My thoughts on USMLE Studying and why I developed the Report

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I vividly recall when I began studying for USMLE Step 1. There is only one word to describe the experience: overwhelming. I was pretty nervous. Being in my second year of medical school, I had yet to declare a specialty. All I knew was that I needed to do well to ensure all the doors remained open to me.

Although I spoke with friends while developing a strategy, everyone had something different to say. Online posts and study plans only made matters worse, since I had no idea how reliable they were. I finally developed a study plan, and after a lot of trial, error and wasted time, did very well on the exam.

Afterwards, I reflected on the experience. Hundreds of publications purported to be good “review” books. (More than 370 are included in our survey), as did scores of online study plans. How could I be certain which, if any, were useful? Not to mention most of them were incredibly expensive. One review course cost $5,000! Again, how could I be certain it would help? What percentage of enrollees went on to score well on the USMLE?

It seemed absurd there wasn’t a single objective guide available to evaluate various resources and methods.

That's why I developed the USMLE Report. The USMLE report doesn't purport to be a silver bullet. In fact, it doesn't contain a scintilla of review content. .Rather, it helps students develop a framework for study by providing them with quantified analyses of resources and methods, the data deriving from students who scored 240 or higher on Step 1.

The Report doesn't seek to promote or condemn any single product. Rather, it provides the information required to make educated decisions about the resources and methods available to you. My philosophy is that charting a sound course of study is more important than any single component of study.

Visit www.usmlereport.com for more.