was designed to be a pass fail test, yet they still give numbers. seems strange to me, to use a test for something other than what it was designed for, but that is the way it goes....

i hope the passing score drops a bit as well, could help some folks out there. also, might make my score (at least the three digit) look a bit better.

[neilc]

i remember reading somewhere that first time us pass rate hovers around 91%, i think it was first aid. this stat (88%) makes me feel a little better about my score. that means i beat somewhere around 25% of us first timers, which is ok i guess. i recall from some converstations on SDN that the mean had gone up quite a bit over the years. i guess that means that the SD is going up, and scores are increasing on both ends. i really get confused with the scoring of the test, and the fact that it was designed to be a pass fail test, yet they still give numbers. seems strange to me, to use a test for something other than what it was designed for, but that is the way it goes....

i hope the passing score drops a bit as well, could help some folks out there. also, might make my score (at least the three digit) look a bit better.

[Flash]

If it were pass fail how would they rank everyone? Or do they only look at the usmle 2 for ranking?

[A.H.]

Flash-

programs aren't going to rank you based on USMLE scores. USMLE scores will get you the interview, and thats what they base their rankings on.

If you have 98/99 on the steps but are a social leper, you might have trouble matching at any program. Its all relative.