Overview
The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) is divided into 3 components and, contrary to popular belief, each test is difficult in its own specific way. We have encountered numerous United States and International medical students who have had difficulty with one or more of these exams. You medical students are our inspiration for teaching and we judge our performance on your success, whether your goal is to pass or to excel. We have accumulated a great deal of experience with helping medical students achieve their goals on these exams and we would like to share this success with you as well. We will discuss our approach to the individual USMLE exams below.
USMLE Step 1
As you may very well know, this is the examination that provides the biggest hurdle for all medical students. Even before entering medical school, this exam looms over the heads of medical students but, interestingly enough, students don’t start preparing in time and also do not prepare the correct way. Through our experience as medical students and coaches, we have devised a complete strategy and course for the 1st two years of medical school and the Step 1 exam. As experts on the Step 1 examination, we guide students from day 1 of medical school to succeed. The early bird gets the worm but, in this case, the prepared medical student gets the residency position. If you have not prepared well in medical school, do not panic, as we have an advanced strategy to help you achieve the high score you desire!
USMLE Step 2
Similarly to Step 1, a thorough plan of study throughout all of third year rotations leads to success. Scores on NBME Shelf exams strongly correlate with success on Step 2. We provide you with insight from the first day of 3rd year regarding how to prepare in order to honor all of your Shelf exams. By completely following our method, third year will not seem as daunting and you will have prepared for your Step 2CK exam for an entire year. That is plenty of time to guarantee a great score on Step 2CK. Although you may have been told that your Step 2CK score is not important, this is absolutely incorrect. For fields such as internal medicine, emergency medicine, and general surgery, a Step 2CK score > 220 is critical because this demonstrates your understanding of clinical medicine.
In addition to Step 2CK, we provide coaching for Step 2CS. This test is not as easy as it seems. The numbers of medical students failing the Step 2CS exam is increasing yearly because of lack of preparation. Senior medical students wrongly relay information that studying for this examination is unnecessary. Personally, I studied very hard for this exam despite the spurious advice of senior classmates and this guaranteed my success. We will work with you one-on-one practicing patient interviews and by going over all of the steps necessary to pass the Step 2CS exam.
In addition to Step 2CK, we provide coaching for Step 2CS. This test is not as easy as it seems. The numbers of medical students failing the Step 2CS exam is increasing yearly because of lack of preparation. Senior medical students wrongly relay information that studying for this examination is unnecessary. Personally, I studied very hard for this exam despite the spurious advice of senior classmates and this guaranteed my success. We will work with you one-on-one practicing patient interviews and by going over all of the steps necessary to pass the Step 2CS exam.
USMLE Step 3
I am sure you have heard the saying, “Two months for Step 1, 2 weeks for Step 2, and a No. 2 pencil for Step 3.” However, there are two issues with this statement. First, the Step 3 examination is computerized and a No. 2 pencil is unnecessary. More importantly, numerous students struggle with Step 3 because of lack of preparation and incorrect resource management. We have developed a study plan and strategy to optimize your performance on the Step 3 exam that has been helpful both to current medical residents and to international graduates who have been away from medicine for prolonged periods of time. Passing the Step 3 exam is essential in order to receive a United States medical license and should not be taken lightly.
Conclusion
The most important thing to remember is that success does not come immediately and requires hard work and determination. We will provide you with a disciplined schedule and helpful resources for your ultimate medical school success, but the rest lies with you. Self-improvement is the cornerstone of our program. In the beginning, there will be difficulty, but this is a hurdle you must cross to become comfortable with the responsibility required of you to achieve maximum success on your USMLE exam. After a full course with us, you will be more than prepared for the residency of your choice! For a more detailed presentation of our program, please click on our USMLE Tutoring tab.