USMLE scores will be released as regularly scheduled on Wednesday, December 19, 2018. Step 2 Clinical Skills (CS) score reports only will be released on Wednesday, December 26, 2018.
Regularly scheduled score reporting for all USMLE exams will resume Wednesday, January 2, 2019.
Examinees should monitor the USMLE website for the latest information.
ECFMG will close in observance of the Christmas holiday at 2:00 p.m., Eastern Time (ET) in the United States, on Friday, December 21. We will be unavailable for calls and e-mails until we re-open at 9:00 a.m., ET, on Wednesday, December 26.
Step 3 examinees will no longer be asked to enter information regarding a final diagnosis before ending a computer-based case simulation (CCS) case. Most examinees who test on or after January 1, 2019 will not see the final diagnosis screen at the end of a CCS case. Although the transition will occur quickly at many test centers, there may be some locations where the changes take slightly longer to complete. The overall transition period will likely last approximately 6 weeks.
This change does not affect the scoring of the CCS cases in any way. Final diagnoses have never been used in scoring an examinee performance.
Examinees should monitor the USMLE website for the latest information.
Examinees planning to take the USMLE Step 3 examination should read the new materials and practice with the sample items on the USMLE website. They include:
New this year: A brief video tutorial demonstrating the features and functionalities found in Primum®, the software with which examinees interact during the computer-based case simulations (CCS) part of the Step 3 exam.
Examinees should monitor the USMLE website for the latest information.
ECFMG serves as the sole sponsor for nearly 11,000 foreign national physicians participating in the U.S. Department of State’s Exchange Visitor (J-1 Visa) Program to train in U.S. programs of graduate medical education. During their time in the United States, exchange visitor physicians engage in medical specialty and subspecialty training at institutions accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and have opportunities to both share their cultures and learn about the people and places of the United States.
ECFMG has developed Journeys in Medicine as a forum for these current and alumni exchange visitor physicians to share their experiences in their own words. In addition, Journeys in Medicine will highlight training programs that host exchange visitor physicians. By sharing these stories, ECFMG hopes that readers will gain insight into the important impact exchange visitor physicians have on health care both in the United States and in their home countries.
We encourage you to explore the stories now available on Journeys in Medicine at www.ecfmg.org/journeysinmedicine/. Follow @ECFMG_J1 on Twitter to find out when new stories publish and about upcoming content. Please share this information with your friends and colleagues who are interested in graduate medical education.
As previously announced, effective September 13, 2018, ECFMG began requiring that the Certification of Identification Form (Form 186) be completed on-line using NotaryCam.com. If you submit an Application for ECFMG Certification on or after September 13, 2018, the fee for using the NotaryCam service is included in the fee for Application for ECFMG Certification. You will not need to make a payment to NotaryCam at the time of your notary session.
If you submitted an Application for ECFMG Certification prior to September 13, 2018, the fee for using NotaryCam was not included in the fee you paid for the Application for ECFMG Certification. If you submitted your Application for ECFMG Certification prior to that date and need to complete Form 186, you will be required to pay the notarization fee directly to NotaryCam at the time of your on-line session. NotaryCam accepts all major credit cards and PayPal.
ECFMG has provided information to NotaryCam that will allow the notary to determine whether an applicant is responsible for payment at the time of service. Once payment has been made, the notary will submit your notarized Form 186 directly to ECFMG.
Due to scheduled maintenance, ECFMG’s on-line services will be unavailable from approximately 12:00 a.m. through approximately 5:00 p.m. on November 17, 2018. All times are calculated using Eastern Time in the United States.
During this maintenance period, you will be unable to access the following:
The World Directory of Medical Schools also will be unavailable during this maintenance period.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we work to maintain high-quality on-line services.
Brief videos depicting reenactments by actors of actual examinee performances on the USMLE Step 2 Clinical Skills (CS) examination are now available on the USMLE website. The names of the examinees and standardized patients have been changed. All videos are less than two minutes in length.
You can view them here. These videos provide examples of an actual examinee performance at an acceptable level, and may be helpful to individuals preparing to take the exam.
Examinees should monitor the USMLE website for the latest information.
The Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG®) has launched a new resource for students who plan to apply to medical school. Designed to assist in identifying schools offering quality medical education, this new resource is a valuable tool for those who are beginning their medical education, as well as for current medical school students who plan to transfer to a different medical school. The new resource is available on the ECFMG website at www.ecfmg.org/medschoolselection.
In recent years, there has been rapid growth in the number of medical schools around the world, and there are a small number of schools that engage in spurious business practices. It also has become more common for students to migrate for medical education—attending medical school outside their home country. This situation creates challenges for students who are evaluating schools and deciding where to apply, according to William W. Pinsky, M.D., President and CEO of ECFMG and Board Chair of ECFMG’s Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER®).
“With more than 3,000 medical schools worldwide, selecting the right school can be an intimidating task and a significant financial investment,” Dr. Pinsky said. “Our new guide provides prospective medical students around the world with information on the characteristics to consider and questions to ask when evaluating medical schools before applying so they can make a well-informed decision.”
The guide covers such important considerations as accreditation status, curriculum, faculty, educational resources, and the structure of clinical rotations. It also prompts students to ask questions about the student experience, consider how schools market themselves, and talk to alumni about their success in and beyond medical school.
As leading experts on the world’s medical education systems and their graduates, ECFMG and its foundation are uniquely positioned to provide this important guidance to the next generation of physicians. The new resource is an important addition to the collection of services offered by ECFMG and FAIMER to physicians and the medical education community around the world.
Français / French (PDF)
Spanish / Español (PDF)
Due to scheduled maintenance, ECFMG’s on-line services will be unavailable from approximately 12:00 a.m. through approximately 5:00 p.m. on October 20, 2018. All times are calculated using Eastern Time in the United States.
During this maintenance period, you will be unable to access the following:
The World Directory of Medical Schools also will be unavailable during this maintenance period.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we work to maintain high-quality on-line services.