USMLE

United States Medical Licensure Examination

The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) is a licensing examination for medical practitioners who wish to practice medicine in the United States. This is an examination that is crucial to any person who has a medical degree, whether he has attained it within the United States or not.  One will not be allowed to practice medicine if this examination has not been attempted by him. If one fails the medical licensing examination, he will be considered professionally unfit to work as a medical doctor in the United States. It has been designed by the federal of state medical boards and is meant to measure the intelligence of the doctor in medicine. The standards of medical practice in the United States are high and it is expected of any applicant to pass the examination to be licensed. The United States Medical Licensing Examination is comprised of three parts, which will test the skills of the applicant in basic science and the knowledge of basic medical subjects such as clinical science. The application of these skills in the medical field will also be tested and the results of this exam will determine if the applicant can practice medicine within the United States.

The United States Medical Licensing Examination consists of multiple choice questions in all the three parts. The first part of the United States Medical Licensing Examination consists of general questions in medicine while the second part will test the clinical skills of the applicant. The third part of the exam is a patient simulation portion that has multiple choices. One has to pass all the three parts of the examination to be licensed to practice medicine in the United States.

The first step of the USMLE has 350 multiple choice questions in seven sections in basic science. It takes about 8 hours to complete the whole paper, with an hour or so of breaks. All parts of medical science will be tested; there are questions in pharmacology, pathology, immunology, biochemistry, anatomy, among others. You should expect your medical knowledge to be put to the test in this part of the examination. The candidate needs to pass with at least 75% or at least 185 questions answered correctly.

The second part of the USMLE is the clinical knowledge exam that consists of 368 multiple choice questions. The questions cover many fields related to medicine. You can expect to answer questions in neurology, patient care management, emergency medicine, preventative medicine, pregnancy, childbirth, congenital abnormalities nervous system, parasitic diseases among others. The candidate will receive two scores, the two digit score and the three digit score. The three digit score requires a candidate to pass with at least 184 and the two digit score requires a candidate to pass wit at least 75% score. All the parts of the USMLE step 2 must be answered well for one to get the above score.

As for the third part of the USMLE it requires a pass of the first two and takes two days to complete. It has two sections, the first one that has 336 multiple choice questions that are split into 7 sections. The questions in this part of USMLE are related to patient evaluation, clinical skills, common diseases and disorders, human development, medical ethics, patient safety, quality control among others.  The test scores are presented in two and three digits, requiring the candidate to have a score of at least 184 or 75% to get a passing grade. Nothing has been said about retaking the examination if one fails but even then, applicants are supposed to make the best out of their first chance of sitting for this examination.

Last modified: 2011-04-11 01:39:51