About Steps IMD

Preparing for the USMLE and the Match from outside the United States. ECFMG certification, timing the exams around a foreign curriculum, and the parts of the process that catch international applicants out.

What this site covers

Steps IMD covers preparation for the USMLE: how the exam works, how to plan for it, and how the available study resources compare. The audience is medical students deciding where to spend limited time and money, so the writing aims to be specific enough to act on rather than a survey of everything on the market.

How the reviews are put together

Comparisons are based on the publicly documented features and pricing of each product at the time of writing, and every review is dated so its currency can be judged. Question banks change their content, interfaces and pricing frequently; where something here is out of date, it is a mistake rather than a strategy.

No product is described as a universal best choice, because none is. Reviews try to say which kind of student a resource suits and which it does not, which is the only form of recommendation that survives contact with an actual study plan.

Exam trademark notice

This site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the NBME or the FSMB. USMLE is a registered trademark of its respective owners, used here only to describe the exam this site covers.