drmitch
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 6
|
Dear friends,
I thought of something & would like to know what you think about it.In step 1 score report it says that mean & standard deviation are 217 & 23, which means that 1 standard deviation equals 240 which is almost 98.
According to this I understand 15% of the examinee get 98 & above, which does not make sense at same time. As how the score will be a good measure if 15 % of examinee got over 98????
It also says that the 2 digit score is not a percentile …as it is competition against standard not between the examinee each other.
Hope any one who knows clarify this for us,
Thank you in advance.
|
| adeelmd
Forum Elite
Topics: 40
Posts: 402
|
that is a good measure.... getting a 98 means that you did better than 85% of the other candidates. It is not a percentile, it is just a number.. that is meant to express your level of knowledge comparable to everyone who has taken the steps. The logic they give is that if they had used percentiles, when medicine wasn't as popular (in the 80's) it would have been very easy to get a higher percentile, but since competition is so hard nowadays it would almost be impossible to get a good percentile (even a 98 falls at the 85 percentile). Another problem with percentiles is who do you compare them to? to all the test scores of this year, the previous five years.. it would be very hard. A percentile will only tell you how you fall with your current peers; the two digit score tells you how good you did compared to what they think a medical student should know (passing).
___________________
where i lay my head is home.
|
| drmitch
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 6
|
thnx for ur response
but knowing that 15% of examinee get 98 & above is real scary & doesn't make any one happy wz his score ..i think 15% is quite big portion ..
when u consider that in applying to residency if there is 20 thousand jobs ,over than 3 thousands places will be filled wz 98 & above ..
also i think the highly competetive places are much less than 3 thousands !!
i am scored 96 & 97 ..getting ready for 2006 match ...but now i am not feeling secure at all wz my scores ..if that whole assumption is right
let me know what u think ..
|
| adeelmd
Forum Elite
Topics: 40
Posts: 402
|
the percentage goes down whn you factor both steps in... although i don't think there is anyway to figure that out but i would guess there would be a thousand people with higher scores than you.. at most 1500...
___________________
where i lay my head is home.
|
| Dani_2005
Forum Senior
Topics: 13
Posts: 81
|
Your scores are very good, but it also depends on what you want.. I am not sure, but concluding from previous posts, I think Surgery for example is tough unless you can make a very good job in the other parts (CV, interview, researches...). But still it is POSSIBLE.
I know 15% is high, but keep in mind that the 98 is not 98/100.. It is in fact about 98/150 or 98/147.. So that does not look that big now.. It is a mere 68/100!! Although with the current exam difficulty, that does look big. But you know medicine is the higher college in all countries, so you expect that you are competing with almost the "best" students over the world, that makes it even tougher...
As we finished the dark side, let's look back now at the bright side. Your scores are really really good. So unless you have some strict very high speciality target or strict place to get residency, I can tell you that you have a big big big chance, so please apply soon, I don't want to apply with you, that is already a lost position for me  
By the way, what is your targets?
|
| drmitch
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 6
|
Hi ..thanks for your replies ..sorry for being late I was not home last couple days ..
Personally I wish for pediatric, I guess it is not very competitive & there are big number of jobs in that specialty..
My wondering was not a personal worry as much as trying to figure out how good is the score …I just got my step 1 score & want to know above what u consider a good score ..
We were saying that almost 15% of the residency applicants will have over 98 scores…now I guess it is more coz we forgot to exclude the people who didn't pass the exam around 10 % of the examinee & many IMGs who just pass & don't go on till the end…
Anyway ..i wish everybody all the luck ..
Thnx for replying again
|
|
| |
| | | | | | |
