Please take two minutes to put your opinion in INCUS survey …this will affect directly your future in the USA …don’t underestimate your power .they will close the commenting in 3 days so hurry up .
Please don’t let someone mislead you saying that pass/fail is good for IMG or even for AMG themselves.
to summarize
-if you are an Old graduates you are OUT.
-if you have an attempt you are OUT.
- scores are the only help we imgs has.
-if you have even 270+ in both steps you will not get any residency except the US graduate hates the most =no IMG matches to derma radio or even surgery anymore
-the role of scores in how imgs with no contacts match. Will be over.
-IF you are not a graduate of European prestigious college you will suffer the most especially if you are Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Arab ,or African .
-decrease stress for scoring high (studying for a year) the only advantage of pass/fail system
but will increase the stress during doing non paid research and expensive OSCE stress to get LORs (which may take several years and which will be much more expensive because all the world will be seeking these OSCE spots).
-once you put your comment on INCUS survey just put a comment here in the post so more people can see this post.
EXPLANATION :
-USA isn’t like UK
UK need pass/fail because they have more residency spots than applicants
it is not the case in USA where there is much much less spots in residency comparative to the number of applicants as all the world seeks the best career for doctors in the world so there is spots.
-if you have any attempt and you are an IMG you are literally out of the competition directly
People with attempts rely on their scores to justify their case
the attempt will not be a red flag it will be an execution !!!
- It seems many think that the pass/fail system will hurt only IMGs who score high, and hurt those who score poorly. This is NOT true. Even IMGs with 210 will be hurt. Because all IMGs will become a big pool of people who have passed the exam, vs a big pool of AMGs who have passed the exam. Who do you think will get picked? AMGs, of course, EVERY TIME.
If this gets implemented, its only going to be super rich IMGs with connections and green cards getting through. Say goodbye to the self-made 260+ scorers, or even to the guys who scored 210+ and worked their way into a residency by improving their CVs in other ways.
- if now u have 250+ you are a better candidate than a US grads with 193 for IM spot. After pass/fail u will be hardly competitive vs any US senior.
Yes you can compete!! Don’t let anybody mislead you there is 5 % of US medical student who don’t match because the got very poor scores. 5% miss out because of IMGs with superior applications.
and US students who get 200 in step 1 score doesn’t aim for competitive specialties like derma or radiology with pass/fail they will be in a way better position than an IMG who got 250+. And you will know that if you are in the system.
-The DO/MD merger is happening, and DO students will be allowed to apply to MD programs and vice versa. However, the no. of DO programs is less than the no. of DO students, so overall, the no. of residency spots will decrease relative to American grads
-The DO acceptance rate for last year was 81%. This is primarily due to their poor scores (eg, only 10 DOs last year scored 260+ in the USMLE ie amongst those who took the USMLE). This acceptance rate will move closer to 100%, and a TON of residency spots will be lost to IMGs
-USMLE EXAMS questions are all about us actually understanding every word we memorize. if you solely depend on memorizing everything chances you will do really really badly are very high and probably you won’t even score as average. And it is the only standardized way to give you your level.
-Always objective measures (scores) are better than subjective ones
-The discrimination due to country of origin is also spot on. Europeans will automatically be preferred with a pass/fail system. Indians, Pakistanis, Sri lankans etc will suffer by far the most.
- After pass/fail is applied your university and your country will be the way they choose you
any European university will be a way better than any Pakistani or Indian or African medical school they will not choose the better doctor they will chose the name of your university instead .
-also it will depend on money you have to increase your CV by Observerships and LORs? Every single person does that. Green card? Citizenship? American contacts? Money so that you can do 12 months of electives or 2 years of unpaid research?
.
-WHAT ABOUT Makeing USMLE step 1 a pass/fail and make USMLE CK score based as well as CS.
it is really stupid idea
That will be even worse, because programs will judge you based on CK scores, and ppl will invest all their energy into that. What happens if you’re unlucky and score below your NBME average in CK? You’re screwed. With two exams, if you do poorly in one, you can do well in the other and “prove” yourself. There are MANY such cases.
Furthermore, this will be worse for IMGs. Step 1 is typically where IMGs match AMGs in scores, because step 1 studying can be acquired by anyone in any country. For step 2, IMG scores are, on average, significantly lower than AMG scores. This is because AMGs have 2 years of US clinical experience, which no IMG does.
- Once people realize everything depends on step 2 CK, what do you think will happen? Do you think they will continue to study for step 2 like they do now? Doing UW CK + amboss + UW Step 3 + ABIM qbank will become standard. People always want an edge. First Aid is going to start paying less attention to FA for step 1, since thats only pass fail, and more attention to FA for step 2. After a few years, FA CK will become standard. Everything you’re trying to avoid on step 1, will shift to and become WORSE on step 2, because you’ll have ONLY ONE EXAM to prove yourself. There will be people doing 5 qbanks and 3 books for step 2, and the rest will have no choice but to follow