Student performance on the NBME Part II subtest and subject examination in obstetrics-gynecology

Clerkship directors in obstetrics-gynecology often use the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) norms to evaluate third-year medical students' performance on the NBME obstetrics-gynecology subject examination. A comparison of the scores of 342 students at the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine showed that the students performed significantly better on the NBME subject examination than on the Part II subtest in obstetrics-gynecology. These results concur with the findings of the NBME, which advises directors wishing to adjust the criterion group norms to determine the average difference observed in a school's performance on the two examinations and to use that difference or some portion of it in their interpretation of percentile scores on the subject examination. Additional analyses revealed that a single, linear weight may inappropriately adjust these scores, that student performance on the Part II subtest depends on specialty choice (obstetrics-gynecology versus all others), and that time and sequence of the clerkship were unrelated to the students' performance on the two examinations.