For over three decades, the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) has played a crucial role in ensuring that physicians practicing medicine in the United States possess the necessary knowledge and clinical skills to provide safe and effective patient care. Consequently, maintaining the integrity and validity of the USMLE is of utmost importance. Individuals taking the USMLE commit to uphold the testing process's integrity, and security measures are implemented to identify any exam practices or performances that may cast doubt on score validity.
The USMLE program consistently monitors and assesses examinees' test performances for unusual score patterns or variations and other information that might raise concerns about the validity of their results. In an ongoing investigation, the USMLE program has detected an anomalous exam performance pattern associated with Nepal, casting doubt on the validity of test results for a specific group of examinees. Such irregular patterns may suggest unauthorized access to secure exam content in the past.
Examinees whose results are in question are being informed by the USMLE Secretariat’s Office that their previous Step scores are invalidated and they will need to undergo a validation exam(s). The USMLE program actively notifies individuals who need to schedule validation exams and supports score users and other stakeholders affected by the validation exam requirements.
