Jordanian medical students’ perspective on the impact of a Pass/Fail USMLE Step 1: A Cross-Sectional Investigation

Purpose of the study: to discuss Jordanian medical students’ perspective on USMLE step 1 pass/fail score and its impact on their clinical future. Study Design: This cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students at all six schools of medicine in Jordan. An online self-administered questionnaire was used, consisting of 33 questions assessing the participants’ socio-demographics, socio-academics, intentions to apply for the USMLE step 1 examination and their attitudes toward the conversion of USMLE step 1 to pass/fail scoring system. Results: A total number of 504 medical students completed the survey. Among participating students, 44.4% agreed that USMLE should be pass/fail, while only 26.8% were against it. Furthermore, 82.3% of the students agreed that by this change, Step 2 CK will carry more weight in selecting applicants for residency. Moreover, 86.7% of respondents believed that more students will participate in research activities which were ranked as the second most important item for residency matching. Conclusion: Converting USMLE step 1 scoring system to a pass/fail score will likely increase the weight of Step 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK) score as well as on the research experience for selecting applicants for residency.