Readiness check

• 3-digit scores (all Step 2 CK self-assessments, and UWSA 1, UWSA 2 or Other for Step 1): we average your two most recent. "Most recent" means fewest days before your exam. If you leave a day blank, we use the order you typed them, last one = most recent.
• Margin = that average − the USMLE passing score ( for Step 1, for Step 2 CK). Categories: +15 or more = comfortably above; +8 to +14 = above; 0 to +7 = borderline; below 0 = below passing.
• Step 1 NBME forms report a percent correct (0–100) and an estimated probability of passing. We never convert percent correct to the 3-digit scale or compare it with . For Step 1, NBME's own score report gives an estimated probability of passing. We show it if you enter it. We don't calculate our own.
• StepUp 70% Rule: with two or more Step 1 NBME scores, we show whether your two most recent are both 70% or higher. This is StepUp's own stricter booking standard, not the USMLE passing standard, and it is the same rule as our Am I ready? tool.
• We don't calculate a pass probability for Step 2 CK.
• Free 120 is scored as a percentage. There is no official conversion to the 3-digit scale, so we show it but do not use it.

Match check

• We find your Step 2 CK band (for example 231–240) in NRMP's chart for your preferred specialty and show how many non-US IMGs in that band matched, and how many applied in total.
• If fewer than 20 applicants are in your band, we do not show a band rate. We show the specialty's overall rate instead and label it. Groups of 20–99 applicants carry a "Small sample" badge, and match rates are rounded to whole numbers so they don't look more precise than they are.
• US citizen IMGs see NRMP's separate US IMG figures (Table 1 and the US IMG panel of each Step 2 CK chart). Where NRMP doesn't show the US panel (Dermatology, Radiation Oncology, Vascular Surgery) or one label is unreadable (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation), we use non-US IMG figures and say so.
• Your score range across specialties lists every specialty with at least 20 applicants in your range, highest match rate first, with real counts. It shows where people with your score matched more often, not a personal chance.
• Specialty snapshot: positions offered, everyone who ranked the specialty first, and applicants per position, from Table 1.
• Visa status and rank-list length are shown as context only. NRMP does not publish them combined with score bands, so we never adjust your rate for them.

Full profile check

• Where the comparisons come from. For contiguous ranks, research experiences, abstracts/presentations/publications, work and volunteer experiences, NRMP's 2024 IMG report charts how many non-US IMGs who matched and didn't match fell in each bucket (for example "None", "1" … "5 or more"). We find the bucket holding the middle applicant (the median) and show where your answer sits. For graduate degrees we use the report's percentages. NRMP's experience charts add up to slightly fewer applicants than the summary tables, so we use each chart's own total.
• Labels. Strength: at or above the matched value. Typical: between the not-matched and matched values. Below typical: below the not-matched value. No clear link: the two groups differ by less than 10%, or IMGs who didn't match reported more. Small sample: fewer than 20 IMGs in either group in your specialty, so we show averages across all specialties instead.
• Program directors. We quote the percentage of programs citing each factor when deciding whom to interview, and its average importance (1 to 5), from NRMP's 2020 Program Director Survey, using NRMP's exact factor names. That is the newest edition with full factor tables: the 2024 edition publishes only a summary, and the 2026 edition can't be used in tools without NRMP's written consent. We use your specialty's answers when at least 10 programs replied, otherwise all specialties. Next steps are ordered by those percentages.
• No combined percentage. NRMP publishes each factor separately and doesn't release a model that combines them, so the only match rate we show is the official one for your Step 2 CK range and specialty.
• Not in NRMP's outcome data. US clinical experience, US letters, exam attempts, ECFMG certification, graduation year, gaps, and country of medical school. For these we show program director ratings where the survey has them and say plainly when it doesn't. NRMP doesn't publish match rates by country of medical school.

Sources

• USMLE: Examination Results and Scoring. Passing standards: Step 1 = 196 on the 3-digit scale (Step 1 is reported pass/fail since 26 January 2022); Step 2 CK = 218 for exams on or after 1 July 2025 (was 214).
• USMLE: test delivery software updates, May 2026. Step 2 CK: 16 blocks × 30 minutes, 18–20 items per block, 316 items, 9-hour day, from 7 May 2026. Step 1: 14 blocks × 30 minutes, 20 items per block, 280 items, 8-hour day, from 14 May 2026.
• USMLE Performance Data, 2025. Step 1 pass rates: US MD first-time 93% (23,028 tested), US DO first-time 89% (4,623), non-US school first-time 75% (22,066), non-US repeaters 54% (3,594), non-US total 72% (25,660). Step 2 CK, 2024–25: non-US first-time 90% (16,186), non-US repeaters 64% (1,762), non-US total 87% (17,948); US MD first-time 98% (22,249).
• NRMP: 2026 Main Residency Match results. PGY-1 match rates: non-US citizen IMGs 56.4% (11,944 active applicants); foreign-born IMGs needing visa sponsorship 54.4%; not needing sponsorship (US permanent residents) 67.9%; US citizen IMGs 70.0%; US MD seniors 93.5%; US DO seniors 93.2%.
• NRMP: Results of the 2020 Program Director Survey. Figure 1 and each specialty's Figure 1 (factors used to select applicants to interview: % of programs citing, mean importance) and Figure 3 (whether programs consider applicants who failed a licensure exam on the first attempt).
• NRMP: Charting Outcomes in the Match, International Medical Graduates, 2024. Also each specialty's charts of contiguous ranks, research projects, abstracts/presentations/publications, work and volunteer experiences, and the graduate-degree percentages in its Summary Statistics table. Table 1 (number of non-US IMGs who matched / did not match to their preferred specialty), Table 2 and each specialty's Summary Statistics table (mean Step 2 CK, mean ranks), and each specialty's "USMLE Step 2 CK Scores" chart (counts per score band).

Limits of the data

• Data year. Score-band results use the 2024 Match (NRMP 2024 data). NRMP's newer 2026 non-US IMG report does not publish score-band counts as tables, so we have not used it.
• Research-consenting subset. Score bands, means and rank averages include only applicants who agreed to let NRMP use their data for research, so the counts are smaller than the full totals in Table 1.
• Self-reported scores. In the 2024 report, Step 2 CK scores were reported by applicants themselves.
• "Preferred specialty" means the specialty of the first program on the applicant's rank list (preliminary programs excluded). "Matched" means matched to that specialty, not just matched anywhere.
• What's missing. The data do not include letters of recommendation, interviews, US clinical experience, year of graduation, attempts, or visa type within each score band. These matter a lot for IMGs.
• History, not prediction. These are past outcomes. Your result is what happened to people with similar scores, not your personal probability.

StepUp USMLE is not affiliated with NRMP, NBME, USMLE or ECFMG.