I often recommend first-year medical students start getting facile with USMLE-specific references as they study for their medical school’s core curriculum.

First Aid for USMLE Step 1 is arguably the most important study resource for the USMLE Step 1 exam (alongside your favorite qbank, of course!). Together, First Aid and a well established qbank like UWorld can help both struggling students pass Step 1, and high-achievers score 260+

The NBME announced that starting April 2nd they would be doing a couple of different things to help students enrich their knowledge during the pandemic-related testing delays and difficulties. There are now seven free NBME self-assessments that will be available from April 3rd – May 31st.

To pass (and nail) USMLE Step 1, memorizing the facts is just not sufficient—you must be able to apply that knowledge. While you may feel accomplished reading 50 pages of First Aid in a day, the real concern is how much of that knowledge you can actually apply.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis is a global pandemic. In this time of great uncertainty, many medical students may be wondering how to best prepare for their USMLE examinations– when they don’t know when they will be able to take their test.

Earlier today, the Invitational Conference on USMLE Scoring (InCUS) announced that the USMLE Step 1 is set to become pass/fail beginning January 1st, 2022. Here’s what that means for you.

The passing score for USMLE step 1 is 194. However, the average step score for an allopathic medical student in 2018 who matched into their preferred specialty was 232.8. A good step score is

Learning how to study for USMLE Step 1 begins long before your dedicated period if you want to score highly on your exam. Becoming familiar with and starting to use content dense resources such as First Aid, Sketchy, and Pathoma during MS2 gives you more time to learn content and ultimately a less intense study schedule when dedicated rolls around.

While 96% of USMLE test takers typically pass, if you’re someone who falls within that 4% and didn’t pass on your first try, you should know that each year over 20,000 people take USMLE Step 1. That means even within that 4%, there are at least 800 other students in your exact same situation. So, what do you do? We’ll tell you.

Having scored a 272 on Step 1 of the USMLE, I have often been asked “how in the world did you do THAT?!”. This post is an attempt to summarize what I believe were key steps in making that happen.