USMLE Additional Resources
Effective Study Strategies of STEP Takers, Resources, & USMLE Helpful Links
“USMLE Exams Are Not a Sprint They Are a Marathon”
Effective Study Strategies of Successful STEP Takers:
- Start preparing early in medical school. Pre dedicated preparation.
- Evaluate your learning preferences
- Familiarize yourself with the exam framework
- Simulate exam with practice questions: enhance your test taking agility and endurance
- Practice Spaced Repetition for long-term retention
- Apply Interleaving practice (chunking) by identifying interrelating topics to learn as you study
- Utilize the Recall method with flashcards and question banks
- Incorporate self-assessments for endurance, progression, and readiness
- Develop a study plan that includes- review sessions, practice questions, and breaks/self-care
|
Free Self-Assessment Resources |
$$$ Paid Self-Assessment Resources |
|
$ USMLE Rx $ AMBOSS Step 1. The Comprehensive Basic Science Self-Assessment is a practice test designed for students planning to take the USMLE NBME Comprehensive Basic Science Self- Assessment 200 MCQs $60 Step 2 CK. The Comprehensive Clinical Science Self-Assessment is a practice test designed for students planning to take the USMLE. It features multiple-choice questions on content typically covered during the core clinical clerkships. NBME Clinical Science Self-Assessment 200 MCQs, $60 $Pathoma |
Additional USMLE Helpful Links and Resources
- USMLE 2024 Bulletin of Information
- USMLE Checklist
- Exam Day Information
- Examination Results and Scoring
- USMLE Common Questions
- USMLE General Common Questions
- Practice Material Common Questions
- Score Reports Common Questions
- Examination Day and Testing
- Scoring and Score Reporting
- Scheduling Information
- Practice Session:
Register for a Practice Session at Prometric
to become more familiar with a real test center environment. - Understanding Your USMLE Score Report
- Admission to the Exam
Comprehensive Programs
Doctors in Training
- Video based lectures (lots of them!)
- Great for auditory learners
- Fairly interactive
- Highly structured
- Will take the "guess work" out of your boot camp study period
- 3 part program
- Primer videos
- Contain high-yield and/or difficult concepts to understand
- Can complement current coursework
- Part 1 Questions
- Videos provide questions and answers
- Mixed subjects so you can practice switching from idea to idea
- The goal is to answer the question on your own first
- Provides citations to additional and specific resources that cover the topic in more detail
- Part 2 review
- 239 videos, average of 20 minutes in length
- Recommended to start Part 2, 45 days before your Step 1 exam date
- Primer videos
- Doctors in Training
USMLE Rx
- Great for content review
- Three parts (can choose one or all three)
- QMAX
- Highly recommended
- Solid Qbank
- Easier than UWorld, so it's a good Qbank to start with
- Over 2,000 questions available
- Flashcard program
- Over 9,000 flashcards that align with First Aid content
- Over 3,500 case-based flashcards
- Rx Expression Video
- Lectures through First Aid
- Over 40 hours of high-yield videos
- 15-20 minutes videos
- QMAX
- USMLE Rx
Kaplan
- 2 parts (can choose one or both)
- Qbank
- Great Qbank
- Over 2,000 Qbank questions
- 1 diagnostic test & 2 full simulated exams
- Gives explanations, summaries, and tables to explain answers
- 200 mini-lectures on difficult questions
- High Yield
- 6 steps
- Diagnostic exam
- Warm-up questions before lecture (over 400 questions)
- 55 hours of video lecture
- Organized by organ system
- Practice with the 2,000 exercises in the High Yield workbook
- 20 hours of video explanations
- Short quizzes at the end of lecture (over 500 questions)
- 2 simulated exams
- 6 steps
- To purchase both High Yield and Qbank
- Kaplan
Board Style Questions
UWorld Qbank
- Gold standard
- 90 days for free (purchased by UWSOM)
- Recommended you use this for a minimum of 180 days
- 2 assessments are offered, but for an extra cost
- UWorld Qbank
Kaplan and USMLE Rx also offer board style questions (see above)
Flashcard Based Program
Firecracker
- Flashcard format, individualized, and educationally sound
- Requires dedication
- Every day you will be sent questions to answer
- New topics each week based on progress and performance
- Great to use alongside classes because it incorporates current material and past material into the questions
- The highest priority questions will align with what is currently being learned
- Can update topics as "urgent" to study for an upcoming test
- Firecracker
Subject Specific Programs
Pathoma
- Invaluable resource
- Provides lectures and PDF to follow along with
- 35 hours of online video
- Covers the 19 chapters of Fundamentals of Pathology
- Includes Fundamentals of Pathology
- 218 pages
- Integration of key concepts from associated disciplines
- Ranges from 3 months to 21 months ($485-$199)
- Pathoma
Sketchy
- Great for visual learners
- Helpful, colorful videos, symbols, and visual reminders
- Helps in microbiology and pharmacology
- 104 SketchyMicro videos and images
- 70 SketchyPharm videos and images
- Sketchy
Picmonic
- Uses audiovisual mnemonics in combination with text-based materials
- Includes self-assessment modalities
- Good for visual learners
- Offer some discounts
- A recent study (Yang et al.,2014) provided support for th use of Picmonic
- Students who used Picmonic retained medical information about disease topics to a greater degree and for a longer period of time as compared to their counterparts, who used a text-only version.
- These students also outperformed the text-only students on application tasks that demanded higher-order thinking skills.
- Additionally, high levels of satisfaction and engagement were reported with the use of Picmonic.
- Picmonic study (open access)
- Picmonic
Books
some not all are available to use at the Office of Academic Advising and Academic Support Services
First Aid
- An obvious "must-have"
Step 1 Secrets
- Case studies
- Good if you dislike First Aid
- Not quite as complete as First Aid
- Could explain content in a different way to help understand
Step Up to Step 1
- Comprehensive Review book created by Doctors in Training
Board Review Series
- Textbooks that focus on particular topics
- Online books are available
- Flashcards can be purchased separately
Additional books to consider:
- NMS Review for 1
- High Yield Pathology
- Goljan's Rapid Review of Pathology
- Robbins Review of Pathology
- Princeton Review USMLE Review
- Blueprints- Step 1 Q&A
- Appleton & Lange USMLE Step 1
- Platinum Vignettes (Elsevier)
- Rapid Review Series- USMLE Step 1