Best use of time during MS2: Anki or qbanks?

[Brahventus]

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I've been trying step1 based anki decks throughout ms2 and starting to realize that the reviews are getting to the point where I don't have time for questions on top of course work. Should I ditch anki and just use that time to do as many questions as I can throughout the year? Is anki really worth doing throughout the entire year? My main concern is forgetting information in the long run but I'm wondering if doing questions and grasping a working knowledge of basic test taking skills is better than retaining factoids.

 

[Brahventus]

Bump

 

[Jabbed]

I don't see why they should be mutually exclusive. Scale back your anki reviews and incorporate qbank material.

 

[malin]

i would do both. if the issue is the time in making your own cards, then simply use Brosencephalon's comprehensive anki deck on FA 2014. you might be better off using other people's hard work and modifying it. i used that deck extensively during ms2 [got 252]. if you google the deck you'll see people getting their scores back reporting how it helped them break 240, 250, etc. it works really well, in my opinion. i saw one person in the step 1 experiences thread talk about how he used the brosencephalon deck, uworld, and usmlerx (and maybe even kaplan?), and s/he ended up with a really good score. spaced repetition is a very, very poweful tour, and there will be plenty of time to do both, especially if you're just using another anki deck already made that's been shown to help people (anecdotally, of course, but still i think it's solid)

 

[Brahventus]

i would do both. if the issue is the time in making your own cards, then simply use Brosencephalon's comprehensive anki deck on FA 2014. you might be better off using other people's hard work and modifying it. i used that deck extensively during ms2 [got 252]. if you google the deck you'll see people getting their scores back reporting how it helped them break 240, 250, etc. it works really well, in my opinion. i saw one person in the step 1 experiences thread talk about how he used the brosencephalon deck, uworld, and usmlerx (and maybe even kaplan?), and s/he ended up with a really good score. spaced repetition is a very, very poweful tour, and there will be plenty of time to do both, especially if you're just using another anki deck already made that's been shown to help people (anecdotally, of course, but still i think it's solid)

I've been using Dr. Willbe's and Yousmles deck. Not sure if they're as good a brosencephalon but I know there not as much cards (about 7-10k). Did you cap your reviews? I find myself taking the whole evening to finish my reviews and have no time to do questions since we have mandatory class in the mornings.