AskMed
AskMed is our pick for the PLE: 500 single-best-answer questions across all 12 PLE subjects, built on Philippine practice, and cited medical answers, in one app. Every option has its own explanation.
| Questions | 500 PLE questions (5,499 across 11 exams) |
|---|---|
| Format | Single best answer, 5 options |
| Subjects | All 12 PLE subjects, from Anatomy to Legal Medicine |
| Explanations | One for every option |
| Sources | 1–3 per question: DOH, WHO, Philippine laws, StatPearls |
| Modes | Practice, spaced-repetition review, timed mock (40 questions in 60 minutes) |
| Doses | Never |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Android, web |
The other options
Five other apps are worth comparing with AskMed for the Philippine Physician Licensure Exam: AMBOSS, StatPearls, Lecturio, Topnotch and ChatGPT. AMBOSS combines a question bank, a medical library and a 6-month PLE study plan with two full-length mock exams. StatPearls offers a large PLE question bank built to simulate the exam. Lecturio pairs video lectures and a question bank with a PLE review schedule that adapts to you, and Topnotch is a Philippine board review course with lectures. ChatGPT is a general AI chatbot: useful for talking a topic through, but it has no PLE question bank, so you need to check its sources yourself. AskMed sits between the banks and the chatbot, with a 500-question PLE bank and cited answers to any medical question in the same app. The table below shows the type of each app and what it is best for.
| App | Type | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| AMBOSS | Question bank + library + study plan | A 6-month PLE study plan with two full-length mock exams |
| StatPearls | Question bank | A large PLE question bank built to simulate the exam |
| Lecturio | Video lectures + question bank | A PLE review schedule that adapts to you |
| Topnotch | Board review course | A Philippine review course with lectures for the board exam |
| ChatGPT | General AI chatbot | Talking a topic through. It has no PLE question bank, so check its sources yourself |
What to look for in a PLE app
A good PLE app should cover all 12 board subjects and teach Philippine practice, not just textbook medicine. The Physician Licensure Exam has 12 subjects of 100 questions each, and you need an average of 75 with no subject below 50, so a weak subject can sink a good overall score. That gives five things to check in a PLE app: questions tagged by PLE subject, so you can track each one; coverage of Philippine law and DOH programs for Legal Medicine and Preventive Medicine; an explanation for every option, not only the correct one; timed practice plus review of the questions you missed; and a way to read up on what a question exposed without leaving the app. Read a few sample questions and their sources before you commit to a bank. The list below explains each point and shows how AskMed's 500-question PLE bank handles it.
- All 12 subjects. The PLE tests six basic sciences over the first two days and six clinical sciences over the last two. AskMed tags every question with its PLE subject, so you can see where you stand in each one.
- Philippine practice, not just textbook medicine. Legal Medicine and Preventive Medicine test Philippine law and DOH programs, which foreign question banks skip. AskMed's PLE bank cites Philippine laws 38 times across 37 questions, from the Universal Health Care Act to the Mental Health Act, plus DOH manuals 8 times and WHO guidance 55 times.
- An explanation for every option. In a single-best-answer question, the hard part is ruling out the options that are almost right. An app that only explains the correct answer skips that. AskMed explains every option, so you learn why each wrong answer is wrong.
- Timed practice and review. Each subject is a long sitting of 100 questions, so pace matters. AskMed's timed mock is 40 questions in 60 minutes, and spaced-repetition review brings back the questions you missed until they stick.
- A way to fill the gaps. A question bank shows what you don't know. AskMed also answers any medical question with citations to journals, guidelines and drug labels, so you can read up on a topic and go straight back to practice.
AskMed's PLE bank by subject
AskMed's PLE bank has 500 questions across all 12 PLE subjects: 129 easy, 254 medium and 117 hard. Internal Medicine has the most questions and Biochemistry the fewest. Legal Medicine and Ethics has 27 questions and Preventive Medicine 26: these are the two subjects that test Philippine law and DOH programs. Each question also names a subtopic, such as tuberculosis diagnosis in the sample question below. In the app the questions are also grouped into 15 topics, so you can also practise by organ system, 10 questions per session, or choose all topics to mix questions from the whole bank. Each answer feeds spaced-repetition review: a question you miss comes back after 10 minutes, and each right answer pushes it further out, to 1, 3, 7, 16 and then 35 days. The table below shows how many questions each PLE subject has.
| Subject | Questions |
|---|---|
| Internal Medicine | 189 |
| Pediatrics | 46 |
| Pharmacology | 45 |
| Microbiology and Parasitology | 37 |
| Surgery | 32 |
| Obstetrics and Gynecology | 28 |
| Legal Medicine and Ethics | 27 |
| Preventive Medicine | 26 |
| Pathology | 22 |
| Physiology | 21 |
| Anatomy | 14 |
| Biochemistry | 13 |
See a question
A 42-year-old tricycle driver from Tondo has had a productive cough for 3 weeks, evening fevers and weight loss. Under the DOH National TB Program, which test is the recommended initial diagnostic test for this presumptive TB patient?
Commercial serologic tests are not recommended for TB diagnosis.
The tuberculin skin test detects infection, not active disease, and is not used to diagnose pulmonary TB in adults.
IGRA also detects TB infection and cannot distinguish active disease.
Correct. The NTP Manual of Procedures (6th edition) uses a WHO-recommended rapid diagnostic test such as Xpert MTB/RIF as the primary test for presumptive TB, which also detects rifampicin resistance.
Culture is slow; it is used for drug-susceptibility testing and follow-up, not as the initial test.
Tap an answer to see why each option is right or wrong.
Source: DOH National TB Control Program Manual of Procedures, 6th edition
Questions
Is AskMed's PLE bank written by AI on the spot?
AskMed's PLE questions are not written by AI on the spot. Every question comes from a fixed bank that was written and checked before it went into the app, and only questions marked as reviewed are served. Each PLE question has five different options, one explanation per option, and one to three sources you can open, such as a DOH manual, a WHO guideline or a Philippine law. Every source is a link, so you can check an explanation against the guideline or reference it comes from. If a question looks wrong, tap Report question in the app. A question reported by two or more people is held back until it is checked. When you practise, AskMed serves the questions you have not seen yet first, then the ones you saw longest ago, so you work through the whole 500-question PLE bank before questions repeat.
Does it cover Legal Medicine?
Yes. Legal Medicine and Ethics questions cover Philippine laws a physician needs, such as the Medical Act of 1959, the Data Privacy Act, the Anti-Hospital Deposit Law and the Dangerous Drugs Act.
Can I use it alongside a review center?
Yes. Many PLE takers attend a review course for lectures and use a question bank for practice. AskMed fits in the gaps: a few timed questions on your phone and a cited answer when a lecture leaves you with a question.
Does AskMed give drug doses?
No. Questions test the right choice of treatment, never doses.
Which devices does it work on?
iPhone, iPad, Android and the web. One account works on all of them, so you can practise on your phone and review on a laptop.
Do I need a PRC licence to use it?
No. AskMed works worldwide, and graduates can sign up before they are licensed.
Which other exams are covered?
5,499 questions in all: USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK, PLAB, NEET-PG, ENARM, TUS, PLE, UKOMNAS, EDN, Ghana MDC and Israel MLE, each in the exam's own language.