# 29. The Pass/Fail Paradox: When Leveling the Field Tilted It

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/contrast-and-clarity-with-the-jacr-7093499/29-the-pass-fail-paradox-when-leveling-the-field-tilted-it
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/contrast-and-clarity-with-the-jacr-7093499/29-the-pass-fail-paradox-when-leveling-the-field-tilted-it.md
Podcast: [Contrast and Clarity with the JACR](https://stenobird.com/podcast/contrast-and-clarity-with-the-jacr-7093499)
Published: 2025-11-02T18:06:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/radiology-today/episodes/29--The-PassFail-Paradox-When-Leveling-the-Field-Tilted-It-e3ad5ac
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/fd1fd56c/podcast/play/110580492/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-10-2%2F362c39ff-99b7-56b2-4b2a-ccc947c0076e.mp3
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Duration seconds: 2330

## Resource

When USMLE Step 1 went pass/fail, the goal was to lower stress and level the playing field. Instead, it may have just moved the goalposts. In this week's episode, Ruth Carlos, MD, MS, FACR and Megan Worthington, MS join Maddi and Jeff to talk about how the change to pass/fail for the USMLE Step 1 examination has reshaped the residency match - especially for competitive specialties like radiology. Although the move to pass/fail was supposed to fix student stress, it instead shifted the spotlight (and pressure) to Step 2, school prestige, and the alphabet soup of rankings. Find the JACR article here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40541763/

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