Program to create note-cards?

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Does anyone know of a program (non web-based) that allows the user to easily create note/flash cards?

I'm looking for something that allows the addition of pictures and the ability to mark note-cards that are giving me a hard time. I don't want to run the risk of losing all my notes if a web-site tanks, since I primarily study/take notes via notecards.

I would imagine there's some program that allows you to simply convert 2 columns in Excel to a notecard, but I just have no idea how to go about searching for this.

Originally Posted by tripwm

Does anyone know of a program (non web-based) that allows the user to easily create note/flash cards?

I'm looking for something that allows the addition of pictures and the ability to mark note-cards that are giving me a hard time. I don't want to run the risk of losing all my notes if a web-site tanks, since I primarily study/take notes via notecards.

I would imagine there's some program that allows you to simply convert 2 columns in Excel to a notecard, but I just have no idea how to go about searching for this.

Anki is amazing. I think there might be an option to just keep it on your local comp without synching it to the web-based server. But it saves to your comp and uploads to the server, so I don't see the downside of using this. The ONE time I had an issue was when the website was down so it didn't synch but all the info was still on my comp and I could still go through the notecards.

My favorite thing is how synching allows me to use it on different comps no matter where I am, and it keeps track of all the cards I've done/seen/etc.

Originally Posted by Lbgem

Anki is amazing. I think there might be an option to just keep it on your local comp without synching it to the web-based server. But it saves to your comp and uploads to the server, so I don't see the downside of using this. The ONE time I had an issue was when the website was down so it didn't synch but all the info was still on my comp and I could still go through the notecards.

My favorite thing is how synching allows me to use it on different comps no matter where I am, and it keeps track of all the cards I've done/seen/etc.

I use Anki too, and like it a lot. You can use it locally on your computer, but I let it sync so that I can access the cards from my phone too. There's a free droid app, but I believe the iPhone app costs money.

It doesn't exactly let you mark cards you're having a problem with, but as you answer cards, you also indicate how comfortable you are with them. It automatically schedules cards that you are confident with for longer and longer intervals, and will show you cards which you struggle with much more frequently.

Mental Case seems to be a decent app.

Originally Posted by Lbgem

Anki is amazing. I think there might be an option to just keep it on your local comp without synching it to the web-based server. But it saves to your comp and uploads to the server, so I don't see the downside of using this. The ONE time I had an issue was when the website was down so it didn't synch but all the info was still on my comp and I could still go through the notecards.

My favorite thing is how synching allows me to use it on different comps no matter where I am, and it keeps track of all the cards I've done/seen/etc.

Anki all the way. Here is some info on using Anki in med school

I also have posted all my cards for public use if you want some pre-made decks.

Enjoy!

Originally Posted by achamess

Anki all the way. Here is some info on using Anki in med school

I also have posted all my cards for public use if you want some pre-made decks.

Enjoy!

Might get pathoma based on your little blog - appreciate the work you put into writing up the reviews.

How did you do on Step 1 out of curiosity?

Originally Posted by Lbgem

Might get pathoma based on your little blog - appreciate the work you put into writing up the reviews.

How did you do on Step 1 out of curiosity?

Glad you liked the posts.

I haven't taken step 1 yet so time will tell. I'll share that experience when I go through it later this year. But for what it's worth, I have talked to people who were chronic Anki addicts who used it everyday from the beginning of 1st year and they've been very pleased with their results, scoring 240+. Would they have been able to do this without Anki? I bet they could. Lots of people do. But I think having distributed the studying piece-meal over many months or years gives one a lot of confidence and takes away a lot of anxiety. Cramming is stressful, even for the brightest among us. I have no intention of cramming anything when I do my Step 1 review. I'm going to spend almost all my time doing UWorld, Kaplan, and any other question bank I can find. There will be almost no content review blitzes because I've been doing that for more than 1.5 years now daily with the cards. We'll see how this alternative strategy works out. I may get burned for going off the beaten path, but I'm willing to take that risk.

Originally Posted by achamess

Glad you liked the posts.

I haven't taken step 1 yet so time will tell. I'll share that experience when I go through it later this year. But for what it's worth, I have talked to people who were chronic Anki addicts who used it everyday from the beginning of 1st year and they've been very pleased with their results, scoring 240+. Would they have been able to do this without Anki? I bet they could. Lots of people do. But I think having distributed the studying piece-meal over many months or years gives one a lot of confidence and takes away a lot of anxiety. Cramming is stressful, even for the brightest among us. I have no intention of cramming anything when I do my Step 1 review. I'm going to spend almost all my time doing UWorld, Kaplan, and any other question bank I can find. There will be almost no content review blitzes because I've been doing that for more than 1.5 years now daily with the cards. We'll see how this alternative strategy works out. I may get burned for going off the beaten path, but I'm willing to take that risk.

I'd be interested to see how you do, because that was my plan as well. I'm a lot less stressed starting early/light and it would just make me feel better to start this summer after MS1 to go over all the relevant step 1 material from first year, brush up on areas I didn't spend as much time on during the year, etc. I have had questions pop up on tests that were exactly what I had on my anki card and the answer pops up just as quickly, rather than that vague feeling you had of reading it somewhere and was it that term or something else...

Major downside of anki to me is the massive amount of time it takes me to write up the cards, esp for super detail oriented classes. I can easily spend 2 hours for a one hour lecture just making the cards if I don't take breaks and my efficiency drops off by the end.

Anki is a great tool. Thanks for sharing your cards!

Mental Case for OS X and iOS devices have done wonders for me. Costs $5 for the iOS version an $20 for the OS X version, but well worth the cash. Anki is free for desktop, but a mobile app will cost you $25. Mental Case has a LOT more flexibility then Anki; it's the closest thing you will get to having an actual set of flash cards. Using these also lets you export created flash cards really easily to share.

Originally Posted by thedoctor8706

Mental Case for OS X and iOS devices have done wonders for me. Costs $5 for the iOS version an $20 for the OS X version, but well worth the cash. Anki is free for desktop, but a mobile app will cost you $25. Mental Case has a LOT more flexibility then Anki; it's the closest thing you will get to having an actual set of flash cards. Using these also lets you export created flash cards really easily to share.

This is only true for the iPhone. The Android app is free. I have no idea why this is. $25 is pretty steep for an app, and free is free. It seems pretty bizarre to have such a big price difference, but there it is.

Originally Posted by phltz

This is only true for the iPhone. The Android app is free. I have no idea why this is. $25 is pretty steep for an app, and free is free. It seems pretty bizarre to have such a big price difference, but there it is.

Wow, as much as I love apple stuff, some of the stuff that goes on is ridiculous. I really don't see why they would need to charge $25 especially if the android counterpart is free!

Originally Posted by thedoctor8706

Wow, as much as I love apple stuff, some of the stuff that goes on is ridiculous. I really don't see why they would need to charge $25 especially if the android counterpart is free!

Lol, that's everything Apple. Apple stuff always costs more.

Originally Posted by thedoctor8706

Mental Case for OS X and iOS devices have done wonders for me. Costs $5 for the iOS version an $20 for the OS X version, but well worth the cash. Anki is free for desktop, but a mobile app will cost you $25. Mental Case has a LOT more flexibility then Anki; it's the closest thing you will get to having an actual set of flash cards. Using these also lets you export created flash cards really easily to share.

Would you mind elaborating on how Mental Case is more flexible than Anki? Just want to get the most information possible before sinking money into either one. Thanks!

You can download Anki for free. As to its utility, I downloaded it and decided I preferred making my note cards by hand (this is not an indictment of Anki--I just like not being tethered to my computer).

i used StudyBlue for awhile, but it is only online i think.

then i switched to Anki and never looked back. You can't beat what you get for free, and this is fantastic. loading pictures is no problem.

i heart anki.

Originally Posted by loho77

Would you mind elaborating on how Mental Case is more flexible than Anki? Just want to get the most information possible before sinking money into either one. Thanks!

My main thing is I just didn't like how I was forced to use their study regimen. With Mental Case, I can set up a specific order, then while I'm going through cards I co backwards, forwards, skip ahead a couple cards, etc. I also found the interface to be a lot more intuitive, and if I did choose to use a study plan to use the Cards, Mental Case offers more options with push notifications etc. They also let you create mutlti faceted cards for you iPhone/iPad. There's also a HUGE library of built in flash cards that you can download. I have discovered entire sections of First Aid transcribed into flash card format. Obviously I kept an I eye out for errors, but they are spot on. Really helpful for learning the rapid review sections of the book. Not to mention my class also has a huge library of user made flash cards that we exchange around, and Mental Case has made it really easy. Saved me for my last micro exam haha.

To be fair, for all I know, the android app could have this and more. I have just extensivelly compared the iOS versions, and all I know is that for me, the Anki app for iPhone is : If you have an iPhone, there is a free edition you can give a test run if you want! It's the student editions or something. If I've said something really ignorant that I don't know about Anki or that they have updated since I tried it last September, let me know! I still have the iPhone app siting in the cloud, so I could poke around with it again.