American Board of Surgery Qualifying Exam (ABS QE) Practice Test

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Prepare for the ABS QE with flashcards and multiple-choice questions. Each question provides hints and explanations to enhance understanding. Start your journey to becoming a certified surgeon and tackle your exam with confidence!

Each practice test/flash card set has 50 randomly selected questions from a bank of over 500. You'll get a new set of questions each time!

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What does the median represent in a distribution of data?

The average of all scores
The highest score in the dataset
The middle score in a sorted list of scores
The number that occurs most frequently

The correct answer is: The middle score in a sorted list of scores

The median represents the middle score in a sorted list of scores. In statistical terms, the median is the value that divides a dataset into two equal halves. When the data is organized in ascending order, half of the scores will fall below the median and half will fall above it. This measure of central tendency is particularly useful in distributions that may be skewed or contain outliers, as it provides a better representation of the central location of the data compared to the mean. In a set with an odd number of observations, the median is simply the central number. If there is an even number of observations, the median is calculated as the average of the two central numbers. This characteristic makes the median a robust measure of central tendency, as it is not influenced by extreme values that may distort the average.