We always hear about pass rates, but what is the average score of an SGU student on step 1? Just want to know how I did in comarison

~215 would be my guess. Not a bad # to be honest.

275.....since we are playing the guessing game anyway.

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This number is never published but you can estimate it using basic statistics.

If you assume the US scores and SGU scores are approximately normal, we know the average US score is about 216 and the sd is about 16. The cutoff is 185 and the overall USMG pass rate is something like 96%. As I recall, the SGU pass rate is roughly 91%. So, summarizing

avg_US = 216
sd_US = sd_SGU = 16
pass rate SGU = 0.91
pass rate US = 0.96

First, calculate the US pass rate to check whether a normal distribution gives reasonable answers:

Let z_US = (185-215)/16= -1.93

Let F(z) = the cumulative normal distribution [in Excel use NormSdist(z) ]

So, the calculated US pass rate is:
1 - F(z_US) = 0.974 ~ 0.96

This result is pretty close to the actual value (0.96) so the assumption of a normal distribution is not too bad. So we are justified in using the normal distribution to estimate the SGU average.

Now, work backwards using the SGU data to calculate the average score required to get a pass rate of 91% :

1-F(z_SGU) = 0.91 => z_SGU = -1.37 => avg_SGU = 207

So, the SGU average is roughly 10 pts lower than the US average which.

The numbers I used (pass rates, averages, etc) may not be exactly correct (I was too lazy to look them up) but if you have the correct numbers handy you can easily improve on my calculations; however, I suspect my estimate is roughly correct.

always impressed by the numbers and stats brenda can come up with

Dido... I was just about to answer the same thing. With the exact formulas and calculation. Good thing BrendaB was faster than me.

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MS-2 SGU

"I would rather try talking suicidal patients down first before suggesting they hurry up and jump" me

It is wayyy too early in the morning of my first day in GND to read this post.

EDIT: OK that wasn't too bad, actually. Nice work.

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Way to go, James!! I'm keeping you the rest of the term.

i go to sgu and i get the impression that ross has slightly better step 1 scores

Yeah, I kind of had this feeling too. But I can't pinpoint the source. Is it real or just an Urban Legend?

Ross has less stringent addmissions, but they produce better step 1 scores?

This seems so counter intuitive.

Any more insight on this?

I know it depends on the student, but as a whole SGU scores should be higher than ROSS, right?

even though it is easier to get accepted into ross, it is also much easier to get kicked out/fail out. In addition, their curriculum is set up so they have a lot of classes at once, allowing for better integration. They also have one integrated test with the classes they are taken whereas at SGU we have seperate exams for each class. Overall ross has a tougher basic sciences curriculum.

That is not to say that sgu doesnt...i worked my behind off for my grades my first term, i just feel that they are more usmle geared in terms of their exam prep.