ANKI taking too long M2

[Redpancreas]

Shifting to ANKI during M2 and right now I'm trying to get a headstart on the material (already been posted)...don't jump on me guys, I took 2 months of vacation so yeah anyways,..

Like I'm trying to follow best ANKI protocol for my Immuno coursepack but it's just taking too long!
For example, 10 dense pages takes 4 HOURS! That's about 1/2 a days worth according to the typical class schedule. That coupled with all the required events, etc. when school starts means I'll only have an hour to review...and when I actually did get to reviewing the days flashcards, it took me 2+ hours to review 70 flashcards...(granted those were kind of worse than the ones I make now)


How do I speed things up while retaining comprehension? I think that if I can speed thru the making of the cards somehow and then get to reviewing, I'd be a lot better off.

During M1, my problem was that I took too much time to encode the material (put it in a way I can understand it) and way less time to memorize it and it hurt for the detailed exams my school (like every other school) gives.

Any ideas?

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[masaraksh]

Have you tried studying without flash-cards?

 

[Jabbed]

This is why I find making anki cards for class material to be soul crushing. For the classes that I used Anki religiously (anatomy and pharm), I felt that simply making the cards was 70-80% of the learning process, so I didn't need much time to review them.

Three options:

1. Group with other people and crowd source cards.
2. Make ****ty cloze deletion cards that are copy/paste of the material.
3. Forget about Anki altogether for class material or make cards sparingly (i.e. just make cards for things like interleukins, diseases, and drugs).

 

[Psai]

instead of making cards why not try just memorizing things and then testing yourself and reread them as many times as possible

 

[Redpancreas]

Hey guys, so just to clarify, ANKI is still a good use of time for Step 1 if used correctly right?

 

[*brobro*]

Hey guys, so just to clarify, ANKI is still a good use of time for Step 1 if used correctly right?

I pretty much used anki as my entire foundation for step 1 studying (+qbanks and pathoma to pre read for lectures). I didn't make my own cards, just used that old slyfaux deck that is floating around. It's made mostly from FA2012 but it worked just fine. The above plus studying hard for school material was enough to hit a 259 on step 1.

 

[CodeRedDew]

Hey guys, so just to clarify, ANKI is still a good use of time for Step 1 if used correctly right?

Considered it one of my "main" study tools (in addition to UFAP) and scored > 260, so I thought it was invaluable to my Step 1 studying.

 

[joker2400]

I found that reading the material multiple times is quicker and just as effective as flash cards. You will find that later in the year you won't have the time to make cards for all the material they throw at you

 

[Mr. Vandemar]

Can you elaborate on your workflow when making cards? I use Anki exclusively for studying, and making the cards takes very little time relative to reviewing them.

My method is mostly to just start on the first page of the PowerPoint or whatever for the day, and convert each important seeming concept into a card as quickly as possible, with minimal time actually thinking about the content unless I truly just don't understand what I'm reading (in which case I Google it or whatever). I use almost all Q&A style cards, and start many of them with "why" so that my answer forces me to explain the concept. Because of this, reviewing new cards takes a long time. This sort of goes against the whole "learn before memorizing" thing, but I've found that as long as I keep up with my reviews each day that concepts stick no matter how well I initially understood them.

 

[Burla]

If it is taking 2 hours to review 70 cards, then your cards are waaaaay too long. For example, 100 cards would take me about 30-40 minutes depending on how many new cards there are. The spaced repetition programs are really meant to be quick recall rather than extremely detailed like the commercially available cards where you have to recite an entire paragraph of information.

To speed things up I would recommend copying/pasting and using image occlusion. Other than that, I can't really give any more advice since I don't know too much about the situation.

 

[cs24]

Hey guys, so just to clarify, ANKI is still a good use of time for Step 1 if used correctly right?

If you like learning from flashcards then yeah, probably. But it certainly isn't essential, and could be counterproductive if it isn't your ideal study method. You're almost a second year now, you should have a pretty good idea of how you prefer to study.

 

[Redpancreas]

Ok anki first aid, but just memorize school material via reading/testing myself

Got it! Thanks everyone 🙂

 

[joker2400]

Ok anki first aid, but just memorize school material via reading/testing myself

Got it! Thanks everyone 🙂

Don't memorize too much during the year, learn instead. It's infinitely easier to understand the things that occur in CHF if you learn the underlying principles than it is to memorize all the things they teach you about it.

 

[operaman]

1. Make ****ty cloze deletion cards that are copy/paste of the material.

This is exactly what i did. Works really well actually and you'll get better at discerning what merits a card and what doesn't. I could generally convert things to cards 1:1 with real time (1 hour lecture = 1 hour of card making). It's still soul crushing, but if you keep up with material it basically guarantees an incredible score.

 

[Stagg737]

@*brobro* and @CodeRedDew , if you don't mind me asking, what decks did you use when studying and how early did you start using them specifically for boards? I was considering using a deck like brosencephalon's but idk how beneficial a deck that thick will be...