F.A.Q.

What is Cram Fighter?

Cram Fighter is a series of apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch that lets you create a study schedule for the USMLE Step 1, USMLE Step 2 CK, and NCLEX-RN.

Why can’t I just make a study schedule by hand?

Oh, you can. It’s just that we’ve talked to many students and we found that it generally takes a minimum of a couple of hours.  We’ve even heard from a few med students that have taken a few days to create a schedule that they liked! It gets even worse when you want to rearrange your schedule while you are studying. Just adding an extra day to one subject or system can mess up your entire schedule.  Cram Fighter solves these types of problems without breaking a sweat.

Where can I get it? How much does it cost?

Cram Fighter is available on the App Store for just $4.99 (if you are outside the U.S., take a look at the App Store page to see the price in your local currency). That’s probably less than the cost of all the coffee you would need to stay up late and come up with your study schedule by hand!

I don’t have an iPhone or iPod Touch. Can I still use Cram Fighter?

Not yet, unfortunately. But we have heard from many people in your situation, so we’re planning to do a web version that will work from your PC, Mac, or internet-enabled smartphone. We expect it to be released in Fall 2010.

How do I use the app?

It’s easy!  Check out the video on our help page to see how it’s done or just follow these instructions: go to the “Settings” tab and enter when you are going to start studying, the date of your exam, the books that you are going to use, and how many hours a day you are going to study, and that’s it.  If you want, you can also add what question banks you are using and also change the order of the subjects in the schedule. You can then touch the “Schedule” tab and see the schedule that Cram Fighter generated automatically. If you want to customize it further, you can move chapters to different days by touching and holding the drag button on the right side of each chapter and dragging the chapter to a different day. Then for each day you just check off each chapter when you finish reading it.

Does the app really contain all these books and/or question banks?

Cram Fighter doesn’t contain any book or question bank content. We just show you what you need to do everyday to get through all the material in time for your exam. You must purchase the books and question banks separately.

Why does the schedule sometimes give me just 3 or 4 pages to read in a day?

Usually that happens when there is one gigantic chapter the day before that you probably won’t be able to finish in one day. The app expects you to finish that big chapter the following day and then read those 3 or 4 pages.

What if one of the books I am using doesn’t appear on the Step 1 book list, Step 2 CK book list, or NCLEX-RN book list?

Let us know. We are adding books all the time and we’d love to get suggestions on what to add next.

Does Cram Fighter support the ability to add your own books?

No, but we add new books frequently. Just contact us and we’ll do our best to get your suggested titles into the next update.

Can I use other study resources like audio lectures and flash cards?

Not yet, but we’re working on it. Expect to see it in a future version of Cram Fighter.

What if I see a crash or some other bug?

Tell us about it and we’ll fix it as fast as we can. We want to make Cram Fighter as bug-free and user-friendly as possible. If you can, tell us what you did that caused the bug to appear and that will help us fix it for you faster.

Are you planning to support other exams?

Yes! We have many more exams planned and we’ll announce them as we get closer to releasing them. If you are dying to know about a particular exam, just email us and we will probably just tell you because we’re not that good at keeping secrets!

I have another question that isn’t on this list! What should I do?

Get in touch with us. We’ll usually get back to you in a matter of hours.