Help with ANKI (For MCAT and MEDICAL SCHOOL)! Terrible undergrad studying habits...

Hopefulpremed123

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Hello Everyone,

Most of my friends use Anki in medical school and so I thought that it would be a good idea to start implementing this into my MCAT studying right now. Though I did well in undergrad, I had some awful study methods. I used to literally transcribe everything from the slides onto a paper and basically say things over and over again to memorize it. This was inefficient and took an insane amount of time and most of the time, the long term retention was terrible.

I have this phobia that unless I am writing stuff down while reading a book, I am not actually learning anything. It's not just the main points, but sentence after sentence encompassing everything. I know that this is likely just due to habit, but I really want to change this now.

So, for example, after reading a chapter in a book (I am assuming most people don't take detailed notes and just try to understand it), I presume people shift to ANKI. However, i'd imagine that 90% of the cards you encounter from a premed deck (even if it's pertaining to that one chapter) will be esoteric and you probably don't know the answer to many of the cards after your first pass. So, how long are you supposed to spend on each card? I worry that if I just read it for 5 seconds and click 1, without truly internalizing it and understanding it, I won't remember it. Any advice? At the same time, my friend scoffed at me when I said it takes me an hour+ to go over 100 new cards and that I shouldn't spend a minute on a card.

Any help would be great!

Thanks

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Yeah you really shouldn’t be dwelling so long on internalizing everything. Med school rewards breadth over depth. No more than 10s per card, if you miss it, repeat.

Anki is literally designed to build up your memory in a smart/scientifically support way. Trust the process. Prioritize covering as much ground as possible.
 
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Hello Everyone,

Most of my friends use Anki in medical school and so I thought that it would be a good idea to start implementing this into my MCAT studying right now. Though I did well in undergrad, I had some awful study methods. I used to literally transcribe everything from the slides onto a paper and basically say things over and over again to memorize it. This was inefficient and took an insane amount of time and most of the time, the long term retention was terrible.

I have this phobia that unless I am writing stuff down while reading a book, I am not actually learning anything. It's not just the main points, but sentence after sentence encompassing everything. I know that this is likely just due to habit, but I really want to change this now.

So, for example, after reading a chapter in a book (I am assuming most people don't take detailed notes and just try to understand it), I presume people shift to ANKI. However, i'd imagine that 90% of the cards you encounter from a premed deck (even if it's pertaining to that one chapter) will be esoteric and you probably don't know the answer to many of the cards after your first pass. So, how long are you supposed to spend on each card? I worry that if I just read it for 5 seconds and click 1, without truly internalizing it and understanding it, I won't remember it. Any advice? At the same time, my friend scoffed at me when I said it takes me an hour+ to go over 100 new cards and that I shouldn't spend a minute on a card.

Any help would be great!

Thanks
I struggled with studying methods when I tried to upgrade my qualification. I made two things that helped me; first, I got an assistance from professionals to write my paper at the writing tasks https://edubirdie.com/write-my-paper and review it properly. Second I had to upgrade my learning strategies. So I found valuable ideas in the "Ultralearning" book by Scott Young (google it). His book also mentions Anki application use scenarios and their benefit, along with other tips.
 
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