Bros or Zanki if starting after M1

[Frogger27]

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Would you guys do Bros or Zanki if you were starting the deck summer after M1? I am a little concerned about the amount of cards that are in Zanki

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Would you guys do Bros or Zanki if you were starting the deck summer after M1? I am a little concerned about the amount of cards that are in Zanki

Just do Zanki unless you are starting winter of 2nd year. I will probably reset my Zanki deck and do 100 new cards a day from day 1 of fall semester and I should finish about February. It's doable, it just takes dedication.

 

[Dox4lyfe]

Just do Zanki unless you are starting winter of 2nd year. I will probably reset my Zanki deck and do 100 new cards a day from day 1 of fall semester and I should finish about February. It's doable, it just takes dedication.

If you don't mind me asking, is there any reason why you chose zanki over FC besides the cost difference? In the step 1 threads, it looks like more pple use zanki, but more pple who used FC said it was gold. I might just end up flipping a coin soon lol.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

If you don't mind me asking, is there any reason why you chose zanki over FC besides the cost difference? In the step 1 threads, it looks like more pple use zanki, but more pple who used FC said it was gold. I might just end up flipping a coin soon lol.

The Anki algorithm is better in my experience. This sentiment is shared by more than a few people I've talked to.

No matter which one you pick, once you do make sure you stick to it. That's the important part.

 

[iforget2]

I've also found that in zanki it's really easy to memorize the answer based on how the question is worded. For example, there's a card that says something like primary lactase deficiency is found in Asian, African, and Native American people. The blank might be "Asian", and i'll know that's the answer, but then I won't know that it has to do with primary lactase deficiency. Although as a huge disclaimer, and this might be the exact reason why, I haven't yet started school and just going through zanki just to see what the cards are like (not studying them). Anyone else have a similar experience?

 

[Dox4lyfe]

I've also found that in zanki it's really easy to memorize the answer based on how the question is worded. For example, there's a card that says something like primary lactase deficiency is found in Asian, African, and Native American people. The blank might be "Asian", and i'll know that's the answer, but then I won't know that it has to do with primary lactase deficiency. Although as a huge disclaimer, and this might be the exact reason why, I haven't yet started school and just going through zanki just to see what the cards are like (not studying them). Anyone else have a similar experience?

I've noticed that as well, but I also only looked at the cards briefly. Does anyone with anki experience know if cards can be edited as we go through them?

 

[SouthernGent]

I've noticed that as well, but I also only looked at the cards briefly. Does anyone with anki experience know if cards can be edited as we go through them?

Yes. I have found reading the card out-loud and explaining it to myself after completing it helps fix the aforementioned problem too.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

I've also found that in zanki it's really easy to memorize the answer based on how the question is worded. For example, there's a card that says something like primary lactase deficiency is found in Asian, African, and Native American people. The blank might be "Asian", and i'll know that's the answer, but then I won't know that it has to do with primary lactase deficiency. Although as a huge disclaimer, and this might be the exact reason why, I haven't yet started school and just going through zanki just to see what the cards are like (not studying them). Anyone else have a similar experience?

I've noticed that as well, but I also only looked at the cards briefly. Does anyone with anki experience know if cards can be edited as we go through them?

Yes you can edit it. However, what you aren't seeing is there is most likely another card later on that says "Primary [.] Deficiency is found in asian, african, and native american people."

There are lots of cards like this where you think you are just memorizing the answer and random pieces of info but when you are done with that whole subdeck you realize that all those little pieces came together into a big picture and then you wreck the exam.

 

[Gurby]

I've also found that in zanki it's really easy to memorize the answer based on how the question is worded. For example, there's a card that says something like primary lactase deficiency is found in Asian, African, and Native American people. The blank might be "Asian", and i'll know that's the answer, but then I won't know that it has to do with primary lactase deficiency. Although as a huge disclaimer, and this might be the exact reason why, I haven't yet started school and just going through zanki just to see what the cards are like (not studying them). Anyone else have a similar experience?

Yes, a large percentage of the Zanki cards are trash for this reason. It frustrates me to no end - it feels like a conscious decision was made to have the cards be this way. In my personal opinion, the fewer context clues the better.

I've noticed that as well, but I also only looked at the cards briefly. Does anyone with anki experience know if cards can be edited as we go through them?

Yes. I have gone through and changed probably 35% of my Zanki cards to remove the context clues. All you do is hit "edit" and shift around where the clozes are, and add new ones as needed. Pretty easy to do on an iPad or computer, not easy on a phone.

If you don't mind me asking, is there any reason why you chose zanki over FC besides the cost difference? In the step 1 threads, it looks like more pple use zanki, but more pple who used FC said it was gold. I might just end up flipping a coin soon lol.

IMO cost should not factor into your decision if you plan to go all-in with one of these. I probably spent around >1500 hours with Anki over the past year, and plan to go even harder in the paint M2. Pick the system you like best and think will work for you.

As much as I hate how easy the Zanki clozes tend to be, I do appreciate the granularity of the questions vs FC. I felt like the FC cards were way too broad generally - I did the free trial and found that for any given FC card I felt like I wanted to go make 20 Anki cards to make sure I was remembering every detail. At least with Anki when I come across a bad card, I can edit it to my liking or suspend it. I also like the transparency of Anki's algorithm - I think the algorithm leaves much to be desired vs other spaced repetition programs, but at least I can see how many days until the next review and I can change my answer accordingly. Also I think being able to make your own cards is important - for instance if I do a practice question and come across something I don't know well enough, I can make some cards about the topic to make sure I don't forget.

One big advantage of FC is that it's probably better for the "whole picture". It's really easy to click on "read more" or whatever and have your memory refreshed about the big picture. Another plus is that FC is more legit and vetted - there is a fair number of errors in Zanki so you have to be on your toes a little bit, look things up online if they seem off, etc.

Zanki is a pain in the ass, but the granularity and editability cause it to win out over FC for me. It's pretty much a leap of faith at this point though. FC is more proven and there are >260 scorers who swear by it, so that's a big plus. Zanki came out recently so not as many people have finished. Should have more data points after July 11th or whenever the next round of Step 1 scores is released.

At the end of the day it probably doesn't make a difference whether you go with FC, Zanki, Bros, Lightyear, etc. The important thing is building that foundation, and then applying it via a ton of question bank questions.

(this is all speculation as I don't take Step 1 until next year)

 

[Scrubs101]

Zanki
-better algorithm
-free
-doing the cards dont make me want to jump off a bridge
-doing X number of cards is quicker than X number of FC cards

FC
-more user friendly
-more “complete” IMO
-easy to look stuff up about a subject
-comes w/ q bank


I use FC btw

No comment of bros vs zanki, only have played around with zanki

 

[Save a life]

@Gurby ’s response are my feelings exactly. I prefer Zanki after using both resources.

Zanki:
- an easy way to memorize FA and pathoma.
- customizable: I add my lecture material to a “current deck” and then delete it after the test. This way I study every detail in lecture and everything in pathoma and FA.
- you can track everything and change all the settings.
- it’s free.

FC:
- the flash card algorithm is somewhat confusing and cannot be customized.
- the answer to the flash cards are paragraphs.

 

[Dox4lyfe]

Wow thank you all! Zanki it is.

 

[Scrubs101]

Firecracker sucks. It kills me inside every time I open the app. I absolutely hate it.

Re-effing-tweet bro

 

[realmadrid23]

i did Bros starting January of 1st year keeping up with systems (eventually added Zanki pharm cause i liked it better)..thought it really helped, but i guess i'll let ya know it about 4 weeks once i get my score

 

[iforget2]

I would say that literally every poster that I am aware of who has marked and seen 100% of Firecracker scored 255-260+. This even applies to the users who had q-bank averages and NBME averages that were predicting lower scores. They all take Step and end up doing amazing.

Firecracker sucks. It kills me inside every time I open the app. I absolutely hate it. But it works like magic.

(Also have yet to take Step, but I'm very satisfied with my q-bank averages)

When do you take Step? You and @intubesteak are the 2 biggest FC users I see on this site lol. It's been very helpful reading your previous posts on FC.

 

[rg2o3]

Zanki
-better algorithm
-free
-doing the cards dont make me want to jump off a bridge
-doing X number of cards is quicker than X number of FC cards

FC
-more user friendly
-more “complete” IMO
-easy to look stuff up about a subject
-comes w/ q bank


I use FC btw

No comment of bros vs zanki, only have played around with zanki

I have been playing around with both Anki and the free trial of FC just to see what I like better. I want to use one of them from day 1. I don’t like the usability of Anki. So, do you think that using FC is an efficient use of time and will prepare me well?

 

[Scrubs101]

I have been playing around with both Anki and the free trial of FC just to see what I like better. I want to use one of them from day 1. I don’t like the usability of Anki. So, do you think that using FC is an efficient use of time and will prepare me well?

I would say that yeah both of them are efficient uses of time, pending you do them every day. But I would stress to give yourself a week or two to learn anki, its got a bit of a learning curve to it but once you get it down its a wonderful extremely customizable free program.

The part about FC that makes me hesitate giving it my full recommendation is how demoralizing doing it can be, and like I mentioned above both programs will pay off dividends if you put in the time to do them every single day. Due to the demoralizing nature of FC, and how much longer it takes to get through for example 100 cards, my guess is it's easier to stay motivated to do anki everyday.

That being said I love that i can just like "show more" at the bottom of a card to get a complete refresher on something if i have the time. A card saying "What population is h pylori most common in?" when you don't even remember the relevance of h pylori isn't worth much. With anki you can always google something, and some people prefer this and I even have to refer to dr. google occasionally with FC, but I really do enjoy having the necessary information right there in front of me when i want it. It's also nice that they have the informational section and q banks to help solidify section, whenever I flag something to add to my current cards I always read the info on it first. Then for school exams you can go through a section or specific subsection and do all the qbank questions to get an even better hold on the material.

 

[rg2o3]

I would say that yeah both of them are efficient uses of time, pending you do them every day. But I would stress to give yourself a week or two to learn anki, its got a bit of a learning curve to it but once you get it down its a wonderful extremely customizable free program.

The part about FC that makes me hesitate giving it my full recommendation is how demoralizing doing it can be, and like I mentioned above both programs will pay off dividends if you put in the time to do them every single day. Due to the demoralizing nature of FC, and how much longer it takes to get through for example 100 cards, my guess is it's easier to stay motivated to do anki everyday.

That being said I love that i can just like "show more" at the bottom of a card to get a complete refresher on something if i have the time. A card saying "What population is h pylori most common in?" when you don't even remember the relevance of h pylori isn't worth much. With anki you can always google something, and some people prefer this and I even have to refer to dr. google occasionally with FC, but I really do enjoy having the necessary information right there in front of me when i want it. It's also nice that they have the informational section and q banks to help solidify section, whenever I flag something to add to my current cards I always read the info on it first. Then for school exams you can go through a section or specific subsection and do all the qbank questions to get an even better hold on the material.

Thank you for the in-depth response. A lot of what you pointed out as being “pros” for FC, sound great. I also like that it’s an easier task to find relevant information for each specific exam coming up. I guess I’ll spend this week really playing with Anki and see if I can gain some framiliarity with the program.

Also, when you say FC is demoralizing, what exactly do you mean? Are the cards too difficult? Or just long?

 

[Scrubs101]

Thank you for the in-depth response. A lot of what you pointed out as being “pros” for FC, sound great. I also like that it’s an easier task to find relevant information for each specific exam coming up. I guess I’ll spend this week really playing with Anki and see if I can gain some framiliarity with the program.

Also, when you say FC is demoralizing, what exactly do you mean? Are the cards too difficult? Or just long?

Yeah it definitely never hurts to try either one! Honestly for all of M-1 you could switch between the two undecided as much as you want and I doubt itd have any negative effects, besides losing $$$ if you go w/ FC and dont like it. So if you decide on one and change your mind, dont sweat it.

Yeah some cards can be long, explanations can be longer. Sometimes there’s multiple pictures attached as well. Some cards are like “recall 15 hormones that have effects in cAMP” “name 11 x-linked recessive diseases”, some are like give shorter questions but multiple paragraph long answers that can’t possible be reciting word for word like what flashcards should be used for. Theres quite a few “case based” flash cards.

These can all be pros as well depending on how you look at it. Just by no means a quick task. When you have class exams every week (schools not true pass/fail), and class exams are heavily based on lecture material, it becomes extremely hard to sit down and do 2hrs of flashcards and only knock out 150~ of 17k cards. That being said im not the most efficent at flashcarding, as flashcards aren’t really my “thing” and dont keep me engaged. Just doing it because i hope it pays off one day, cant really tell if it is or not. I’ve done a decent amount of qbank questions and im doing alright(interestingly enough my FC qbank average is trash), but most of the time if i get something right it’s usually because it was stressed well in class or a lucky guess and not because i remember some esoteric detail from a card. But who knows that card may have helped me retain that info from class.

I’m no where near the model long term flash card user though so my “pay off” for using FC will be nowhere near those who actually did it every single day. I use it as often as I can, majority of the days of the week, but sometimes wont use it for week+ if life gets crazy. I can definitely tell when i get a couple weeks in of using it consistently that the cards become quicker to get through and the payoff feels more worth it. Which is why i stress so much that if you do pick a long term retention flashcard system, to stick with it as much as you can.

Sorry long rant lol

 

[rg2o3]

Yeah it definitely never hurts to try either one! Honestly for all of M-1 you could switch between the two undecided as much as you want and I doubt itd have any negative effects, besides losing $$$ if you go w/ FC and dont like it. So if you decide on one and change your mind, dont sweat it.

Yeah some cards can be long, explanations can be longer. Sometimes there’s multiple pictures attached as well. Some cards are like “recall 15 hormones that have effects in cAMP” “name 11 x-linked recessive diseases”, some are like give shorter questions but multiple paragraph long answers that can’t possible be reciting word for word like what flashcards should be used for. Theres quite a few “case based” flash cards.

These can all be pros as well depending on how you look at it. Just by no means a quick task. When you have class exams every week (schools not true pass/fail), and class exams are heavily based on lecture material, it becomes extremely hard to sit down and do 2hrs of flashcards and only knock out 150~ of 17k cards. That being said im not the most efficent at flashcarding, as flashcards aren’t really my “thing” and dont keep me engaged. Just doing it because i hope it pays off one day, cant really tell if it is or not. I’ve done a decent amount of qbank questions and im doing alright(interestingly enough my FC qbank average is trash), but most of the time if i get something right it’s usually because it was stressed well in class or a lucky guess and not because i remember some esoteric detail from a card. But who knows that card may have helped me retain that info from class.

I’m no where near the model long term flash card user though so my “pay off” for using FC will be nowhere near those who actually did it every single day. I use it as often as I can, majority of the days of the week, but sometimes wont use it for week+ if life gets crazy. I can definitely tell when i get a couple weeks in of using it consistently that the cards become quicker to get through and the payoff feels more worth it. Which is why i stress so much that if you do pick a long term retention flashcard system, to stick with it as much as you can.

Sorry long rant lol

Thanks for all of the great info. If I do decide on trying FC, I’ll buy the shortest subscription at first. I definitely want to get on one of these because, as I’ve learned from undergrad, I can “learn” a ton of infor and crush the exam, but then it’s 90 percent gone immediately. This obviously can’t be the case anymore, hah.

 

[Scrubs101]

Thanks for all of the great info. If I do decide on trying FC, I’ll buy the shortest subscription at first. I definitely want to get on one of these because, as I’ve learned from undergrad, I can “learn” a ton of infor and crush the exam, but then it’s 90 percent gone immediately. This obviously can’t be the case anymore, hah.

I think thats a good plan, I’m the same way lol. Best of luck!