zerocool79
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Does anyone have any idea how the scores work out? I have a few questions, and it'd really help reduce a lot of my post-test-anxiety just to know about how things are scored. (I thought the stress would have ended when i finished studying and actually took the exam, ha ha, .. nope)
1. Is the 3-digit score a raw number of how many questions were answered correctly? or is it a curved number?
2. Are all the questions worth the same? or are harder questions worth more than the easy ones?
3. Are the experimental questions scattered throughout the exam or is there an "experimental block?" I have read different things on this issue, and I was just curious if anyone had any ideas about that.
4. Approximately how many experimental questions are there on the exam?
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| sarika
Forum Guru
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oh u r just like me...i took my exam on 28th now i just cant relax....i am still trying to remember questions and trying to figure out how many did i got wrong or right...i had so many things planned but i just cant let it go....i have some serious OCD  ...exam seemed easy at that time except for a few weirdo questions here n there every block...but now i am thinking maybe it was all a trap ...Maybe i messed up...maybe it was not that easy....also i have recalled 10 of my really stupid mistakes...and also i would like to add these are the ones i changed in the end to a wrong answer....it is so painful....Also during the exam i remember, i got a little too relaxed maybe...(yeah i was sitting crossed leg on that chair..hopefully no one did notice that )....maybe i got so much relaxed i messed up...did u remember any mistakes of urs?...even i want to know how scores work out so that i can rest in peace even for a week or so...i am so stressed...
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| reet
Forum Fanatic
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sarika. RELAXXXXXXXXXXXXX
zero cool--- hard questions worth more than easy ones...-helps to raise ur score bar.
and experimental questions are spread in all 7 blocks.. NOT in single block
50 ques r experimental ,,i think ..m not sure
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| kate_
Forum Junior
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reet wrote:
hard questions worth more than easy ones...-
are you sure? I thought this exam is not adaptive like GRE. I am almost sure...  
PS maybe you are right... it does not have to be adaptive and qs still can worth different pts
Edited by kate_ on 03/03/06 - 10:22 PM
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| kate_
Forum Junior
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sarika, calm down. I 've read your posts (thank you for sharing!) You sound like 95-99.
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| p53
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1. 3-digit score isn't the number of correctly answered questions out of all 350.
there is some correlation between the number of correctly answered questions and 2-digit score: 60-70% (for explanation of this range, read the first sentence of the item 2) of correct answers will give you the passing 2 digit score - 75, i.e. to calculate 2-digit score you have to add appr. 10 to the percent of of correctly answered questions. This correlation holds true before the 2-digit score reachs lowest 99 (this correlates to the 3-digit score 244 on the USMLE step 1 and 89% of the correctly answered questions). After this point above mentioned correlation is lost, because 2-digit score 'freezes' (99 is the maximal 2-digit number), but 3-digit score continues to rise.
2. Harder questions definitely worth more than the easy ones; this doesn't mean that USMLE is an adaptive exam - on adaptive exams (like GRE and TOEFL) if you answer correctly one question the next one will be more difficult, and so on; on the other hand, if you answer incorrectly one question the next one will be easier, and so on. This isn't so in case of USMLE examinations yet (even when adaptive test will be implemented, most experts think it will be adapting after each BLOCK, not after each QUESTION).
3. The experimental questions are scattered throughout the exam.
4. No one knows exactly how many questions are experimental (except the guys who are creating the USMLE).
also see
http://www.prep4usmle.com/forum/comments.php?id=2...
&
http://www.prep4usmle.com/forum/comments.php?id=2...
&
http://www.prep4usmle.com/forum/comments.php?id=2...
Edited by p53 on 06/07/06 - 09:28 AM
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| kate_
Forum Junior
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" For example, to pass Step 1, you will have to score higher than the bottom 9% of US and Canadian registrants.
"
I am not sure I got that - are you saying IMGs have to score higher /get more difficult exams/ than the US/Can in order to pass?
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| p53
Forum Guru
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I'm saying that for IMGs USMLE is more difficult, than for US/Can, because the proficiency of IMGs is lower, not because the exams are different for IMGs.
They have set passing score (pass/fail point) in such a way that 9% of US/Can are failing the step 1.
This point is same for IMGs, but it turns out that it's failing 34% of IMGs.
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"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein
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| kate_
Forum Junior
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"They have set passing score (pass/fail point) in such a way that 9% of US/Can are failing the step 1. "
Got it. It's fair then. Although I have problems b/c I graduated long ago, studied Medicine in Bulgarian, not in English, and was not familiar with the MCQ format.
Thank you.
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| zerocool79
Forum Junior
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Thanks for all the informative replies p53. You're very helpful.
I am still a bit confused one one issue though. How can it be stated that passing the step is equivalent to answering 60-70% of the questions correctly, if they are worth different amounts of points?
Does this mean that for instance, if there are 300 points available, and for instance, hardQs=3, mediumQs=2, and easyQs=1 point, then overall, we must somehow accumulate about 60-70% of these points in total?
I think i'm thinking too hard about this, but I'm just trying to understand how it's scored, why is it so esoteric?
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| p53
Forum Guru
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Posts: 804
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I wasn't talking about 60-70% of POINTS, I was talking about 60-70% of QUESTIONS.
There are 350 questions (100%) on step 1, so you have to answer 210-245 questions (60-70%) correctly to pass the exam.
Why this range, 60-70%, and not exact percent? exactly because questions worth different amounts of points: you have to answer 70% of mostly easy questions to pass, but if you answer mostly difficult questions 60% of correct answers will be enough to get passing score.
So, number of points (not questions!) required to pass the exam is exact, fixed and same for everyone. This corresponds to score 75 (2-digit) or 182 (3-digit).
Why is it so esoteric? I think you should read Einstein's adage below of my post once again.
Edited by p53 on 03/04/06 - 05:26 AM
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| Geroo
Forum Guru
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are you guys sure that hard questions worth more points than easy one?where did you get this info from?
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| mleguy06
Forum Junior
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All said and done I have one question to u p53. Approx what is the minimum percentage of questions one must answer correctly to expect a 99? Please enlighten.
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| p53
Forum Guru
Topics: 51
Posts: 804
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what I'll say now, is based on logical deduction, not on the exact facts:
hard questions worth more points than easy ones - why?
because www.usmle.org clearly says - you should answer 60-70% of questions to get the passing score - 75 (2-digit); why this range 60-70% and not the exact percent, for example, 65? if all questions worth the same, the percent of correctly answered question have to be the same for everyone, otherwise it's unfaire if you give to someone passing score for answering only 60% of questions correctly and demand 70% of correct answers for other. The only explanation for giving the range of percents and not the exact percent is that hard questions worth more points than easy ones!
again, I don't know exactly what is the minimum percent of questions one have to answer correctly to expect 99, but I know that you should answer 60-70% of questions correctly to get passing score; let's take the mean percent from this range, i.e. 65% - and compare it to the passing 2-digit score - 75; we see that the passing score is more than the passing percent by 10.
THIS IS THE ONLY CORRELATION THAT CAN BE ESTABLISHED BETWEEN 2-DIGIT SCORE AND THE PERCENT OF CORRECTLY ANSWERED QUESTIONS!
If we assume that we can extrapolate this correlation to other 2-digit scores below 99, then, for example, to get 2-digit score 90, you should answer 80(+/-5)% of questions correctly and to get minimal 2-digit score 99 (this corresponds to the 3-digit score 244), you should answer 89(+/-5)% of questions correctly.
after this, i.e. for higher 99s, this correlation is lost, because 99 is the maximal (highest) whole 2-digit number and so, 2-digit score is 'frozen' here.
Edited by p53 on 09/06/06 - 01:08 AM
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