3x5 Flashcards vs ANKI! Which ones are more efficient for DAT studying

[toothhornet88]

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I really want to know what you guys have to say about a way to study for the DAT. Im 3 months away from my DAT and I wanted to know which way is best to make flashcards: writing everything out by hand on 3x5 flashcards or using ANKI which speeds the whole process of flashcard making by A LOT!!!! I just want to know which method was found to be best!! I just cant decide and i just want to stick to one method!

 

[sbdento]

I think it depends on you and your unique learning style. You need to figure out which way will help you to learn and retain the info the best. You can get ANKI on your phone/ipod if you download the app so if you have free time during the day you can always flip through some cards. ANKI is good if you want to study while on the go.

I personally made the old fashioned kind, it was easier for me to make them than try to figure out how to put ochem molecules onto ANKI. I flip through them at night before I go to bed, so I don't really need the portability that ANKI provides. If I want to take them with me to study during free time throughout the day they don't take up much space so they are pretty portable.

If you learn material better by writing it down, I'd probably do the 3x5 cards. Like I said though, it really depends on what is best for you.

 

[Impulse155]

Anki is making cards on like your phone or computer right?
If so, personally I find it a better review to be writing everything down. Writing on a computer just doesnt do it for me. But itsup to you and how you learn, not us

 

[jmc2012]

I have an iPad and paid the $20 bucks or so for Anki and I wasn't that impressed as others have been. It is extremely hard to put chemical structures on Anki and I found it much easier just to use the old 3x5 cards. On the other hand, Anki is useful for biology questions but if you are already using 3x5 for gchem and ochem I'd just stick to using them.

 

[spartan22287]

I use ANKI and I think it rocks! It spaces stuff out for you nicely its really helpful for bio. As far as Ochem goes I entered all my reactions using a bamboo pen tablet so it was very easy. The nicest thing about anki is I can carry it with me every where I go, between MCAT audio osmosis and ANKI I have a pretty decent study source with me at all times to make use of a few odd minutes here or there throughout the day.

 

[UCLAzy]

idk why people pay for anki? on android there are anki apps that cost nothing, and i'm sure there are anki apps for iphone that are free as well.

anki is awesome IF you have a smartphone. if you're just using it on your cmputer, i'd rather just make the cards. the great thing about anki is you have it wherever you go and you dont have to lug around the notecards once you have a solid deck.

places i've used it that would have been inconvenient for note cards: in bed but cant sleep, on the plane, riding the bus, while in my non-science classes 🙂laugh🙂, etc.

been a real useful thing for me, took a lot of time to make the decks but once they're there..you cant lose them!

 

[Impulse155]

idk why people pay for anki? on android there are anki apps that cost nothing, and i'm sure there are anki apps for iphone that are free as well.

anki is awesome IF you have a smartphone. if you're just using it on your cmputer, i'd rather just make the cards. the great thing about anki is you have it wherever you go and you dont have to lug around the notecards once you have a solid deck.

places i've used it that would have been inconvenient for note cards: in bed but cant sleep, on the plane, riding the bus, while in my non-science classes 🙂laugh🙂, etc.

been a real useful thing for me, took a lot of time to make the decks but once they're there..you cant lose them!

Nothing on the iphone is free.
Anki Flashcards- 24.99

 

[spartan22287]

The Anki app was just updated and frankly its worth the cost and hey the iphone is on verizion 😀.

 

[toothhornet88]

The Anki app was just updated and frankly its worth the cost and hey the iphone is on verizion 😀.

Very soon...next month 👍🙂

 

[UCLAzy]

The Anki app was just updated and frankly its worth the cost and hey the iphone is on verizion 😀.

haha you should wait until june...apple always releases their new version at that time and you'll be stuck with the old version for 6 months!

 

[spartan22287]

I am pretty much an apple fanboy it all started with the first gen ipod all 5bg of it, but yea I am on ATT and have been since the 1g iphone. However, I live in the suburbs of chicago where ATT originated as cellular one so I don't have the reception problems people have in other parts of the country. I am just glad to see another option for people and finally some competition in pricing for this sucker!

 

[thewobblytooth]

Anki:

Pros: fast, cheap, free for the PC/MAC, not as heavy

Cons: what?

3x5 flashcards:

Pros: absorb information better, slower studying = better

Cons: heavy, time consuming (way more than anki)

Anki > flashcards.

Anki lets you "randomize" your test questions according to how comfortable you are with the material and how you feel about it.

Flashcards are great, but they are time consuming and you can't make 1K+ and expect to lug it around and be like "oh time to study my huge stack of cards"

 

[Rlow04]

Anki is hard to use for topics that require lots of drawings or symbols (OChem), but for every other topic I feel that it's far more effective.

My friend was telling me about Mental Case, which is like Anki but Mac based. He said that it's super easy to grab a graphic or piece of media and put it into your flashcards. So if you're a Mac user, I would check it out.

 

[UCLAzy]

Anki is hard to use for topics that require lots of drawings or symbols (OChem), but for every other topic I feel that it's far more effective.

My friend was telling me about Mental Case, which is like Anki but Mac based. He said that it's super easy to grab a graphic or piece of media and put it into your flashcards. So if you're a Mac user, I would check it out.

there are plenty of free programs that allow you to draw stuff for ochem. i used ACD/Chemsketch and it was easy to learn and now my anki cards are the shizzle

 

[wizi]

Nothing on the iphone is free.
Anki Flashcards- 24.99

It'll be if you jailbreak your lovely iPhone. I am just saying 🙂

 

[dae]

It'll be if you jailbreak your lovely iPhone. I am just saying 🙂

There is a free client available for jailbroken phones, but it lacks many of the features of AnkiMobile. If you're talking about pirating the app, please don't do that. Without the proceeds from AnkiMobile I would not be able to work on Anki. You're not ripping off a big company, you're ripping off an individual developer.

Re using Anki for chemistry, the suggestion above of using a tablet is a good one. You can also drag & drop images onto the cards, so you could use an external program or website to write the equations and then drop the generated image in.