MD Am I not using anki correctly?

[taeyeonlover]

I'm not sure if this is a good question or not but I have been doing premade anki deck made by an upperclassman for keeping up with lectures and sometimes I run into cards that make me think "huh really? I had no idea. I should learn that". Maybe it's because I haven't learned the lectures well enough yet but for these cards I just end up memorizing the fact on the cards.

Is this a bad approach to anki? Should things be clicking more in my head when I do my cards?

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[Dr Meow]

I don't trust anyone else's anki cards ever

 

[Bonne Nuit]

I'm not sure if this is a good question or not but I have been doing premade anki deck made by an upperclassman for keeping up with lectures and sometimes I run into cards that make me think "huh really? I had no idea. I should learn that". Maybe it's because I haven't learned the lectures well enough yet but for these cards I just end up memorizing the fact on the cards.

Is this a bad approach to anki? Should things be clicking more in my head when I do my cards?

This is a good question, and yes - it’s not a great approach to Anki. It can be fine for topics/courses that require lots of brute force memorization (anatomy, names of drugs), but you can get in trouble with concept-heavy classes by using Anki this way. Ask me how I know this.

Setting aside the fact that in-house/homemade Anki decks can be unreliable (inaccurate/way too much detail/way too little detail) you need to be using Anki as a tool for supplementing your understanding rather than regurgitating facts. If you find yourself simply remembering the word or phrase on the card but having no idea how it applies to the big picture of the lecture, you’re going to struggle on your exams. Keep in mind it is highly unlikely that those facts will be tested in exactly the same way as they are presented on the cards.

If you find yourself going “Huh, I didn’t know that”, that should be a warning that you need to pause Anki and start reviewing that concept.

Also, if you’re an M2, why are you still paying attention to lecture at all? Are your preclinicals graded?

 

[taeyeonlover]

If you find yourself going “Huh, I didn’t know that”, that should be a warning that you need to pause Anki and start reviewing that concept.

Thank you!

So should I set aside the deck for now and review the concepts more whether it is by looking it up on google, watching some youtube videos, or using bnb etc.?

should I just completely drop the deck? I'm not too sure about this cause my final exam is only couple weeks away

unfortunately yeah my classes are graded and I'm not one of those people who ace classes.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

Thank you!

So should I set aside the deck for now and review the concepts more whether it is by looking it up on google, watching some youtube videos, or using bnb etc.?

should I just completely drop the deck? I'm not too sure about this cause my final exam is only couple weeks away

unfortunately yeah my classes are graded and I'm not one of those people who ace classes.

For quick reference, I like to use First Aid in tandem with my Anki reviews. For more in-depth explanations on something I don’t understand or repeatedly get wrong, I am a huge B&B and Pathoma fan. YouTube can be hit or miss in terms of quality and applicability of concepts to medicine. For example, I tried to watch some YT immunology education videos once and got totally lost in the details; I think they were better suited for PhD students.

You don’t need to drop the deck if it’s helping, but make sure you’re putting in the time to really understand the concepts beyond just doing your cards. As an M2, you should also be heavily hitting the question banks that go along with whatever you’re learning in class. That’s the active recall portion of your studying that’s going to really crystallize your understanding.

 

[TakotsuboOkazaki]

I don't trust anyone else's anki cards ever

100%

Pre-made or self-made ANKI only.

I’d only spend the time making cards if you absolutely MUST.

You’ll come across those “didn’t know what I didn’t know” moments a lot.

You should WANT those, especially in the beginning of blocks/semesters. The more of those you have the lower the chance of you getting stumped on exams. It doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong. Unless, however, this person’s deck that you’re using is a mix of subjects not covered by your current block of lecture. In which case, all the more reason to abandon them.