Exam for Future Doctors: Philadelphia and Dallas, November 30, 2025. The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) today released the 2025 USMLE Bulletin of Information, confirming several long-anticipated administrative and policy updates that will affect tens of thousands of medical students and international graduates beginning next year.
Starting no earlier than mid-2025, all core USMLE services, including registration, scheduling, eligibility-period extensions, and score reporting, will be consolidated under the direct management of the two sponsoring organizations. U.S. and Canadian medical students will complete all transactions through the NBME portal, while international medical graduates will use the FSMB platform for Steps 1, 2 CK, and 3. Officials say the move will eliminate overlapping communications and reduce delays that have frustrated applicants in recent cycles.
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In a separate but significant policy shift, Canadian medical graduates completing their MD degrees on or after July 1, 2025, will be reclassified as international medical graduates (IMGs) for U.S. residency and licensure purposes. The change follows the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) becoming the sole accreditor for Canadian programs, ending the prior joint accreditation with the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). The Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) confirmed that certification pathways remain unchanged and that affected students may continue applying for USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK without interruption.
Additional 2025 enhancements include accelerated score-release timelines for all steps and the introduction of partial performance feedback for Step 1 examinees, offering insight into relative strengths and weaknesses while preserving the exam’s pass/fail scoring format implemented in 2022.
“The USMLE continues to evolve in ways that maintain rigorous standards while removing unnecessary barriers for well-prepared candidates,” said David Johnson, MD, President and CEO of the FSMB. “These updates reflect extensive feedback from students, residency program directors, and state medical boards.”
The permanent discontinuation of the Step 2 Clinical Skills (CS) examination, first suspended during the pandemic and officially retired in 2021, remains in effect, sparing applicants the previous requirement of travel to one of five U.S. test centers.
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More than 130,000 USMLE examinations are administered annually, and successful completion of all three steps remains a prerequisite for licensure in every U.S. state and territory. Residency programs use Step 1 (pass/fail) and Step 2 CK (numeric) scores as key screening tools during the Match process.
Medical students and graduates are urged to review the complete 2025 Bulletin of Information on the official USMLE website and to monitor their respective NBME or FSMB interactive portals for exact transition dates in the coming months.
