Introduction​

Historically, USMLE which stands for United States Medical Licensing Examination, started in the 1990s. Before that the exam was called  FMGEMS which stands for Foreign Medical Graduates Exam in Medical Sciences. Even still before that the examination name was VQE which stands for Visa Qualifying Exam as those who passed this exam were eligible to get US visa to enter the United States! .What will be the name of the future exam, who knows?!

The USMLE basically consists of 3 steps. Steps 1 & 2 exams each consists of about 300 MCQs taken over about 8 hours. To pass each step, the candidate must correctly answer about 55%-65% of the questions. Step 1 result is reported as pass/fail only while step 2 result is reported as pass/fail plus 3-digit numerical score. The passed step(s) cannot be repeated while the failed step(s) can be repeated up to 4 times maximum.

Step 1: Evaluates the applied basic medical sciences in clinical context (not simple memorization) and can be taken any time after the first two years of medical school i.e., the pre-clinical years. Step 2 evaluates the clinical sciences in practical settings and can be taken during or after the fourth year of medical school. Passing both steps enable the candidate to get the ECFMG certificate which is the main requirement for foreign medical graduates to apply for residency programs. Step 3 is usually taken during the residency and passing it is a requirement to get an active license to practice in the US as an independent physician.