What is IFOM? Who uses IFOM and why?
IFOM is the International Medical Examination, developed and adapted for the assessment of physicians and medical students in European countries.
IFOM is developing one of the world’s leading certifications councils – the National Council of Medical Experts.
The IFOM test is used by individual organizations such as medical schools, institutions, universities, internship programs, and the Ministry of Health and Education for the following purposes:
- Verifying students’ knowledge before or after certain learning stages.
- Choose candidates for study, internship, internship or residency, or for an exchange program.
- For regional or national certification.
- To determine the level of training for graduate students.
- Prepare students to pass the USMLE Step1 or Step2 exam.
Content and structure of IFOM
IFOM’s structure and content of the mission is developed by the International Expert Commission, which is unique to all countries involved in the IFOM study.
The IFOM test consists of two parts:
- IFOM BSE (basic science exam).
- IFOM CSE (Clinical Examination).
Each section contains 160 questions. For today, IFOM testing is conducted in English in a format of four hours.
The IFOM BSE exam includes the following sections of medicine:
- Anatomy
- Biochemistry
- Histology
- Biochemistry
- Microbiology
- Pharmacology
- Physiology
- Clinical anatomy
- Pathology
- Genetics
- Epidemiology
- Immunology
- Embryology.
Part of the IFOM CSE exam covers issues with:
- Surgery
- Psychiatry
- Therapy
- Obstetrics and gynecology
- Pediatrics.
How to prepare for IFOM?
If a student wishes to prepare for the IFOM exam, he or she must possess such disciplines as:
- Anatomy
- Biochemistry
- Histology
- Biochemistry
- Microbiology
- Pharmacology
- Physiology
- Clinical anatomy
- Pathology
- Genetics
- Epidemiology
- Immunology
- Embryology.
In order to prepare for IFOM, the student should also study the basic issues and provisions of medicine, including topics in internal medicine, pediatrics, surgery, psychiatry, midwifery and gynecology. He can also use the USMLE Step2 platform to prepare for this part of the exam.
The student can easily use the USMLE RX-360 program. It is great for training because the IFOM and USMLE tests have a number of similarities:
- The content criteria for the IFOM BSE and CSE exam and the USML Step 1 and Step 2 are similar to each other. This makes it easy to compare IFOM results with USMLE results.
- Most test questions from IFOM BSE and CSE were first used for the USMLE Step1 and Step 2 exam.
- NBME maintains high standards for creating, evaluating, administering tests and security tests for IFOM, as for all other NBME exams.
Consequently, the USMLE-Rx program will help students of medical universities prepare for the successful passing of the exam.
FOR SUBMITTED THIRD COURSE
IFOM is part of the UNIFIED QUALIFICATION EXAM (Крок)
More information on the step you can read in the resolution:
What is USMLE?
USMLE is a three-stage medical licensing exam in the United States of America and is funded by the Federation of State Medical Councils (FSMB) and the National Council of Medical Experts (NBME). Students at medical universities must be tested to confirm their qualifications and further medical practice in the United States.
USMLE evaluates the ability of the physician to apply knowledge, concepts and principles, and to assess patient-oriented core skills, which are the basis of safe and effective patient care. Test committees, consisting of medical educators and clinicians throughout the United States and its territories, annually create test materials.
The content and structure of the USMLE exam
The USMLE trial consists of 3 parts:
STEP 1 – basic medical exam (basic sciences, computer testing). The exam is conducted to validate basic medical knowledge in such disciplines as:
- Anatomy
- Biochemistry
- Histology
- Biochemistry
- Microbiology
- Pharmacology
- Physiology
- Clinical anatomy
- Pathology
- Genetics
- Epidemiology
- Immunology
- Embryology.
Examination structure – 280 questions, lasts 8 hours with one break in 45 minutes.
STEP 2 SC – A basic clinical exam that defines readiness for practice supervised by a supervisor (Clinical Sciences, computer testing).The exam presents questions from the following disciplines:
- Surgery
- Psychiatry
- Therapy
- Obstetrics and gynecology
- Pediatrics.
The structure of the exam – 318 questions, lasts 9 hours with one break in 45 minutes.
STEP 2 CS – The main “clinical management” exam, conducted with the participation of standard patients to check the communicative skills of the doctor and his ability to work with the patient’s card, to conduct a survey, to diagnose, and also to check the level of a colloquial English doctor. The structure consists of 480 questions, lasts 1 day (16 hours), and involves 12 patients (25 minutes per patient – 15 minutes for the patient’s examination and 10 minutes for the diagnosis). If the student does not work correctly with at least one patient – he does not pass the exam.
In which countries are the USMLE Test Centers?
Testing Centers USMLE
| Testing area | Location of regional testing centers |
| Africa | Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda |
| Asia | Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, People’s Republic of China, Philippines and Singapore |
| Australia | Australia and New Zealand |
| Canada | Test centers are located in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan |
| China | People’s Republic of China |
| Europe | Armenia, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom |
| India | India |
| Indonesia | Indonesia |
| Japan | Japan |
| Korea | Korea |
| Latin America | Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela |
| East | Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates |
| Taiwan | Taiwan |
| Thailand | Thailand |
| USA and its territory | Testing centers in all US states and Guam, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands |
Is it possible to hand over USMLE to Ukraine?
No, because there is no Testing Center in Ukraine.
What to prepare for USMLE?
To prepare for the USMLE exam, we recommend the USMLE-RX 360 program. This resource contains 2.200 test tasks that are structurally similar to those that will be submitted to the exam; 10.000 flash cards that will help you find the weak points in your preparation for the exam; as well as 80 hours of video lectures with a detailed explanation of the basic questions on theoretical subjects. Also, the USMLE-RX 360 integrates the First Aid Step 1 textbook, which is packed with the necessary training information, with plenty of circuits, tables, and illustrations with detailed explanations of the material.
The test tasks posted in this program will not be submitted to the exam.
Where can I find the test base for the IFOM and USMLE exams?
There are no IFOM and USMLE test exams. Annually, for each exam, the NBME tests individually
We also emphasize the need to comply with the requirements of the NBME to ensure the full safety of exam materials during testing. It is categorically prohibited from unauthorized copying or distribution of test materials by any means, including copying, printing, photographing or downloading electronic files, as well as playing from memory or reading for writing. All tasks used during the IFOM exam are owned by NBME and are protected by copyright.