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Best USMLE Prep Courses & Resources (Steps 1-2-3)
Our expert guide to the best USMLE prep courses and study materials
The USMLE is a series of grueling, high-stakes exams, and your career as a doctor rides on nailing each step. In fact, your Step 1 score (soon to be pass/fail) often determines your residency match. As such, choosing the right prep course for your USMLE studies can often be a make or break decision, and aspiring physicians shouldn’t leave anything to chance. In order to help you make a more informed decision on which prep course is right for you, our team of experts has reviewed just about every USMLE prep course on the market and ranked the best ones here.
To quickly navigate through this USMLE resource guide, use the jump-to links above to read more on each company.
Video Review Of The Best USMLE Prep Courses
In the video above, John breaks down our expert team’s picks for the best USMLE prep courses on the market. For more details regarding any of the courses he covers, be sure to keep reading.
For many students, the best way of tackling the USMLE is to absolutely immerse yourself in prep work for a few weeks, grind out some long days of studying, and crush the exam. If this sounds like you, then you will likely love the PASS Program. PASS Program was founded nearly 25 years ago as a live on-site, fully immersive prep course. The idea was to offer a bootcamp style prep option, allowing students to get in, cram hard for a few weeks, and nail the exam so they could move on with their medical schooling and career. And honestly, not much has changed as of today, except that these courses are now offered virtually, as well as in-person.
A sneak peek of the PASS Program prep course
PASS Program offers the most immersive and hands-on experience in USMLE prep. For 5 to 12 weeks (depending on which course option you go with), you’re going to meet Monday through Friday for 8 hours per day of lectures, content review, practice problem sessions, and more. The days are jam packed with learning, and it feels like med school on steroids. You really can’t find old school, bootcamp style prep like this anywhere else.
Everyday starts with a test taking strategy session, where you cover a specific exam taking technique and see how it plays out through a series of carefully selected practice questions. The rest of the days are filled with live lectures, content review, drills and general USMLE immersion. It should be noted that the PASS program also offers a self-study on demand option, but honestly, our team thinks the true value with the PASS Program lies in their deeply engaging class experience.
Stellar Instruction
Whether you attend in-person or virtually, the PASS Program classes are some of the best in the game – mostly as a result of great teaching. Almost all of your class sessions are led by program founder Dr. Francis Ihejirika (just Dr. Francis for short), who has been teaching to the USMLE for more than 25 years himself.
He clearly lives for helping students prep for the USMLE and has one of the best understandings of the ins and outs of all three steps of the exams that we have seen. He has a booming, commanding voice and lectures are never dull. Dr. Francis is passionate, expressive and generally cares about the material he teaches. It is a very refreshing change of pace compared to other courses where instructors just go through the motions.
Example video lecture from Dr. Francis
Dr. Francis frequently calls on students to participate, asks questions of the class, and generally keeps things engaging. When combined with some very well-written lesson plans that track the lectures, this is one of the most effective means of driving material comprehension and retention. All in all, designating PASS Program the editor’s choice pick is a no brainer – this is about the most robust and surefire USMLE prep course on the market.
If you’re reluctant to pay the high prices charged by Kaplan, PASS Program and other major USMLE prep providers, Achievable may be your answer. This relatively new USMLE prep course has skyrocketed up our list of best USMLE prep courses list for a few simple reasons: value, killer tech, and an awesome digital textbook. We love Achievable’s commitment to efficiency and smart tech. It just feels like they are trying to change a prep space filled with old school learning tactics and heavy handed lessons, by leveraging the power of the learning science and algorithms to optimize your study plan. And that is precisely why our team gives this budget prep course such high marks – we had been waiting for a prep course just like this to come along.
The digital textbook from Achievable is packed with color illustrations and graphs for visual learners
Built around a detailed and well-written digital textbook written directly to the exam, with focused review quizzes that allocate questions based on your performance, Achievable offers solid content review while also making studying for the USMLE about as efficient and easy as possible. This course was designed for med school students getting ready to take Step 1 who just don’t feel like they need to be clobbered with a million live class hours and video lessons. In short, if you’re a motivated self-studier on a tight budget, our team is a huge fan of the USMLE Step 1 course from Achievable.
Awesome Tech and Interface
As mentioned, one of the biggest selling points of the Achievable course and why our team gives this prep option such high marks, is their dedication to learning efficiency and optimization. As you work through the digital text and take review quizzes following each module, Achievable’s algorithm works in the background to identify your key weaknesses and strengths. It then relocates content throughout your future quizzes based on the concept of spaced reviews, meaning you will see the same topic multiple times at strategic intervals during your studies to maximize retention.
Long story short, it’s a classic learning method that we frankly think not enough prep companies utilize. So it’s surprising that the one company that does in this space is the value course. In any event, this smart tech is also combined with a gorgeous digital platform that is visually appealing and easy to use. Achievable clearly put a ton of money into their user experience, which honestly, we haven’t found with all the USMLE courses we’ve reviewed. With a clean and modern interface wrapped around about the best adaptive learning software in USMLE prep, Achievable just feels like the most intelligent prep course in the space.
Highlight: Bite-Sized Lessons
The other major advantage of Achievable USMLE prep program is their utilization of short, bite-sized lessons. As most med school students take the USMLE Step 1 exam during their second or third year of medical school (MS2 or MS3), life can be pretty hectic while you’re studying. Hectic may even be understating it – life can be utterly crazy busy. So to account for this, Achievable has broken out their lessons into the narrowest of subtopics to create short and engaging learning modules. Each module generally consists of an assigned reading from their digital text (which as an aside, is filled with awesome illustrations and exhibits for visual leaners) and a review quiz. That’s it. Each reading is short, taking just 5 to 15 minutes on average, and the accompanying quizzes are generally less than 10 questions. This means you can knock out a module in under a half hour. We loved the design of this program with short, digestible sections, enabling busy med school students to power through their studying whenever they have free time.
With hundreds of hours of live class time, on demand video lessons, thousands of exam-like practice questions in their Qbank, and first rate textbooks, Kaplan’s USMLE prep package is one of the best in the game. From a high level view, the course curriculum is neatly organized by USMLE topic, and Kaplan provides a clear-as-day study plan to guide you through all of the essential study material in the most efficient manner. In addition, the Kaplan curriculum has a certain cohesiveness and natural flow to it that you simply don’t get with other courses.
A look inside the Kaplan USMLE prep course
Their core lesson work, offered through both the live classes and on demand video lessons, is curated by some extremely well-respected faculty members, and it shows. Kaplan does a masterful job distilling an enormous amount of study material down to a reasonable amount, making it easy to comprehend and retain. More on the live classes below, but these virtual classroom sessions are a particular highlight of the course.
While our team wasn’t crazy about the delivery format of some of the on demand video lessons, this was about the only complaint we could find with the Kaplan USMLE course. And in any event, the content of these lessons was absolutely on point. What’s more, the practice work backing up the instruction is some of the best we have seen. The practice questions are incredibly exam-like, and are accompanied by some excellent text explanations.
Best-in-Category Live Classes
As mentioned above, Kaplan offers some of the best live class work in the industry. Their classes are led by top rated faculty members, who rotate in and out based on area of specialty. On this point, we loved Kaplan’s decision to employ a team of specialists to teach their classes, rather relying on one or two generalists to teach everything. And as for the instructors themselves, we found the vast majority of them to be excellent in terms of both substantive knowledge and ability to communicate clearly.
Engaging video lessons from Kaplan
The virtual classroom sessions meet nearly daily over several weeks and are jam packed with both content review and test taking strategies. The instructors frequently stop to ask questions and poll students on their thoughts, keeping the classes engaging. It is clear Kaplan does not want their classes to be monotonous lectures, and they make a point of emphasis to keep a group atmosphere and students participating.
Additionally, Kaplan is right near the top of the market in terms of class time. In total, Step 1 students will enjoy over 270 hours of live class time, while Step 2 students get 210 hours, and Step 3 students will meet for around 100 hours. This is a massive resource for those students that need the accountability and commitment that comes with scheduled, live classes.
Awesome USMLE Prep Books
The second highlight of the Kaplan USMLE course is their set of awesome prep books. Step 1 students will receive a 7-volume set, Step 2 students a 5-volume set, and Step 3 students a thinner 2-volume set. In addition, Step 2 students get a handy review book, which boils all of the Step 2 content down to a manageable cram book.
These books are absolutely fantastic. They are detailed, well-organized and clearly written. The books are neatly organized in an outline-style format, which keeps the text concise and to-the-point. There are no rambling passages or lengthy diatribes, which we loved. In addition, mixed in throughout the text are high-yield summary boxes, calling out and summarizing the most critical points.
In addition, these books are littered with a ton of color pictures, illustrations of processes and systems, illustrations, tables and more. The graphics in these books are abundant and extremely well-done. This is a huge advantage to visual learners, and makes these prep books particularly accessible to students who prefer to learn by text or visuals.
For the bargain hunters and cost sensitive preppers out there – Lecturio will likely be your jam. They steal a spot on our list of best USMLE prep courses for a few reasons, but most notably for their high value, bang for your buck pricing. More on their pricing structure below, but know that value is the main seller here.
But do not think for a second that just because Lecturio carries a low price tag that they are some sort of discount prep option – not even close. Despite its affordability, Lecturio somehow manages to offer one of the better USMLE prep packages on the market. Included with your premium subscription to their service, you get over 3,400 USMLE practice questions, hundreds of hours of on demand videos, 3 full-length practice exams and some helpful e-books.
The Lecturio USMLE dashboard
This is a LOT of prep for a little price. And the quality is shockingly good. As discussed in more detail below, we loved their short and engaging video lessons, as well as their practice questions and accompanying explanations. In fact, their detailed problem explanations are some of the best we have seen, with thorough analysis and illustrative graphics.
Bang for Your Buck
As mentioned at the top of this section, Lecturio is all about value, value, value. Their Premium 3-Month Plan runs for just shade over $100, and the prices go up from there – but not drastically. The Premium 1-Year Plan runs right around $300, the Premium 2-Year Plan a bit under $500, and even their crazy-long Premium 4-Year Plan costs just over $700. You may have found yourself reading those numbers twice. As I said – value.
Relative to other courses, this is a steep discount. For reference, the analogous SmashUSMLE 3-month course is almost 6x that cost. Now to be clear, this course doesn’t have quite the same depth of curriculum that you get with Kaplan and the PASS program; but all things considered, this course offers serious bang for your buck.
Great On Demand Video Lessons
Despite the extremely affordable price point, Lecturio offers hundreds of excellent on demand video lessons. These video lectures are the real substantive highlight of this course. The videos are quick hit in nature, allowing for maximum comprehension and retention of material. Yet despite their short durations, the videos are still full of excellent content.
The lessons are led by a host of experienced professors, doctors and medical researchers, many of who are extremely well-regarded in their field. Lecturio offers subject matter experts across a wide range of scientific and medial disciplines, giving students top notch lessons from people who are masters of their specific niches.
Excellent video lessons from Lecturio
Throughout all of the videos, your instructor appears onscreen and lectures to the camera. As they speak though, bullet points, graphics and other key lecture material appears to the side of them onscreen. And the camera will frequently jump to a digital whiteboard to demonstrate the most critical of points that need visualization. In other words, the production value of these videos is through the roof – which is really surprising given the budget nature of their pricing structure. Anyway, we won’t question it – we’re just happy they invested so much in the quality and value of these helpful video lessons.
For experiential learners who love to learn by doing, there is often no better means of studying than just hammering tons and tons of practice questions. Generally, these types of students can’t stand lectures or reading assignments and just want jump in, do it, and learn from their mistakes as they go. It is for these students that BoardVitals exists. BoardVitals offers some of the deepest and most robust question banks in the USMLE prep industry.
Offering no live lectures or on demand videos, BoardVitals sole focus is high-quality, exam-like practice. And that is exactly what they deliver. The practice questions are about the most realistic we have seen. They really match the content, structure and style of real USMLE exam questions. And with over 3,200 practice questions to work for Step 1, 1,200+ questions for Step 2, and 1,300 or so questions for Step 3, it is hard to imagine students running out of practice. In terms of price, this is all offered for just around $100 to $200 depending on which step you are on, and the length of access you need.
Example practice question from BoardVitals
In addition to the practice work, BoardVitals does offer a couple of very cool features that you don’t even get with some of the higher end courses. The first noteworthy function is their “Ask a Clinician” tool. If you get stuck on a question and just can’t figure it out, or don’t understand the accompanying explanation, this feature allows you to shoot their team of in-house USMLE experts a question. We found the response times to be very quick, generally same day. And wrapped around the entire course is a 100% pass guarantee. Fail your exam, and you can repeat the course free of charge. This is an incredible insurance policy that you don’t even get with the giants in USMLE prep.
Fantastic Question Explanations
Even more impressive than the library of well-written practice questions are the text-based explanations that accompany each problem. These solutions are crazy detailed, and go to great lengths to explain the content being tested, the rationale behind the correct answer, and why the incorrect choices were not right. BoardVitals has done a masterful job artfully explaining everything you need to know about each question, and this is where the learning process comes in with BoardVitals.
The most useful portion of each explanation is the “Vital Concepts” section, which summarizes the key facts being tested through the question. If you review every text explanation that comes with each problem – both when you get a question correct or incorrect – you will cover a ton of great content. In our team’s opinion, these explanations are much more robust than you find with other courses. In fact, many of them contain helpful illustrations and graphics, to demonstrate a key process or system visually.
When exams are as difficult and high-stakes as the USMLE is (at every step), we always try to find one course that offers students some serious support. Some students just need a certain level of personalized support and coaching, and that is exactly what SmashUSMLE is all about. One of the smaller USMLE prep companies out there, they make a name for themselves by being focused on individual student success. This is definitely not a one size fits all approach to USMLE prep. They tailor your prep to you and support you through the whole process. But more on this support below.
Example video lecture from Smash USMLE
In addition to such personalized features, SmashUSMLE doesn’t shy away from the lesson work and study materials. They offer over 450 hours of on demand video lessons, as well as 4,000+ practice questions and explanations. The video lessons are led their founder Dr. Adeleke Adesina, who has been teaching to the USMLE for about a decade and has a clear mastery of the material that is tested on all steps of the exam. While the lesson delivery isn’t our favorite, with a traditional lecture in front of a whiteboard approach, the content is rock solid. And Dr. Adesina himself is a great lecturer, knowing when and where to relate concepts to clinical experiences. He is always providing helpful insights from his time as an ER doctor.
Tailored Support
Though we liked SmashUSMLE’s lessons and practice work, it is really their personal support that lands them on our list of best USMLE prep courses. When you sign up with SmashUSMLE, one of the first things you will do is have an initial phone consultation with one of their on-staff doctors. You will discuss your goals for the exam, your strengths and weaknesses, and how you learn best. From there, your advisor will help you create a customized course of study that fits your needs.
This level of personalization is fairly unheard of in the USMLE prep space (except for maybe from PASS). And even after the initial phone consult and study plan creation, your advising continues. You will meet with your MD advisor frequently, and can always ask questions between times. SmashUSMLE is very open to questions, as their main priority is your success (in fact, they claim a 97% pass rate). However, with that said, this is not full on 1-on-1 personal tutoring package. I just want to be clear about that. This coaching is excellent, but if you want a truly frequent, in-the-weeds tutoring, that will cost a bit more.
Yes. Just like you needed a prep course to study for the MCAT, you will also need a prep course for each step of the USMLE. There are a number of excellent options to choose from, ranging widely in price and features.
How much does a USMLE prep course cost?
USMLE review courses can cost anywhere from just over $100 all the way up to $6,000. These courses vary widely in features, scope of study materials, practice work levels, and more.
Will a USMLE prep course help me pass?
Yes. Every year, thousands of med school students make the mistake of relying solely on their class work or clinical experience to help prepare them for the USMLE. The better option is to study with a commercial prep course that provides prep materials targeted to your exam.
