The Best Free USMLE Question Bank Available

If you're an international medical graduate prepping for the USMLE, you've probably hit the same wall everyone does: the best question banks cost hundreds of dollars a month, and your licensing timeline doesn't care about your budget. Sentia is a free USMLE question bank built to get around exactly that.

Most IMGs end up juggling a few disorganised Anki decks, a UWorld subscription stretched as far as it'll go, and PDFs passed around a WhatsApp group at 1 a.m. It works, more or less. But mostly for the people who can keep paying.

That's the gap Sentia was built to close.

So what is Sentia?

Sentia is a free, offline-first question bank for medical students and IMGs. You build your own Qbanks questions, images, explanations, tags and practise them anywhere, with no subscription and no stable connection required. It's live on the App Store and Microsoft Store, with more than 1,000 downloads across 24 countries, and the core app is completely free.

And "free" here isn't bait. The free tier is the actual product, not a crippled demo. There's a paid side, official curated Qbanks and the Sentia Plus experience, but you can run a full prep cycle on the free version without hitting a paywall every few minutes.

Sentia vs UWorld and Anki: where it fits

Sentia isn't trying to be a cheaper UWorld clone or a tidier Anki. It sits between them. Like Anki, it's free and you control the content. Like UWorld, it's a proper exam-style practice engine with explanations and performance analytics. What's different is that you're not paying a subscription to use it, and you can import or share whole Qbanks instead of building every card alone.

If cost is the main thing standing between you and consistent practice, that combination is the point.

Why an offline question bank matters for IMGs

IMG prep doesn't happen at a tidy desk with strong Wi-Fi. It happens in call rooms, on the bus, in a time zone six hours off from your study group. Sentia keeps your questions and your progress on your device, so losing signal doesn't cost you the session. Anyone who's watched an hour of work disappear behind a spinning loading icon knows why an offline question bank is worth something.

See exactly where you're losing marks

Sentia turns your practice into something you can read at a glance: heatmaps, spider charts, and streaks. Instead of a vague feeling that you're "bad at cardio," you get to see it, which systems are solid and which ones keep catching you out. When your study time is limited (whose isn't), knowing what to drill beats re-reading the whole of First Aid for the third time.

How to get started

Setup takes about two minutes. Download Sentia from the App Store or Microsoft Store, then start with the free Qbank library, turn your own notes into a question set, or tap into peer-shared content from the Sentia community.

Whether you're sitting Step 1, Step 2 CK, or any high-stakes licensing exam, it's worth two minutes of an evening to see whether it fits the way you study.

Frequently asked questions

Is Sentia really free? Yes. The core question bank and practice engine are completely free, with no subscription. Optional extras, official curated Qbanks and Sentia Plus, are paid, but you can prep entirely on the free tier.

Is Sentia a good UWorld or Anki alternative? It's a solid free alternative if cost is your main barrier. You get exam-style questions, explanations, and analytics like a paid Qbank, plus the flexibility to build and share your own sets the way you would in Anki.

Can I use Sentia offline? Yes. Sentia is offline-first, so your questions and progress stay on your device and you can study without a reliable internet connection.

Does Sentia work for Step 1 and Step 2 CK? Yes. You can build or import Qbanks for Step 1, Step 2 CK, or any standardised exam, and track your performance topic by topic.

Can I make my own question bank? Yes. You can turn your own notes into Qbanks with images, explanations, and tags, then share them or use content the community has already made.

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Ready to try it? Download Sentia free on the App Store or the Microsoft Store, or learn more at mysentia.app.