Thread: SMU's STEP 1 passing rate (REAL NUMBERS)

I found very interesting article "Medical education in the Caribbean: a longitudinal study of United States medical licensing examination performance, 2000-2009."

SMU's STEP 1 pass rate is not exactly what administration states on the website "With US Medical Licensing Examination Step One pass rates of above 90%, our students' performance is on parity with students from U.S. medical schools and far above the average level of students from other non-U.S. schools (61%)." The website was updated last time 05/01/09"

The article says that first attempt pass rate of SMU students was 59,6% in 2008 and dropped to 51,6% in 2009.

Basically SMU's pass rate is lower then that of Jamaican students..


BTW STEP 2 CK is not that great either 65,3% in 2009 vs. 81,3% of Cuban students (Spanish speaking!!!)

It's called false advertising my friend, they want to attract more uninformed newbies into their wrath of lies and dishonesty.

Originally Posted by mulberry

It's called false advertising my friend, they want to attract more uninformed newbies into their wrath of lies and dishonesty.

Here you go... not anymore...

I am thinking to send this information to the government of Cayman Islands, the school recently underwent some kind accreditation visit.. Wondering what numbers did accreditation people got???

Originally Posted by JohnI

Here you go... not anymore...

I am thinking to send this information to the government of Cayman Islands, the school recently underwent some kind accreditation visit.. Wondering what numbers did accreditation people got???

I'll give you a suggestion....it was the numbers to a savings account.

Originally Posted by DrFraud

I'll give you a suggestion....it was the numbers to a savings account.

Noooo, they are Irish, they could not....

Anybody wants to sue the school??? I'll contribute my 2 cents...
The school did not learn that lying is not good when some parents sued it several years ago for false advertising or something...

We all know that the website is a big joke so thats nothing new (old faculty, old info, incorrect info, cheapest medical school website around, never updated)

Step rates are low because students waste 5 semesters here learning NOTHING or being taught irrelevant information and then have to learn all the step material in the 5th semester

If they really want the step scores to go up all they have to do is:

1. Stop lecturers from writing their own exams (Many of the lecturers here have no clue when it comes to writing exams that are relevant for the NBME and eventual Step 1)

Solution: All block exam questions should be from either Kaplan/USMLErx/First Aid etc (this will stop students from just cramming powerpoints)

2. No more basing exams off powerpoints (Not all of the lecturers here, but some, have their own agenda regarding what is and is not important for exams

Solution: Block exams should reflect what you would expect to find in Kaplan or First Aid (Nothing more than that)


3. Anything that you would'nt find in Kaplan or USMLEworld should not be taught or examined


The step scores are bad because students here just memorize without understanding, and this is because of the school policy of overloading students with unnecessary information that is not required at board level (apart from Pathology, Anatomy, Physiology and maybe Behavioral) they dont stick to what is required/high yield for the step.

I'll be finished soon but its a shame when you find yourself reading unnecessary info in powerpoints just so you can get through blocks when the basic info needed for the step is not even examined

I disagree with you in almost all points regarding education of medical doctors. Future doctors cannot be trained according to what is in Kaplan which is the worst review course ever. That's why students are failing STEPs, they cannot think, they cannot comprehend complexity of the processes and cannot link events into logical sequence... These students should be called not medical doctors but Kaplan doctors...

Anyways all opinions are welcome here...

Originally Posted by The Man

We all know that the website is a big joke so thats nothing new (old faculty, old info, incorrect info, cheapest medical school website around, never updated)


1. Stop lecturers from writing their own exams (Many of the lecturers here have no clue when it comes to writing exams that are relevant for the NBME and eventual Step 1)

I'll agree with you on this point

Originally Posted by JohnI

I disagree with you in almost all points regarding education of medical doctors. Future doctors cannot be trained according to what is in Kaplan which is the worst review course ever. That's why students are failing STEPs, they cannot think, they cannot comprehend complexity of the processes and cannot link events into logical sequence... These students should be called not medical doctors but Kaplan doctors...

Anyways all opinions are welcome here...

How do you think it is done at other Caribbean schools?

This response and the majority of people complaining about SMU is bull. So lets assume the pass rate is 60%, thats fine. The class that finished with me, i can easily say that 1/4-1/3rd of those people were just flat out dumb and really had no buisness in med school, the other 15% or so were the lazy or borderline students. What kind of a pass rate do you expect? Look at the caliber of the students that are admitted, there are ALOT of really poor students who get admitted.

I rarely went to class or used the teachers powerpoints and i did well in my classes and scored ABOVE the average for US students on Step 1. You know how many times i heard classmates say "oh, not a big deal i'll just let Kaplan teach that to me in 5th" Not sure how that is SMU's fault. All SMU is there to do is certify you to take exams, grant you a degree and provide you with a rough outline of what you need to know. It is then the students responsibility to take the "outline" you get from SMU and fill in the gaps and learn it .

The school does a good job in the basic sciences. It is the students responsibility to not simply go through powerpoints but to open up Robbins, open up Costanzo, katzung and trevor etc.

Originally Posted by The Man

We all know that the website is a big joke so thats nothing new (old faculty, old info, incorrect info, cheapest medical school website around, never updated)

Step rates are low because students waste 5 semesters here learning NOTHING or being taught irrelevant information and then have to learn all the step material in the 5th semester

If they really want the step scores to go up all they have to do is:

1. Stop lecturers from writing their own exams (Many of the lecturers here have no clue when it comes to writing exams that are relevant for the NBME and eventual Step 1)

Solution: All block exam questions should be from either Kaplan/USMLErx/First Aid etc (this will stop students from just cramming powerpoints)

2. No more basing exams off powerpoints (Not all of the lecturers here, but some, have their own agenda regarding what is and is not important for exams

Solution: Block exams should reflect what you would expect to find in Kaplan or First Aid (Nothing more than that)


3. Anything that you would'nt find in Kaplan or USMLEworld should not be taught or examined


The step scores are bad because students here just memorize without understanding, and this is because of the school policy of overloading students with unnecessary information that is not required at board level (apart from Pathology, Anatomy, Physiology and maybe Behavioral) they dont stick to what is required/high yield for the step.

I'll be finished soon but its a shame when you find yourself reading unnecessary info in powerpoints just so you can get through blocks when the basic info needed for the step is not even examined