[tima]

Bad news guys,

At its December 2009 meeting, the Step 1 Committee conducted such a review for USMLE Step 1. During the meeting, the Step 1 Committee considered information from multiple sources, including: 1) results of content-based standard setting exercises conducted with three independent groups of physicians in 2009; 2) results of surveys of various groups (e.g., state licensing representatives, medical school faculty, samples of examinees) concerning the appropriateness of current pass/fail standards for Step examinations; 3) trends in examinee performance; and 4) score precision and its effect on the pass/fail decision.

As a result of its review, the Step 1 Committee decided to raise the three-digit score recommended to pass Step 1 from 185 to 188. The new minimum passing score will be applied to Step 1 examinations for which the first day of testing is on or after January 1, 2010.

Info obtained from usmle.org

 

[indian]

This is really bad news

 

[D.B.M.D.]

why are you guys being so pessimistic?? you know your aiming for an optimum score anyways! calm down, cheer up, just keep studying and keep your heads up high...we'll all be fine if we do our part!

Merry Christmas :0)

 

[khanar]

I think this is good news
I'll tell why
If passing has become more difficult this means less people passing which means less people applying to the match which means less competition which means easier matching for those who passed

 

[ahassan]

That's true, but we have to make sure we're on the passing side

Keep working hard, if you were aiming for a 99 you'll get to it no matter what the min. is for passing bcz you're aiming for the higher grade anyway. Good luck everyone.

 

[Dr. N Elham]

No Problem

Hi Tima!
Thanks for your contribution to the forum. However IMGs are aiming ninety+. So it will not make any difference to an IMG who aims this target.
The increase in minimum passing score will not affect the quality of questions ( easy, medium or difficult ). I mean that if a you were to get a score of even as low as 80 before this decision, you will still get that score from now onwards.
And furthermore, increase of only 3 marks on a three digit scale will increase the minimum passing score from 75 to about 77.
For me getting a score of 77 or getting a big Zero will be the same so I am not worried about the decision. I will try to score as high as possible.
Needless to say that I wish every one of you to get a high score, not only passing.

 

[khanar]

Agree with Elham
the most important thing is that the question difficulty will not increase and we should not bother about the lower end of the spectrum we should be aiming at the upper end of the spectrum

 

[khanar]

Always 75

....And furthermore, increase of only 3 marks on a three digit scale will increase the minimum passing score from 75 to about 77.
...

The two digit passing score will not change it will always be 75
See this page
http://www.usmle.org/Scores_Transcripts/minimum_passing.html