Firecracker during MD1

[drdking]

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I’ve been using the 30 day free trial of Firecracker for the last week. Up until now I’ve been primarily using Anki to study but I’m enjoying how Firecracker supplements my own cards. However I’m curious how others set it up.

I followed the setup instructions to mark all my past courses and current courses. So while the majority of my daily questions relate to what I need to know for my next test, a small but noticeable chunk are from the past courses. While I understand that I’m going to eventually need to re-learn that information for Step, I don’t need to know it now.

Should I change my settings so I only get questions from my current block, or leave it as a gentle but constant reminder of past information?

 

[caramelbear]

I would say it depends on how much you study per day and how well you are doing. If you're a top performer who has a decent amount of free time, I don't think it would hurt to leave in past cards. If you are at all pressed for time or aren't performing as well as you feel you should be, then I would turn off the past cards for now. Plenty of time for that later. If I could travel back in time, I would have started firecracker in MS1 and just done a few questions everyday in the summer to freshen up on biochem. If you turn off past now, I would suggest maybe doing that. If you feel like you need a serious break though, then don't. You will want to be fresh and fulfilled for the start of MS2.

 

[mcloaf]

The whole point of spaced repetition is that you continually review things. By just using firecracker to study for your most current exams you're missing out on the most valuable aspect of the program.