Latest USMLE Practice Materials

Don't accuse me of having nothing better to do; I'm a medico!

Yes, I was 'browsing through' the USMLE website again, and I came across the latest practice materials they have posted for all the steps. There is more to this download than meets the eye, since the USMLE has decided to switch from the good old FRED test delivery software, to a newer version called FRED V2 (these guys have NO imagination whatsoever).

Not to worry, since these changes have been in place for Step 2 since mid-August 2008. The transition from using FRED V1 to FRED V2 for Step 1 and Step 3 exams is sometime in 2009. So in case you're considering appearing for any of these exams next year, you might as well get acquainted with the new software interface.

Notice that they have provided BOTH FRED versions for Step 1 and Step 3, since candidates appearing for these exams in 2009 should have access to both formats. The official date of transition has not been announced yet, and I will try my best to keep you updated. Since the transition from V1 to V2 has already occured for Step 2, they don't provide the older version for download anymore.

Step 1
Practice Materials for 2009 FRED V1 : DOWNLOAD
Practice Materials for 2009 FRED V2 : DOWNLOAD

Step 2 CK
Practice Materials for 2009 FRED V2 : DOWNLOAD

Step 2 CS
Orientation video for CS 2009 : DOWNLOAD

Step 3
Practice Materials for 2009 FRED V1 : DOWNLOAD
Practice Materials for 2009 FRED V2 : DOWNLOAD
Practice Cases for CCS 2009 : DOWNLOAD

Be warned, that the minimum requirements may leave users with ancient computers high and dry. Take a look..

• Windows® 2000, XP or Vista® with administrator privileges
• Intel® Pentium® or higher processor recommended
• 1 GHz or higher
• 512 MB RAM or higher
• 100 MB available on the hard drive
• 8x or higher CD-ROM drive
• Mouse
• Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher
• Windows® Media Player
• Adobe® Acrobat® Reader®
• Adobe® Flash® Player, 8.0 or higher
• Color display set to 24-Bit or True Color
• Resolution set to 1024 x 768 (or higher)

Please note: MacIntosh (Mac) and Linux are not supported.

Hope this information made life easier for some of you. I'll probably be off blogging till my exams.. Till then, study hard everyone!

Rate me.. Rate me my friend!

I'm getting fairly bored of sitting at the computer all day, solving questions from USMLE World. When I had lost sufficient amounts of hair and electrolytes (the latter, thanks to non-specific stress induced diarrhoea), I decided to give it a break and have a look at how this poor blog was doing. New content requires thinking, something which has become fairly uni-directional and boringly academic of late, so I decided to throw in a few neat features for the users! Ratings!

This blog has started receiving more traffic than before, although people come not for debates and discussions... its more of a freak circus where kids point to strange looking beings and laugh! Some reaction is better than none. So keeping that in mind, for all you folks out there with not enough time to comment on the posts, give it a rating! It takes precisely 0.18 seconds for a click, and it helps me figure out what you guys liked and what you didn't..

So don't just look around and leave... rate me!

And enjoy this Nirvana classic.. :)