Stepora Blog
Stepora Blog — USMLE Study Guides
Short, numbers-first guides on the questions USMLE students actually ask — how many cards, how many questions, how many NBMEs, and how to fit it all into a real day. Every guide feeds into the free planning guides and the Stepora app, which turns the plan into daily missions.
2 November 2026
How to Take an NBME Properly: The Standard-Conditions Checklist
The standard-conditions checklist that makes an NBME score decision-grade — timed, one sitting, no pausing — plus which form to take, when, and what to log with every score.
1 November 2026
Step 1 Exam Day Guide: Blocks, Breaks and Timing
The real day's format — 14 thirty-minute blocks, a 45-minute break bank, and a pacing plan — plus how to rehearse it in the last week.
31 October 2026
How to Study for Step 2 CK During Rotations
Clerkship year is free CK prep: 25–40 rotation-matched questions on heavy days, shelf prep that doubles as CK prep, and dead-time reviews.
30 October 2026
FSRS Anki Settings for USMLE: Should You Turn It On?
FSRS is Anki's optional scheduler: what it changes, what the 0.90 retention target does to your review pile, why the USMLE community is split — and the cases where switching costs more than it gains.
29 October 2026
What Is the Free 120? When to Take It and What It Can't Tell You
The NBME's free 120-question rehearsal in the real exam interface: why it belongs 3–7 days before the exam, how to take it like exam day, and why its percentage must never move your exam date.
28 October 2026
How to Review UWorld Questions: The 5-Bucket Method That Turns Misses Into Tomorrow's Drills
A block you don't review is just anxiety with a timestamp. The 5-bucket error log turns every miss into a named fix — and tomorrow's drill list.
27 October 2026
UWorld Second Pass: Incorrects Only or Redo Everything?
The answer that saves you weeks: redo your incorrects only. Why a full reset inflates your percentage with memory, when a fresh bank beats a reset, and the one case where starting over is defensible.
26 October 2026
How Many CCS Cases for Step 3? The 50–100 Case Plan
The case count that holds up — 50–100 practice cases, most of them in the final two weeks, at least one a day in the last week — and the review habit that makes each one count.
25 October 2026
UWSA vs NBME — Which Is More Predictive?
NBMEs decide your exam date; UWSAs are the second opinion. What each assessment actually measures, where UWSA 2 belongs, and why a low Step 3 UWSA 1 is not a verdict.
24 October 2026
How Long Should Dedicated Be for Step 1?
What 'dedicated' actually means, the entry checklist to finish before it starts, and how to pick 4, 6 or 8 weeks from the question-volume math — plus the NBME exit rules.
23 October 2026
NBME Scores Not Improving? The Flat-Pair Protocol for Breaking a Score Plateau
When two NBME forms come back at the same score, more volume won't fix it. Diagnose the miss buckets, change one method, and re-test on a fresh form.
22 October 2026
How Many UWorld Questions a Day? The Honest Numbers, By Phase
The volume numbers that hold up — 80–120 a day in dedicated, 25–40 on workdays — and why a 40-question block honestly costs three hours, not one.
21 October 2026
UWorld Percentage Explained: Is 60% Good, and What It Really Means
Why no UWorld percentage converts to a score, what your average actually measures, and the NBME readiness numbers that decide your exam date.
20 October 2026
Anki USMLE Schedule: How Many Cards a Day, By Phase
The phase-by-phase numbers: how many new cards to add, how long reviews should take, and the cap that stops Anki from eating your question time.
Turn this schedule into a plan that runs itself
Stepora takes your exam date, your hours and your resources, then runs every day for you — one mission at a time, with NBME tracking and automatic replanning when life happens.
Build my plan — $1.99/month