I am a current student at Spartan and i just thought i would give some updates about the school:

1. We just had a student [***** *****] pass step 1 with 93%.

2. Wireless Internet is now available in all classrooms and the library

3. The results for Exit Exams are available for 4th trimester students.

4. A new cafeteria has been a great addition for the students in accordance with a new gym, SGA offices, AMSA offices, and addtional rooms.

5. The night life does not exist really unless you plan on taking the hour and a half drive to Castries to go clubbing.

6. Currently the status of Stafford is being worked on by school officials of Spartan and Government officials of St. Lucia. When i hear more i'll try and post again.

One thing that i've learned while being here and reading posts from this site and many other sites is that all the above factors don't matter. What matters is that your school provide you with the information you need to get through your step 1 and make sure that you are set up with rotations. Spartan has done all that and a little more. The school does try and cater to all the students needs (I've experienced this first hand). My intentions are not to make Spartan come across as the best school in the Carribbean just to let it be known all the changes that are occurring at the school and the efforts being made by the school to help it's students.



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[Edited by Mod for containing personal information. Edited portion indicated by "*"]

well step 1 is nice, but what about getting the help you need to obtain residency. After all.. that is the reason why you are going there...right?

Because the school was helpful in getting a friend of mine into a pediatrics residency at a top 10 med school is one of the reasons i wanted to come to Spartan. He is the only FMG to be in the pediatrics program and he is doing quite well. Maybe these types of resources have just become available to our school but they are available now. Hope this is helpful info!

i doubt that was "93%" but rather a two-digit score of 93. % are not given to students. A 93 is very good.

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Steph
If you get a warning, put on yer manpants and stop whining about it.

as Ive received an engaging PM from someone who got wound up about my post regarding the 2-digit score, here is the description of what it means from the usmle.

From: http://www.usmle.org/bulletin/2004/scoring.htm
When you take Step 1, Step 2 CK, or Step 3, the computer records your responses. After your test ends, your responses are transmitted to the NBME for scoring. The number of test items you answer correctly is converted to two equivalent scores, one on a three-digit score scale and one on a two-digit score scale. Both scales are used for score-reporting purposes.


The two-digit score is derived from the three-digit score. It is used in score reporting because some medical licensing authorities have requirements that include language describing a "passing score of 75." The two-digit score is derived in such a way that a score of 75 always corresponds to the minimum passing score.

Hence the two digit score is not a percentile. If it were, then only the top 25% of test takers would pass.

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Steph
If you get a warning, put on yer manpants and stop whining about it.

thanks for clearing that up. i'm sorry i was under the impression that the number was a precentile.

nope but easy to undestand why one would think that; but as i say its still a very good score.

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Steph
If you get a warning, put on yer manpants and stop whining about it.

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

USMLE SCORE REPORTING: PERCENTILE INFORMATION DISCONTINUED
May 1999

Policy Change

As of May 1999, percentile information is no longer provided in connection with reports of USMLE scores.

Background

The primary focus of USMLE is on the licensure decision, and Steps 1, 2, and 3 scores are used in this process. The scores for each administration of a USMLE Step are equated so that a given two-digit or three-digit score always represents the same level of examinee performance for that Step. In other words, a score of 200 on one administration of a Step indicates the equivalent level of examinee performance as a score of 200 on any other administration of the same Step. This equivalence holds even if the pass-fail standard is changed, which permits comparing performance across time.

It is important also to remember that the two-digit score shown on USMLE transcripts is not a percentile. The two-digit score is a total test score that is designed to meet the requirements of many state licensing authorities. The two-digit score scale is one on which a 75 is always the minimum passing score. However, a given two-digit score may represent a different level of performance if the two administrations were subject to different pass/fail standards.

Percentiles are different from the two- and three-digit equated scores in that they can only be interpreted in the context of the examinee (norm) group upon which they are based. When the norm group changes, the percentile for a given score will change and percentiles based on different groups cannot be compared. Although the performance of large groups of examinees typically does not change dramatically from one year to the next, over a longer period of time there have been substantial changes. For example, in the late 1980s, applications to medical schools showed a marked decline, and this was reflected by lower performance on the initial administrations of USMLE as compared to the present when group USMLE performance has improved. As a result, identical three-digit scores are associated with significantly different percentiles if those percentiles are based upon the examinees from the different periods.

Problems with Comparison of Percentile Ranks

It is important to note that the above phenomenon has little impact in the licensure context for which USMLE was designed. Nevertheless, it also is clear that USMLE scores are used by third parties for a number of different reasons, with a heavy reliance upon corresponding percentile data. It has come to our attention that, in these secondary uses of USMLE data, failure to appreciate fully the relative nature of percentiles has caused a number of problems. The three most common are:

1. Student A took Step 1 in 1994 and reports a score of 210 and a percentile of 58. Student B took Step 1 in 1996 and reports a score of 210 and a percentile of 48.

Are both reports correct? Yes. Each student used the percentile conversion charts developed for the cohort which included the examination that he/she took. In each case the reference group was different and so the percentiles calculated for the same score were different.
Which student had better performance on Step 1? Both students scored 210, so their performance was identical. The percentiles, although "correct" imply that Student A "did better" on Step 1 but, in fact, the two students performed equally well.
2. Student A took Step 1 in 1994 and reports a score of 206 and a percentile of 50. Student B took Step 1 in 1996, and reports a score of 210 and a percentile of 48.

Are both reports correct? Yes. Each student used the percentile conversion charts developed for the cohort which included the examination that he/she took. In each case the reference group was different.
Which student had better performance on Step 1? Although Student A fell into a higher percentile rank because a different norm group was used, Student B actually had a slightly better performance on Step 1 as represented by the three-digit score. It should be noted that the difference between the scores is very small (i.e., approximately 0.2 standard deviations) and probably reflects no practical difference.
3. A student took Step 1 in 1994. He/she reports a score of 218 and a percentile of 73. A medical school official refers to a USMLE percentile conversion table and finds that the student's percentile is 63.

Are both percentiles correct? Yes. Both the student and school official have obtained accurate but apparently inconsistent information as a result of using percentile charts based on different examination cohorts. This is because the percentile for the Step 1 score varies depending on the norm group used to calculate the percentiles. The applicant was in the 73rd percentile of those who took Step 1 in 1994 and the 63rd percentile compared to those who took Step 1 in 1995 and 1996.
These examples clearly show a potential for misinterpretation of the scores if the user is not familiar with: a) the difference between two- or three-digit equated scores and percentile information, and b) the examinee group upon which the percentile information is based.

Summary

Percentiles are not meaningful when attempting to rank order students whose percentile equivalents were calculated using different examinee groups. Utilizing percentiles can lead to the types of errors illustrated above. It is for these reasons that percentile information is no longer available in connection with USMLE scores.



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__________________
Steph
If you get a warning, put on yer manpants and stop whining about it.

Okay, so one person got '93', So???
First, and foremost, what about the other people? what did they get?- how come Spartan is not comfortable enough to publish it's step1 pass rate?
Secondly, in as much as being in the 93 percentile is good, it really is not a big deal. I'm telling you from personal experience- scores in the 96 percentile and above are not rare occurences on the USMLE step 1. I can easily pull out of my memory (out of several) a school where as many as a dozen people were in the 9x percentile, of course coupled with the fact that they had an overall 89% first-time taker pass rate (overall pass rate of 94%).
Spartan has to come up to the level of publishing it's USMLE pass rate, otherwise refrain from celebrating "a student" who get's a good score. This kind of advertisment only goes to further (sadly)betray the fact that 'passing' for a Spartan Basic science grad, is a rare event, and not the norm.

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..Aluta Continua, Victoria Acerta! (..the struggle continues, victory is sure!)

It's amazing i could actually feel the hatred in that last post! Actually the only reason i was able to bring up the"one" student that did well on his Step 1 was because you have to get permission from the student. I haven't been able to get in touch with some of the other students. There are other students who i know have done well on their step one and I am just waiting to hear from them as to whether they would allow me to post the fact that they did do so well. Hopefully this will shed a little light on why i have only mentioned one student. I also know that some students would prefer to not have their score mentioned till they pass their step2. This further explains why so many of past Alumni are coming out of the wood works now. Just because Spartan does not post their scores does not mean they are not good. It is a matter of getting the permission of the students. If they don't want their scores posted then the school can't do anything about it.