USMLE Pharmacology Flashcards App, a mobile tool for preparing for the USMLE pharmacology exam

All physicians in the United States are required to take USMLE (the United States Medical Licensing Examination), which assesses a physician's ability to apply their medical knowledge and demonstrate fundamental patient-centered skills, including knowledge of biochemistry and pharmacology that both induce fear in the majority of medical students preparing for their USMLE Step 1 exam.

Pharmacology usually takes a big part of the USMLE step 1 exam and students may have 30-40 questions just on pharmacology.
These questions cover basic information, which, however, can be hard for students to digest due to its large volume. Also, students need to learn all the different mechanism of actions, side effects, contraindications, toxicity, and the names of many drugs, which can be very similar in many drugs.

These questions require knowing a huge chunk of information, however, they're all being straightforward and usually not going beyond First Aid, which is something that many students don't know. 

Also, a lot of these questions focus on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, as well as the drug's mechanism of action and their side effects. Medical students are required to know only basic information, but the large volume may be an obstacle when preparing for the USMLE pharmacology.

One of the recommended methods to study USMLE pharmacology is by using flashcards – cards with the question on one side and the answer on another.

Many students use flashcards as a preferred study strategy when preparing for exams. Flashcards allow them to actively engage in the material they're trying to learn by generating hundreds of questions about the particular content. These questions can be small, fact-based, or provided in more comprehensive manner. 

Students may use existing flashcard sets, or create their own flashcards, which is by many the most recommended way of learning that allows students carefully go through each question.

Lange's series of Pharmacology Flashcards is one of the best-known resources that have been used for years among the medical students who are preparing for USMLE pharmacology exam.

Thanks to mobile technologies, these flashcards became widely available on smartphones and tablets, making the studying a lot easier.
USMLE Pharmacology Flashcards is an app that brought Lange's Flashcards series to mobile devices with a goal to help medical students to prepare for the USMLE pharmacology using flashcards on their phone or tablet.

The app is free to download for Android and iOS, however, it only includes a 24-hour free trial, with the option to purchase the full version of the app with 200 case questions for $34.99. 

Upon opening the app users are asked to log in or create an account if they don't have one by providing their name, email, and desired password, which would initiate the 24-hour free trial may.

As been said, during the trial period users can view and try a limited number of flashcards organized into 9 major topics, including General Pharmacology Principles, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Nervous System Agents, Cardiovascular Agents, Hematologic Agents, Endocrine Agents, Gastrointestinal Agents, Anti-Neoplastic Agents, and Anti-Inflammatory Agents.

Purchasing premium version unlocks additional two topics, Adrenergic Agents, and Cholinergic Agents, as well as additional sub-topics. It also provides users with unlimited, lifetime access to 200+ flashcards covering these topics.

The app's user interface is simple and straightforward. Basically, we have all topics listed vertically allowing us to scroll up and down.

Tapping on the topic would open it with the option to view all items or items for a specific. Since I used free trial version, I could choose to view all items or specific main topic, but both contained the number of items/questions.

Tapping on the topic would open the first flashcard containing the question. You could see your progress at the top, showing you the total number of questions and your current position.

Scroll down to read the question. To reveal the answer, tap on the screen. You would see the answer along with three color-coded tags: Don't Know (red), Somewhat Know (yellow), and Know (green), which you use to indicate if you knew or didn't know the answer. You must select one of the tags in order to continue.

Questions on the flashcards contain detailed patient's presentation and diagnosis, requiring a user to prescribe correct agent depending on the description given.

Answers provide the name of the drug, along with mechanism of action, clinical uses, side effects, as well as similar drugs (if applicable) and other considerations.

Some of the facts are provided in italics/underlined which is an awkward solution because it looks like a link you can't click on.

Also, I had trouble with navigation through the flashcards, particularly with scrolling through the answer that would frequently rotate back to the question instead scrolling down the page, if I held my finger pressed against the screen for too long. This can become really frustrating, especially for students who may not have time or patience for these UX design quirks.

Once you've answered flashcards on a particular topic, you'd have them grouped by tag, so you can always return to them and repeat those you didn't know. Flashcards can also be bookmarked which is useful for topics that interest you or require more attention.

User progress is automatically synced, users can do it manually, or reset their progress and start all over again. USMLE Pharmacology Flashcards app also allows users to use study goal reminders and to set daily question limit.

Overall, USMLE Pharmacology Flashcards app is useful, but a pricey resource for medical students who are preparing for the USMLE exam.

Benefit: Medical students preparing for USMLE exam could benefit from this app