Many study resources out there for medical students are highly priced and may not be affordable for medical students living on a budget. Fortunately, there are a variety of quality peer reviewed question banks that are free and available for all medical students.

1. Pass Medicine:

This is a UK based question bank and library which contains well over a 1000 free questions available to Medical students. In particular there are two question bank sets U.S. based medical students might find helpful. The first is the USMLE question  bank which covers step 1. As one might imaging this one covers each organ system and includes free guides and articles as wel as a flashcard deck that includes relevant facts, a Qbank which contains over 600 questions as well as a timed test section which can be used to simulate USMLE conditions. 

2. Teach me Physiology:

This is a part of the Teach me Series and includes articles along with a set of questions. If you subscribe to become a member then then the price is $30.00 to for 3months, 7 dollars per month or $150.00 for a lifetime subscription. Although seems like its expensive. This is actually a good rpice compared to the other products  on the market. Other free resources can be bought from the Teach Me Series such as Teach me anatomy as well as Teach Me surgery, but these require membership sign up.

3.Statpearls:

Statpearls is easily the largest database of Peer Reviewed articles by healthcare Professionals. Each of their library of articles is free, and additionally every article comes with two free multiple choice questions. To get entire question sets that feature all the questions associated with a topic you have to subscribe to one of their packages. I recommend the Step 1 and Step 2 package for Pre clinical medical students as well as the CME questions. Even though you are not really “continuing medical education” as a 1^st or second year medical student, I think that the CME includes a lot of extra practice which is still very relevant wards.

4. Medbullets:

This is a newer  bank which definitely outperforms many of the more expensive Question banks on the market. Medbullets is from the creator of Orthobullets which is library of articles and questions for the Orthopedic Surgery Specialty. Their new question banks includes a dedicated library to Step 1 as well as Step 2 and 3. What subtle but very good feature int this question bank is the fact that as you”re reading the articles there are little ciclres with question marks which are exam style questions that are related to the paragraph or topic that you are reading. This unique feature helps those who have trouble relating what they have read to answering questions correctly in a multiple choice format. Because it is new and the questions are still being reviewed, they offer a free 3 month trial before you sign up. However in terms of overall quality and volume of questions it is definitely worth purchasing this for use throughout the pre clinical and clinical training years.

5. KenHub:

This resource offers a selection of anatomical images, histological and radiological images as well a selection of quiz questions for users who select the free version. Premium membership grants access to a larger number of questions. This is definitely a suitable option for those looking for an additional resource for anatomy based classes such as radiology or histology. 

6. University of Michigan School of Medicine Anatomy practice questions:

This resource includes practice practical identification style questions as well as exam style questions. The quizzes cover every organ system extensively.

7. Anatomy Guy.com:

This question bank is completely free from Eastern Virginia Medical School. It includes question banks on anatomy videos as well as other very helpful resources. The Quizbuilder is filtered based on organ system and quizzes can have either 10 or 25 questions. 

8 Geekyquiz.com  

To access the free quizzes just click the side bar in the left and scroll down to the option that says community quizzes. This section has about 3000+ multiple choice questions. In addition to this there is a section that has flashcards for OSCE PREP

9. TeachMe Series

The TeachMe Series is a UK based anatomy encyclopedia which contains an encyclopedia of articles associated with quiz questions. The Series contains Surgery, Pediatrics, Anatomy, Physiology, and Obgyn. All of the Series contain free questions. The Anatomy and Surgery modules only contain 3 quiz questions per article, and require a subscription to access the entire question bank. The questions in Pediatrics, Obgyn, and Physiology are entirely free with no required subscription.

10. PhysiologyWeb.com

This Website contains a variety of Physiology quizzes that are broken down by organ system. To access the free quiz questions you just go to where it says Daily quizzes and this will bring down a list of all the organ systems, and the physiology quiz associated with it. In addition to Quizzes that are written in multiple choice format, there is also a section called figures and illustrations which are graphical depictions of physiological concepts.

11. Histology World.com

This website contains a test bank, games, as well as  a photo album which contains histological slides. The test bank questions are written in multiple choice format and these typically do not contain images but rather test your basic knowledge of histological tissue layers. This question bank is a very good option for medical students on a budget because it is completely free.

12. Kasem.info

This website consists of free lectures and quizzes for medical students. All materials were created and edited by Dr. Mohammed Kasem who is a full time professor of Histology ag  Al Ahzar in Assuit Egypt. 

13. Pharmacology2000.com

This is a Website developed by Dr. Michael Gordon who holds a phD. It contains thousands of pharmacology questions which can be found on the table of contents page. These questions are separated based on drug class as well as organ system and are multiple choice. The website also contains videos on selected topics.

15. Practice Anatomy.com

This is a free app for anatomy which contains variety of questions on every organ system. Each organ systems contains detailed colorful structures. What makes this app unique is that it remembers your responses and identifies which organ systems are easiest or difficult for you.

To start studying you can select from options that include a certain body part, an entire organ system, relations of various structures or you can practicing everything at once

The practice questions ask you to identify the structure with you mouse

The interface also comes with the option of signing up for a subscription. The difference between the Free version and the subscription is that the subscription comes with more questions, and offers more flexibility in how you crate your practice sessions. This includes the ability to set the length of the practice, as well as adjust the question difficulty.

16. Casestacks

Case stacks is a question bank which focuses on radiology. It features clinical pearls accompanied by a radiological image from modalities such as ultrasound, CT, as well as chest x ray. . Unlike the other learning resources on this list, the questions are not in a multiple choice format. Students are quizzed by being asked to list the radiological finding as well as the clinical diagnosis. To access all of the radiological images you have to pay, however each of the courses has free questions which are available simply by making an account.

In addition to being helpful for medical students This is a great resources to use for Residents, Fellows and attending physicians as the cases vary in difficulty.

17. Medall

Medall is an online resource for healthcare professionals that offers free question banks.

For medical students they have free usmle step 1 practice questions. The way it works is that in exchange for doing 10 questions users are asked to peer review 1 question, and once the question is rated high enough it gets added to the bank of questions. Not only can medical students benefit from this resource from an affordability standpoint, but you also don’t have to worry about poor quality questions given the peer review process every question undergoes.

In Conclusion

As you can see, there are many resources that can help you in your medical training. Additionally, before you decide to spend money on a question bank or another study resource, Make sure you explore all of your free options first so you don’t end up paying for something that you can for free!

If you found this article helpful then you may find some of these articles helpful as well

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