Doing well without using anki?

[halmoni]

I just started M2 and I've been thinking about how I'd like to approach step. I know from first year that anki doesn't really fit my learning style-- I prefer making my own diagrams and notes, reading textbooks/wikipedia, and doing practice questions. This method worked for me and I usually scored 1-2 std deviations above the class average. I also used anki very minimally for the MCAT and did pretty well.

I'm a bit worried about how I'm supposed to tackle step when I see so many of my classmates doing zanki. Does anyone have any no anki success stories? If so, how did you approach M2 and dedicated?

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[Marche med student]

I didn't use Anki and I did fine on Step 1. That's just me though. I saw other students using it and had access to all the common pre-made decks, but I never got into it. I prefer lots of rounded out details when I study so that I build a web of knowledge that fits together. I hate bullet point learning. I also barely used First Aid.

However, lots of students swear by it, and it does facilitate spaced repetition which is proven to be beneficial.

I read books to learn. I don't mind doing that. I also did lots of questions. If I kept getting something wrong, I'd make a note and go over it again at regular intervals. I used word documents and color coded what I needed to work on.

I'd say give any tried and true study resource a fair chance, but know that you don't have to join the UFAP cult to succeed.

 

[Blueprint Med School]

You definitely do not have to use Anki to do well on Step. However, if you are the kind of person who likes to make their own notes and diagrams and would like to utilize flashcards in some kind of way then I would recommend making your own Anki flashcards. You can do this during your M2 coursework but I especially recommend making them as you go through UWorld questions. These can be brief, fact based or vignette-style flashcards that highlight the main take-away points and/or concepts from a UW question. I think making your own flashcards is really beneficial when compared to pre-made flashcards because you are much more likely to understand and retain information on a flashcards that you wrote yourself rather than one written by someone else. Plus, you can add your own mnemonics and pictures to it as well. Furthermore, the actual act of typing/writing up up a flashcard contributes to the learning process in itself. When you create a flashcard, you are forced to think about the concept and question again while you are physically creating the card. I always recommend my students to create their own flashcards rather that use pre-made ones. P.S. stick with electronic flashcards if you can (typing is much more time efficient than writing).

Good luck!

- Annette G, MD, MPH - USMLE Tutor and Residency Advisor at Med School Tutors

 

[Deecee2DO]

Most certainly. I didnt use anki. Scored a 254

 

[efle]

You can score 250+ without touching Anki but it's popular for a reason. In hindsight I wish I had used it. I was in denial about how much the rote minutiae questions impact your score on Step 1. You can easily pass the exam knowing just the fundamentals of medicine (~70% correct) but if you want to compete with the top quartile up near 90% of questions correct, you have to nail a lot of obscure factoid questions too. For example, 2-3 factoid questions per 40 question block are the difference between a 235 and a 250.

 

[jmtbekm]

Most certainly. I didnt use anki. Scored a 254

Please elaborate on what you did instead. I tried anki for gross anatomy and every time I opened the program I just wanted to do anything else but sit and press a spacebar. I ended up using Rohen’s, covering up the answers and did just fine. I’m in cardio now and I’m leaning towards lectures + practice questions...but will that be enough to retain the info all the way to boards?

 

[Deecee2DO]

Please elaborate on what you did instead. I tried anki for gross anatomy and every time I opened the program I just wanted to do anything else but sit and press a spacebar. I ended up using Rohen’s, covering up the answers and did just fine. I’m in cardio now and I’m leaning towards lectures + practice questions...but will that be enough to retain the info all the way to boards?

Practice questions are the secret to killing step 1. I did 8000 practice questions. More questions the higher the score (direct correlation). The more unique/new questions you do the better. For example doing UW 2x is inferior to doing UW 1x plus Amboss 1x. When you take the exam on exam day youll be faced with questions youve never seen before so the more critical thinking roadmaps you build from doing more unique questions the more familiar the unfamiliar will be. You def dont NEED Zanki or AnKing to get a 250+ which is a common thing thats said on sdn and imo is a complete trash statement. For example one of my friends on here scored the same as me but did the anki method so its whatever works for you. She also did a ton of practice questions as well so its hard to say whether the anki was a giant influential factor or not. I do know for sure that more questions=higher score

 

[4thtimeretaker]

Practice questions are the secret to killing step 1. I did 8000 practice questions. More questions the higher the score (direct correlation). The more unique/new questions you do the better. For example doing UW 2x is inferior to doing UW 1x plus Amboss 1x. When you take the exam on exam day youll be faced with questions youve never seen before so the more critical thinking roadmaps you build from doing more unique questions the more familiar the unfamiliar will be. You def dont NEED Zanki or AnKing to get a 250+ which is a common thing thats said on sdn and imo is a complete trash statement. For example one of my friends on here scored the same as me but did the anki method so its whatever works for you. She also did a ton of practice questions as well so its hard to say whether the anki was a giant influential factor or not. I do know for sure that more questions=higher score

Thank you for this write up. How many questions per day did you do through out your 1st two years, personally I didn't do any questions 1st year as our curriculum was very time consuming. However, I've been trying to do questions now. I've started with USMLERx and COMBANK and will switch to Amboss around January and then in April when we start our 8-12 week dedicated I was planning on starting UW. My rationale for this was that UW is the most accurate representation and as I didn't do any questions during 1st year I wanted to familiarize myself with presentation and "high yield topics" through COMBANK and USMLERx. Not sure if this is a good plan. Right now I aim to do 10-20 per day and during out month long winter break ramp that up some. Does this sound like a solid plan?

 

[Deecee2DO]

Thank you for this write up. How many questions per day did you do through out your 1st two years, personally I didn't do any questions 1st year as our curriculum was very time consuming. However, I've been trying to do questions now. I've started with USMLERx and COMBANK and will switch to Amboss around January and then in April when we start our 8-12 week dedicated I was planning on starting UW. My rationale for this was that UW is the most accurate representation and as I didn't do any questions during 1st year I wanted to familiarize myself with presentation and "high yield topics" through COMBANK and USMLERx. Not sure if this is a good plan. Right now I aim to do 10-20 per day and during out month long winter break ramp that up some. Does this sound like a solid plan?

Dude phenomenal plan. Great work! I like it. Fall of M2 i was doing about 15 questions per day. 40 questions per day in the spring and then 80 questions per day from march on until test day. About 3-4 weeks out i was up to 120 per day but 40 of the 120 were UW incorrects (this is the only bank I would say incorrects can be advantageous but only incorrects not repeating questions youve already got correct). A little trick I used as well was that I only used Amboss for my weak topics (40 questions per day of questions filtered to my weak subjects indicated by my UWorld profile). Also dont do the 5 hammer Amboss questions they are too hard and unnecessary

 

[2K17MD2BE]

Hi all. Thanks for these responses. I am currently in my 1st semester (OMS-I) and I am having trouble figuring out how to start board studying. I know it is pretty far out, but I am mostly worried about which study materials to use. I tried using Anki for class work, but quickly realized there were so many ins and outs about it that I did not know. I plan on taking some time over winter break to study it more, but in the meantime I was wondering if anyone had ideas for where to begin and slowly progress. I know of Combank and UW, but the other study materials are foreign to me. Are there any that y'all would suggest to start with, and how might one organize steady studying for maximum retention if one isn't using Anki?

 

[jsajid]

Definitely possible. I did not use Anki, or BnB. During my curriculum I did use FA, pathoma and sketchy, all only once! But 99% of my prep was Qbanks. Scored a 253. IMO practice is the best way to grow and solifidy your knowledge

 

[Deecee2DO]

Not required at all. Only did anki for pharm and micro and I got mid 250s on Step 1 Agree 100% with above poster-i prioritized questions-i think I did about 8000 questions

 

[hiiiiiiiiiii]

Never used anki for anything,...ever....and got a 257 on step and nominated for AOA