MD & DO Advice using Anki for Step 1 Prep

[TommieDoc22]

I know this is may be a very individual-based question, but I would appreciate any help/advice!

I'm an MS2 and I've only started using Anki about two months ago - my goal is to get through most of Zanki (32,281 cards) by mid-April as I prepare for my Step 1 in mid-June. I've seen about 5,000 cards at this point. Doing the math, I would need to add about 1,700 new cards/week (or 240 per day). Is this realistic, and more importantly is it a good use of my time?

For anyone who does support this approach, do you have any recommendations for utilizing Anki's algorithm/settings? I'm still not confident enough in my understanding of Anki's algorithm to know the best settings for me to study every card effectively enough to retain the information from this large of a deck, without having to spend more than 2-3 hours each day using Anki.

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[M&L]

I don’t think it’s realistic - not because of 240 new cards a day, but because of reviews that will pile up .
If I were you, I would choose specific sections that are crucial and useful for anki and focus on those (pharm, micro)

 

[slowthai]

She said exactly what I was going to say. I mean, unless you've got it in you to go balls to the wall for like 6 months straight, I wouldn't recommend it. Another option is to run a smaller deck. They've got some options over at /r/medicalschoolanki.

I'd recommend AnKing's settings. He's got a video on it.

 

[aldol16]

I definitely would not recommend that. 240/day is quite a lot when you consider what that means in terms of the reviews that you have to do each day on top of that. You can actually download a macro in Anki called simulator. You can input the new cards per day and the deck you're doing and it'll simulate out how many total cards you'll need to do per day. You'll find that the number is absurd and probably not the best use of your time.

 

[TommieDoc22]

I don’t think it’s realistic - not because of 240 new cards a day, but because of reviews that will pile up .
If I were you, I would choose specific sections that are crucial and useful for anki and focus on those (pharm, micro)

Thank you, after digging into study approaches a little more I learned that the RX q-bank does a really good job of reinforcing first aid so it makes there isn't a need to use anki for everything.

 

[TommieDoc22]

I definitely would not recommend that. 240/day is quite a lot when you consider what that means in terms of the reviews that you have to do each day on top of that. You can actually download a macro in Anki called simulator. You can input the new cards per day and the deck you're doing and it'll simulate out how many total cards you'll need to do per day. You'll find that the number is absurd and probably not the best use of your time.

I just tried this out - thanks! Easy to see how the reviews would pile up so I'm just going to limit what parts of the deck I add to what I feel I need the most reinforcement with.

 

[TakotsuboOkazaki]

I used Zanki extensively.

I would say skip Micro and use Sketchy + lolnotacop. I know it's a lot of cards but if you do all of them you will get 99% of micro questions correct.

You can probably skip the pathway sections of biochemistry and just do the vitamins, hereditary enzyme deficiencies, etc. Memorize the pathways the OG way --> draw them out.

That should cut down on your number.

I think 240/day is a ton of cards. It's doable but know that once you get running you'll be cranking through:

240 New
240 Reviews per day

Assuming you get 70% correct that means the 480 cards is more like ~685/day. Completely doable but it will certainly eat 3-4 hours.

It's not easy but it paid off.

Caveat: There is NO substitute for questions. These are the best way to prepare. I think a good mindset is if you could only do one thing in a given day, always go with the questions.