United States Medical Licensure Examination step 1 scores and obstetrics-gynecology clerkship final examination.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if scores from first attempts at the United States Medical Licensure Examination step 1 correlated with obstetrics-gynecology examination scores and identified students at risk of failure.


METHODS
All students in obstetrics-gynecology clerkships at the University of Illinois at Chicago from July 1995 through June 1998 were studied. The clerkship length was 8 weeks. Six clerkship sites were used, each of which assigned students to obstetrics-gynecology for the same length. Only first attempts at the obstetrics-gynecology clerkship examination and United States Medical Licensure Examination step 1 were evaluated.


RESULTS
Among 522 students the mean (+/- standard deviation [SD]) United States Medical Licensure Examination step 1 score was 205 (+/-24.4). The mean score (+/-SD) for the standard obstetrics-gynecology examination was 69.5 (+/-8.1). The obstetrics-gynecology examination score correlated significantly with the United States Medical Licensure Examination step 1 score (r = .662, P<.001). Sixty-five students failed their first attempts at the United States Medical Licensure Examination step 1 examination, and ten failed their first attempts at the clerkship examination. Students who failed their first attempts at the United States Medical Licensure Examination step 1 were more likely to fail their first attempts at the clerkship examination (relative risk 18.6; 4.6, 72.6; P<.001). More than half the students who failed their initial United States Medical Licensure Examination step 1 examinations failed or finished in the lower 25th percentile on their obstetrics-gynecology finals.


CONCLUSIONS
United States Medical Licensure Examination step 1 scores correlated with obstetric-gynecology clerkship examination scores. Failure on the first attempts of the United States Medical Licensure Examination step 1 examination predicted students at risk of failures of the obstetrics-gynecology final examination and those who finished in the lower 25th percentile.
Myles
T D
TD
University of Illinois at Chicago, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, USA. myles@cortex.ama.ttuhsc.edu
D002982:Clinical Clerkship; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006176:Gynecology / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D009774:Obstetrics / Q000193:education*; D014481:United States