What is the difference? I intended to make anki cards from FA over the course of the next 18 months so that it doesn't become too burdensome at around 1-2 pages per day. I had wanted to make my own cards because I usually prefer what I make myself since I already only input what I understand in my own words. However someone at my school secured the students a significant discount on FC. Is there a significant difference between just making First Aid anki cards versus using Firecracker?
Anki First Aid v. Firecracker
- Thread starter vashka
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2013
- Messages
- 156
- Reaction score
- 129
I've personally never tried Anki, but I like the way FC is structured. The daily questions alone are very time consuming. I couldn't imagine having to make them on my own.
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2012
- Messages
- 475
- Reaction score
- 728
I prefer Anki cards to FC because the FC cards are oftentimes huge amounts of facts. Spaced repetition works better with only one succinct fact per card like "what is the most common cause of pneumonia" rather than firecrackers big physio diagrams.
I would also recommend waiting until 2nd year to make cards, since it may not be apparent yet which facts will be high yield until you've had more path.
I would also recommend waiting until 2nd year to make cards, since it may not be apparent yet which facts will be high yield until you've had more path.
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2013
- Messages
- 591
- Reaction score
- 162
Yes, FC is much less time consuming because the cards are premade and preorganized.
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2013
- Messages
- 38
- Reaction score
- 27
It's been my experience that while FC will save you time upfront, Anki will save you time in the long run. I tried using FC from the very beginning. IMHO, their questions are complete crap. Many are vague, poorly worded, and not amenable to spaced repetition. And it seems that the company is more interested in branching out than they are in improving their existing products. Like the above poster pointed out, spaced repetition is meant to be done fast. Most (not all) FC questions are far from that. So while you may save time initially, you'll find lots of people who begin FC with good intentions and later find the time commitment to be too much. And, make no mistake, these people who drop out aren't just lazy. But FC isn't all bad. I'll be the first to admit that their cards are nice and generally well written. I've definitely picked up some integration facts from FC.
On the other hand, while Anki works for me, I don't think Anki is for everyone. You'll run into the exact same problems as FC if you don't know how to write questions correctly, even with using FA as a guide. Maybe I'm a slow learner, but it took me several starts and stops to be able to write good questions for Anki. Even now, I'll occasionally have to remove or edit a card because it's just not written well enough for regular use.
For the record, I have a subscription to FC, but I primarily use my self-written cards on Anki. I like looking over the cards in FC because, as mentioned above, the content is good. However I can bang out my self-generated questions, faster and with better retention, using Anki. I've been using it since last summer and add content immediately after I finish a module. I have zero complaints.
If you decide to use Anki, this should be your guide in writing questions: http://www.supermemo.com/articles/20rules.htm
Yes, it looks like a geocities webpage nightmare out of the 90s, but the content is top notch.
On the other hand, while Anki works for me, I don't think Anki is for everyone. You'll run into the exact same problems as FC if you don't know how to write questions correctly, even with using FA as a guide. Maybe I'm a slow learner, but it took me several starts and stops to be able to write good questions for Anki. Even now, I'll occasionally have to remove or edit a card because it's just not written well enough for regular use.
For the record, I have a subscription to FC, but I primarily use my self-written cards on Anki. I like looking over the cards in FC because, as mentioned above, the content is good. However I can bang out my self-generated questions, faster and with better retention, using Anki. I've been using it since last summer and add content immediately after I finish a module. I have zero complaints.
If you decide to use Anki, this should be your guide in writing questions: http://www.supermemo.com/articles/20rules.htm
Yes, it looks like a geocities webpage nightmare out of the 90s, but the content is top notch.
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2010
- Messages
- 903
- Reaction score
- 93
+1
I've been using Anki to make purely image occlusion cards straight out of FA, so it's much faster than having to type everything out; plus it's nice to have that visual component so it's literally like you're going through FA each time you do a pass. This entire winter break I've been going over all my cards and deleting the older ones which I thought were crap (which was basically 99% of them). Before I had each small section in FA as its own card, which was stupid cause it took me like so long to recall all that–if I could even recall it all that is. Now I've made multiple cards from each small section, and they're much faster and easier to get through. Granted my deck size increased almost by 10x, before I'd get through around 30-40 cards/hr, now 200+, so I think it was worth it. I don't have any experience with FC, but to reiterate the above post, it's definitely a trial and error process with figuring out how to make proper cards with Anki. But once you do, it's awesome.
