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Plans abandoned for shorter USMLE testing

Residency Program Insider, June 10, 2020

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The National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) announced it will not move forward with a shorter version of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) for students taking the Step 1 and Step 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK) exams.

Earlier this month, the NBME announced that a shorter version of the examinations would be available to students participating in one-day event-based testing at medical schools in July and August. With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the closure of USMLE testing sites earlier this year, the shorter examinations were meant to address the backlog of students who needed to complete their testing before applying for residency in the fall. The normally eight-hour test would have been shortened by about two hours by reducing the number of items in the Step 1 test by 80, as well as cutting the number of items in the Step 2 CK test, which can usually contain up to 318 items, down to 240.

Critics on social media objected to the plan, with some arguing that the shorter exams would give students an unfair advantage. A spokesperson for the NBME announced that upon hearing the concerns from the community, plans for the shorter examinations were scrapped. The standard-length examinations will be administered at all testing sites.

Source: Medscape
 

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