Author:

Keywords:

assessment, international standards

Abstract:

Background: This research is a collaborative effort between K.U. Leuven Medical school faculty and NBME’s IFOM Examination program. IFOM is a comprehensive assessment in clinical science for international medical graduates. IFOM Clinical Science Examination is based on the USMLE Step 2 CK blueprint and uses retired USMLE questions. Summary of work: The Final Examination total score and subscores, year-end scores, and IFOM scores were compiled in a study dataset for 241 students from K.U. Leuven who sat for the 2008 IFOM examination. A linear regression analysis was conducted to investigate the strength of the relationship between Final Examination scores and IFOM scores. Correlation analyses were run between year-end grades and IFOM score. Linear regressions were run to predict K. U. Leuven major discipline subscores from similar IFOM subscores. Summary of results: IFOM score predicted K.U. Leuven Final Examination score with the coefficient of determination of 0.5. Raw correlations between similar discipline subscores ranged from 0.41 to 0.56. Year-end grades correlated with the IFOM total test score in the range 0.42 to 0.64, with correlation for year four being the highest. Conclusions: Results of the study indicate a strong linear relationship between K. U. Leuven and IFOM scores, thus providing evidence of external validity of the Final Examination.