VUSMLE Vault←All guides
For IMGs who keep asking "is this resource worth it?" One answer per resource, and every name opens it.
By Dr. Marish Asudani · Published
S tier: First Aid, UWorld, USMLE Vault, the NBMEs, Mehlman and Neil Randy, and Sketchy. AMBOSS is A, for biostats and ethics. Pathoma is B. Boards & Beyond, USMLE Rx and Bootcamp are C. Pixorize is D. Kaplan is F tier: extremely long videos, not built around First Aid.
Read this firstEvery week someone sends me a resource and asks, "Is this worth it?" One filter decides every placement below, and it's the only filter I use now: if it doesn't move your UWorld score, it isn't a Step 1 resource. Not "the explanation was good". Did the number go up?
We begin at the bottom and work up. Every name on this page is a button: tap it and it opens. Here is how to read the tiers:
The resources everyone argues about: Kaplan, UWorld, AMBOSS, First Aid, USMLE Vault, and a couple more. Most of the internet's stack drops off once you apply the UWorld test honestly. Tap any name to open it.
FIf you use Kaplan videos for Step 1 in 2026, you are choosing to lose weeks. They are extremely long, they are not built around First Aid, and students who watch them don't see their UWorld numbers move. Hours in, no score out.
sketchy.com ↗ · The micro tier list → · The pharm tier list →
NBME self-assessments ↗ · Why offline →
Before you take the next form, revise every form you've already taken. That's the NBME Booster Anki: I did that revision before every NBME, on every Step, and built the deck out of it.
Revise every NBME you've taken before the next oneThe NBME Booster Anki: NBME 20 to 34 and the Free 120, sorted by system. Opens straight into the deck.
Open the Booster →Start with renal: it's freeThe First Aid Guide teaches First Aid page by page, with MCQs under every page. Opens on the renal system.
Open renal →Want a day-by-day schedule that tells you exactly what to study next? The Vault builds it around your exam date.
Build my schedule on usmlevault.com/schedule →
Five resources, not forty — the whole Step 1 stack.
4 resources I would never use again — and what replaces each.
The qbanks tier list — UWorld, AMBOSS, the Vault MCQs and Rx.
The resource stack — Step 1, Step 2 CK and Step 3.