Preclinical
Preclinical Resources, Ranked
by Mike
Apr 9, 2026 · 6 min read
Preclinical
by Mike
Apr 9, 2026 · 6 min read
Medical school comes with an endless stream of ads for resources that all claim to be the one you need (trust me, I fell for plenty). This is my honest take on the ones I used for preclinical and boards. If you read nothing else, read the last section: pick two or three resources and learn them all the way through instead of spreading yourself across everything.
First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 is the most important reference for boards. It isn't a textbook, and you shouldn't try to learn anything from scratch out of it. It's a condensed, organized index of high-yield facts, and it's your map during dedicated. Annotate it all through preclinical as topics come up. By dedicated it should be full of your own notes, pearls, and connections.
Costanzo Physiology is the best standalone physiology book for med students. It explains mechanisms clearly and at the right depth for boards. If physiology isn't clicking in lecture, Costanzo will probably fix that. It's especially good for renal, cardio, and respiratory. I almost always read the matching chapter before starting the pathology for a system.
BRS Embryology is short and covers the embryology Step 1 tests without drowning you. Embryology is hard to learn from First Aid alone, and BRS fills that gap. It's short enough to read cover to cover in dedicated if you need to. Honestly, embryology is hard, and many schools cover it heavily, but it's generally less high-yield for Step.
Moore's Clinically Oriented Anatomy is the standard anatomy reference. It goes deeper than Step 1 needs, but it's great for coursework and for anatomy questions First Aid can't explain. The clinical correlations help tie anatomy to pathology.
Pathoma is the gold standard for pathology. Dr. Sattar (the pinnacle of medical education, in my opinion) explains disease mechanisms clearly and briefly, and it sticks. Chapters 1 through 3 (cell injury, inflammation, neoplasia) may be the highest-yield content in all of boards prep, and they apply to every organ system. Watch it alongside class and again in dedicated. Back when Step 1 was scored, people went through Pathoma two or three times. I'd love to hang out with the guy sometime.
Boards and Beyond covers all of Step 1 in video lectures. It bridges lecture material and boards-level understanding, especially for the physiology-heavy systems like cardio, renal, pulm, and endocrine. It can be your main learning resource if your school's lectures are weak, or a good supplement if they aren't. A bit dry, in my opinion.
Sketchy Micro teaches microbiology with visual mnemonics, and it works remarkably well for long-term memory. Organisms, virulence factors, treatments, and resistance patterns all get built into the scenes. Pair it with the Anki cards (they're in the AnKing deck) and micro becomes one of the easier parts of Step 1. Sketchy Pharm is also quite good. You've probably already seen their ads. I hope the price holds steady or comes down, since it seems to keep creeping up.
Whichever one your school pays for. If your school covers a qbank (mine didn't), use it. The difference between banks is smaller than the hit to your wallet, and Step 1 is pass/fail anyway.
UWorld is the most important qbank for Step 1 and Step 2 CK. The questions are well written, the explanations are thorough, and doing them teaches you how boards questions are built. Nothing replaces it.
MedBullets is underrated. It has short topic summaries with questions organized by subject, and a lot of it is free or covered by a generous trial. It's great for quick lookups during coursework and for reinforcing what you're learning elsewhere. The questions aren't as detailed as UWorld's, but they're solid practice. I really enjoyed it. It was also started by an orthopedic surgeon, which is pretty epic.
Amboss has a strong qbank with detailed explanations and a built-in medical library. A lot of people use it in preclinical and save UWorld for dedicated. The library articles are handy on rotations and in lecture, and the questions tend to be hard, which is good for learning. It might be S-tier now. I didn't use it much, but many of my friends loved it. Fun fact: it's a German company.
USMLE-Rx follows First Aid closely, so it's good for reinforcing your First Aid reading during preclinical. It's generally considered easier than UWorld or Amboss.
Boards and Beyond questions come with the video platform. They're good for testing yourself right after a video, but they aren't a standalone bank for dedicated.
Bootcamp wasn't around when I was in school. From what I hear it's quite good, so if you already have it, use it.
Anki with the AnKing deck (what did you think I'd say?) is the best tool for long-term retention in medical school. The AnKing deck pulls cards from Pathoma, Sketchy, Boards and Beyond, First Aid, Costanzo, and more into one tagged deck. Unsuspend cards as you cover topics in class, do your reviews every day, and by dedicated you'll still know most of what you learned over two years. Your brain will be full of super helpful trivia you'll use every day in clinical practice! (/s)
Anki only works if you're consistent. If you commit to it, do your reviews most days. Get used to hitting that spacebar.
To be honest, I was anxious and subscribed to too many things.
Physeo covers physiology and biochemistry in video lectures. It was fine, and probably not worth the subscription for me. Some people like it better than Boards and Beyond for physiology. Try it if a concept isn't clicking.
Osmosis has short overview videos on a huge range of topics. It was fine, though the videos all started to blur together because of the style. It's good for a first look at a topic before going deeper somewhere else, but not detailed enough to be your main boards resource. They run a lot of sales, which is how they got me.
The biggest mistake is trying to use everything. Learn from mine. You need a small set you use well and consistently. A strong core setup looks like this:
You may have heard "UFAPS" (UWorld, First Aid, Pathoma, Sketchy... or StrudelMed?). That covers what you need for boards, though you may still need lecture for your school's exams. Go deep on a few, learn them fully, and trust the process.
Mike
Disclaimer: StrudelMed / Strudel Academy LLC is an independent medical education resource. The content above reflects personal opinions and is intended for educational purposes and general guidance only. We are not affiliated with or sponsored by any of the resources reviewed above.