Boards and Beyond vs Picmonic

Picmonic's Medicine plan for USMLE Steps 1 and 2 costs about $180 a year on Picmonic's own page from March 2025, and Boards and Beyond costs $249 for a year on the McGraw Hill product page. Boards and Beyond is Jason Ryan's course of more than 490 Step 1 videos, each tied to a question set, with about 2,300 questions and streaming only. It suits a second-year student who wants all of Step 1 taught in order. Picmonic turns pharmacology and microbiology facts into 2 to 4 minute cartoon stories and adds more than 10,000 questions with spaced repetition, a memory aid that sits beside a main question bank. Picmonic falls short for the student who wants a lecturer working through the whole exam. Its pass guarantee requires three months of regular use covering 500 or more Picmonics, and a student who then fails the board exam gets a full refund or a free extension.