The article below is intended for people who have not taken up the USMLE exams. If you have already taken your USMLE exam this article is not for you. Well IMGs, this is the evolving situation as far as USMLE exams and getting residency are concerned. Unlike five years earlier, the number of IMGs scoring triple 99s has tremendously increased. It is not uncommon even for an average and below average program to get applicant with triple 99 scores. Even if they don't score perfect 99s, there is a significant population of students with all the three scores above 95. Obviously it heats up the competition, too many people competing for too few seats. One of the reasons can be the increased number of applicants from other countries who want to train in US. In some of the countries like India, which contributes to the major chunk of IMGs, the economy has rapidly developed. Earlier when a medical student from India wants to do his residency in US, he or she needs to spend an exorbitant amount before he obtains a residency. With a growing economy in the past few years, those 'exorbitant amount' looks rather cheap to the present generation of medical students. One of my colleagues remarked that earlier there were only 5 to 8 students in each batch preparing for USMLE. Now nearly 20% of the students from a batch in his medical college are preparing for USMLE. So what to do to survive in this hyper competitive situation. First, first and first priority is to score above 95. If you think if you will score below 90, don't even bother to take the exam. Prepare for some more time and when you are confident you will score above 95, then take up the exam. This is a strictly personal opinion and may not be correct or applicable to your specific situation. Work hard. USMLE exam is rather easy. All you need to prepare is the Kaplan books and , apolloaudiobooks and Csevideos so far in the test takers experience, all questions in the real exam are covered in these materials then you will need a sevice like Match A Resident to get your residency in USA. Another advantage of triple 99s is you feel confident during the interviews and the program directors are more likely to offer you pre-matches. One of the major concerns of the program directors regarding the IMGs is the quality of medical education in the foreign medical school. If you score triple 99s, then he will lay aside that concern and treat you as a sort of a very desirable candidate. Since most programs receive way too many applications, they do not review all the applications. Its like ' So we have got 2000 applicants for 10 positions, lets first review all applications with scores above 95 and sent invites to eligible candidates and then we can review all applicants with scores above 90'. You may have an excellent CV with numerous accomplishments but if your scores are not good enough unfortunately your application will not be reviewed at all. So finally to get interview calls and prematch offers flowing to you, make sure you get the highest possible scores 99, 99, 99. Source
