Breaking the magic: how the USMLE three-digit score is calculated

There's a certain magic associated with the USMLE score. In large part, it’s because of our foolish idolatry of the three-digit score in medical education and residency selection, where the difference of a few points can become a career-defining turning point.

But in part, it’s also because - just like with all good magic tricks - there's a certain slight of hand involved. See, no one seems too sure about how the USMLE score is calculated, and unfortunately misinformation and rumors abound.

In this brief lecture, I’ll reveal both the general method involved in generating the USMLE scaled score, and go through the particular examples of the early versions of the test.

-

For viewers who want to return to important points in the talk (or those with a short attention span), here are some of the high points:

1) Introduction to Part I - the general method (1:44)

2) Why the USMLE can’t just report a raw score (2:05)

3) How to calculate the USMLE three-digit score (8:09)

4) Introduction to Part II - the details (9:27)

5) The old NBME exams (10:00)

6) Raw score to scaled score conversion for 1992 USMLE Step 1 (17:39)

7) Raw score to scaled score conversion for 1992-1993 USMLE Step 2 (20:29)

8) Value of a 1% increase in raw score on scaled score (21:05)

9) USMLE #scorecreep (22:00)

-

More content available at the Sheriff of Sodium site:

https://thesheriffofsodium.com

-

Music credits: “Clutch” by Nicolas Major.