The United States Medical Licensure Examination is a multi-part professional exam that a medical doctor is required to complete before being authorized to practice medicine in the United States of America. It consists of three steps; all three must be passed before a physician is eligible to apply for a license to practice medicine.
The USMLE steps are:
- Step 1: Assesses whether medical school students or graduates can apply important concepts of the sciences basic to the practice of medicine. US medical students typically take Step 1 at the end of the second year of medical school.
- Step 2: Assesses whether medical school students or graduates can apply medical knowledge, skills and understanding of clinical science essential for provision of patient care under supervision. US medical students typically take Step 2 during the fourth year of medical school. Step 2 is further divided into two separate exams:
- Step 2-CK: Assesses clinical knowledge through a traditional, multiple-choice examination.
- Step 2-CS: Assesses clinical skills through simulated patient interactions, where the examinee interact with standardized patients portrayed by actors. Administration of Step 2-CS began in 2004.
- Step 3: Assesses whether medical school graduates can apply medical knowledge and understanding of biomedical and clinical science essential for the unsupervised practice of medicine. Graduates of US medical schools typically take Step 3 at the end of the the first year of residency. Foreign medical graduates can take Step 3 in about 10 US states before start of residency. Passing this step makes a foreign graduate eligible to apply for H1B visa.
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