USMLE

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USMLE

• United States Medical Licensing Examination

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General Information

• The USMLE assesses a physician's ability to apply
  knowledge, concepts, and principles, and to
  demonstrate fundamental patient-centered skills,
  that are important in health and disease and that
  constitute the basis of safe and effective
  patient care
• So basically an exam that tests everything you
  learned in Medical School.

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General Information

• 3 different examinations
• Step 1
• Step 2
• Step 3

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Step 1

• Assesses whether you understand and can apply
  important concepts of the sciences basic to the
  practice of medicine.
• Special emphasis on principles and mechanisms
  underlying health, disease, and modes of therapy.

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Step 1

• minimum passing score 185
• Eight-hour single-day computer-based test
  composed of seven 50-question sets (350
  multiple-choice questions in total).
• Taken at the end of the second year of medical
  school.
• Usually required for progression into the third
  year of medical school.

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Step 2 two parts

• Clinical Knowledge (CK)
• Focus on clinical application of medical
  knowledge
• taken during the 4th year of medical school
• nine-hour single-day computer-based test composed
  of eight 46-question sets (368 total).
• minimum passing score 184

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Step 2

• Clinical Skills (CS)
• uses standardized patients to test medical
  students on their ability to gather information
  from patients, perform physical examinations, and
  communicate their findings to patients and
  colleagues.

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Step 2 - CS

• 5 testing centers called the Clinical Skills
  Evaluation Center (CSEC) throughout the USA
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Chicago, Illinois
• Houston, Texas
• Los Angeles, California
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Step 3

• designed to assess whether a medical school
  graduate can apply medical knowledge and
  understanding of biomedical and clinical science
  essential for the unsupervised practice of
  medicine.
• Graduates of US medical schools typically take
  this exam at the end of the first year of
  residency.

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Step 3 - two-day examination

• The first day of testing includes 336
  multiple-choice items divided into blocks, each
  consisting of 48 items. Examinees must complete
  each block within sixty minutes.
• The second day of testing includes 144
  multiple-choice items and nine Clinical Case
  Simulations, where the examinees are required to
  'manage' patients in real-time case simulations.
• minimum passing score 184

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Conclusion

• Learn to like taking tests if you want to become
  a doctor because they will never stop coming at
  you.
• IE. Board examination for licensure of your
  specialty.
• Or say screw becoming a doctor and find a
  profession that doesnt have to take as many
  tests.
• Good luck!

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Example Question from Step 1

• A 32-year-old woman with type 1 diabetes
  mellitus has had progressive renal failure over
  the past 2 years. She has not yet started
  dialysis. Examination shows no abnormalities. Her
  hemoglobin concentration is 9 g/dL, hematocrit is
  28, and mean corpuscular volume is 94 µm3. A
  blood smear shows normochromic, normocytic cells.
  Which of the following is the most likely cause?
• A) Acute blood loss
• B) Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
• C) Erythrocyte enzyme deficiency
• D) Erythropoietin deficiency
• E) mmunohemolysis
• F) Microangiopathic hemolysis
• G) Polycythemia vera
• H) Sickle cell disease
• I) Sideroblastic anemia
• J) b-Thalassemia trait