CBT Registration: Some New Policies and Procedures
An Overview of Registration & Scheduling: What You Need to Do
Examinees with Documented Disabilities
Computer-based USMLE: An Introduction for
Students and Graduates of Foreign Medical Schools
Format of Computer-based Step 1 & Step 2
In some ways the computer-based exams are similar to the former paper and pencil exams. They consist of the same types of multiple-choice questions that appeared on the paper and pencil exams. However, the questions will be organized differently. Computer-based Step 1 has approximately 350 questions, divided into seven sixty-minute blocks, administered in one eight-hour testing session. Computer-based Step 2 has approximately 400 questions, divided into eight sixty-minute blocks, administered in one nine-hour testing session.
You will have 60 minutes to complete each block of questions. Once you start working on a block, no breaks are provided during the block. The computer will keep track of how much time you have left in each block and for the entire exam. The questions in a block will appear on the computer screen one at a time. You will read the material available and select an answer to the question. You can select an answer by pointing to the answer and "clicking" with the computer's mouse or by typing the letter (A, B, C, etc.) corresponding to the answer on the computer's keyboard. When you are finished with a question, you choose to move on to the next question. Once you complete a block or time runs out, you can not go back to the questions in the block.
You can take breaks, including a lunch break, between blocks of questions. You will have at least 45 minutes of break time for the entire testing day. If you finish one or more blocks early, you can take this extra time as break time.
Tip: You should be careful not to use all of your break time too early in the testing day. The brief tutorial at the beginning of the exam is included on the USMLE compact disc. If you are already familiar with the tutorial and choose to skip it on the exam date, you can use this extra time for breaks.
Your testing day is over when you have completed all blocks of questions or when you run out of time, whichever happens first. The entire testing day for Step 1 will last eight hours. The testing day for Step 2 will last nine hours.
Copyright © 1999-2002 by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. All rights reserved.
Portions reprinted, with permission, from the USMLE 1999 Bulletin of Information on Computer-based Testing (CBT). Copyright © 1998 by the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, Inc. and the National Board of Medical Examiners® (NBME®).