How to Review: Anki vs. Q's, what's your say?

[pbrocks15]

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Hi everyone,

Second year here trying to dedicate some time now to reviewing Step 1 material a little more.

Was wondering how you guys would recommend splitting 2 hours a day of dedicated time to Step by using anki and practice Q's of old material. I have been doing anki now for old material, but I have thousands due at any time now from my Bro/Anki deck. For questions, I mainly use Usmle Rx.

Let me know what you guys think or if there is a better way to use my time now please mention below!

Projected test is mid/end of May.

Thanks

 

[Gurby]

I'm only an M1 so take with salt, but I'll throw my hat in -

Both are important: Spaced repetition is where you build your foundation of knowledge. Practice questions are where you apply/refine the knowledge, and build test taking skills. IMO if you have thousands of Anki cards piling up you're doing it wrong - try changing your settings to show you fewer new cards each day so you can stay on top of it and let the algorithm work its magic.

As for the question, IMO it depends on how far out from test day you are - the closer you get to the test, the more time you need to spend building mental stamina and learning timing/format of the test. Assuming you're a few months out, if I was in your position, I would prioritize getting all Anki cards done every day, then do practice questions as time allows. Seems futile to do practice questions if you don't have a solid foundation to work with.

 

[pbrocks15]

I'm only an M1 so take with salt, but I'll throw my hat in -

Both are important: Spaced repetition is where you build your foundation of knowledge. Practice questions are where you apply/refine the knowledge, and build test taking skills. IMO if you have thousands of Anki cards piling up you're doing it wrong - try changing your settings to show you fewer new cards each day so you can stay on top of it and let the algorithm work its magic.

As for the question, IMO it depends on how far out from test day you are - the closer you get to the test, the more time you need to spend building mental stamina and learning timing/format of the test. Assuming you're a few months out, if I was in your position, I would prioritize getting all Anki cards done every day, then do practice questions as time allows. Seems futile to do practice questions if you don't have a solid foundation to work with.

Thanks for the response.


I've been doing Zanki and some old anki that I made from 1st year and unfortunately after almost 5 - 6 blocks the reviews were too much to keep up with and do my course specific Zanki. I can still keep up with Zanki for my current block, but the reviews for all the others have piled up to be too much. I can't manage to do 1000 reviews in a day on top of all of my other course work. I can manage currently 100-200 a day of old review Zanki though. I don't know if that is extremely helpful though and if I should split that time with questions. My exam is May 2018.

 

[njtrimed]

Thanks for the response.


I've been doing Zanki and some old anki that I made from 1st year and unfortunately after almost 5 - 6 blocks the reviews were too much to keep up with and do my course specific Zanki. I can still keep up with Zanki for my current block, but the reviews for all the others have piled up to be too much. I can't manage to do 1000 reviews in a day on top of all of my other course work. I can manage currently 100-200 a day of old review Zanki though. I don't know if that is extremely helpful though and if I should split that time with questions. My exam is May 2018.

I don’t think there’s a consensus on what actually works, since it’s obviously going to vary from one person to the next. I would say do whatever cards work for you when you can (Zanki, firecracker, brosencephalon, etc.) and start some sort of Qbank as well. They’re both necessary; you need to review the concepts, but you need to understand how they’re tested. Most people I know who have done extremely well on boards have said that it’s really important to learn all the buzz words and catch phrases, and that you tend to really get those down when you do as many questions as possible.

 

[68PGunner]

Thanks for the response.


I've been doing Zanki and some old anki that I made from 1st year and unfortunately after almost 5 - 6 blocks the reviews were too much to keep up with and do my course specific Zanki. I can still keep up with Zanki for my current block, but the reviews for all the others have piled up to be too much. I can't manage to do 1000 reviews in a day on top of all of my other course work. I can manage currently 100-200 a day of old review Zanki though. I don't know if that is extremely helpful though and if I should split that time with questions. My exam is May 2018.

I actually changed my setting to 20-30 cards per block nowadays especially on top of doing new cards and studying new materials.

On weekend days, I open up my schedule and pound through 700-900 review days as a catch up. Also, feel free to overestimate your ability and push the cards further out to like 2 months. If you can't remember the card in two months, it's worth it to reset it to 1 day.

 

[libertyyne]

In your circumstances you should be doing uworld on untimed / tutor mode .

 

[pbrocks15]

I don’t think there’s a consensus on what actually works, since it’s ovviously going to vary from one person to the next. I would say do whatever cards work for you when you can (Zanki, firecracker, brosencephalon, etc.) and start some sort of Qbank as well. They’re both necessary; you need to review the concepts, but you need to understand how they’re tested. Most people I know who have done extremely well on boards have said that it’s really important to learn all the buzz words and catch phrases, and that you tend to really get those down when you do as many questions as possible.

This is what I've been struggling with a little as I feel like Anki is great for really learning buzz words and minutiae that I normally feel like I would forget. On the other hand, I feel like questions help test my ability to reason and apply what I know but I always feel like I could reach more information at times doing Anki compared to questions. For example, I can reach 100 reviews or so of Anki in an hour but then I can only do 20-30 questions and review them in an hour. I think striking a balance is where I am leaning towards.

 

[pbrocks15]

In your circumstances you should be doing uworld on untimed / tutor mode .

I have been doing UWorld but I do not actually do it every day. I do it for the block im in and I usually leave some old UWorld to also complete at the same time during that block so I can be reviewing some old material as a refresher. The problem I have is that it takes a ridiculous amount of time. I can say that doing around 20-25 questions, along with reading and annotating into FA takes me about 2.5 hours. I don't annotate too much, just the important stuff that I think is really necessary to get the question right, BUT I do read all the choices including the wrong ones and why they are wrong. Should I be doing UWorld differently from what I'm doing now? I'm on schedule to have at least one pass done by dedicated.

 

[pbrocks15]

I actually changed my setting to 20-30 cards per block nowadays especially on top of doing new cards and studying new materials.

On weekend days, I open up my schedule and pound through 700-900 review days as a catch up. Also, feel free to overestimate your ability and push the cards further out to like 2 months. If you can't remember the card in two months, it's worth it to reset it to 1 day.

You mean that you do 20-30 new cards of old material? I can maybe use weekends to catch up with more reviews, I just have been using other resources but am trying to wind it down with just a few. I usually would do my typical schedule on the weekend for Anki but add in either questions from other blocks, reading other texts, etc.

 

[intubesteak]

I think it does not really matter what you do, its more about how well you are doing it. As soon as my focus starts to wander I switch what I am doing and try to get my brain back on track. Flashcards, reading, and Qs--they all help. Just do whatever your brain is in the mood for.

 

[pbrocks15]

I think it does not really matter what you do, its more about how well you are doing it. As soon as my focus starts to wander I switch what I am doing and try to get my brain back on track. Flashcards, reading, and Qs--they all help. Just do whatever your brain is in the mood for.

I feel like I would be more comfortable being in a routine though compared to just moving along that day with what I feel like doing. I'm the day to day i do actually the same as you and change things up through the day depending on what I'm feeling like doing but I have written down what I wanna get done at the end of the day it just depends on how I get it done. So I'm looking for something that I can really do daily and feel comfortable stickng to it through the rest of this year and maybe ramping up a little more next year with more questions.

 

[Donald Juan]

Questions should be the corner stone of your step studying. No other single resource should be taking more time.

 

[Oh_Gee]

gucci mane and drake thinks you should do both!

 

[Azete]

I have been doing UWorld but I do not actually do it every day. I do it for the block im in and I usually leave some old UWorld to also complete at the same time during that block so I can be reviewing some old material as a refresher. The problem I have is that it takes a ridiculous amount of time. I can say that doing around 20-25 questions, along with reading and annotating into FA takes me about 2.5 hours. I don't annotate too much, just the important stuff that I think is really necessary to get the question right, BUT I do read all the choices including the wrong ones and why they are wrong. Should I be doing UWorld differently from what I'm doing now? I'm on schedule to have at least one pass done by dedicated.

This is going to go against the grain a bit but after scoring well on Step 1, I genuinely don't think spending that much time on UWorld questions is a good use of time.

Don't get me wrong, UWorld is the single best resource available for boards, period. I just don't think combing over every single answer and annotating is very efficient; I know a ton of people that annotated FA (including myself), but I don't know anyone that actually re-read their annotations. If you know the topic well, read the objective summary at the bottom and move on. If you don't, then spend a little more time with it. If you're consistently scoring low on a particular section, then stop doing questions and go re-learn the material. Don't make it more complicated than that.

 

[intubesteak]

I feel like I would be more comfortable being in a routine though compared to just moving along that day with what I feel like doing. I'm the day to day i do actually the same as you and change things up through the day depending on what I'm feeling like doing but I have written down what I wanna get done at the end of the day it just depends on how I get it done. So I'm looking for something that I can really do daily and feel comfortable stickng to it through the rest of this year and maybe ramping up a little more next year with more questions.

I like firecracker for that purpose. I split up when I do it throughout the day but make it my goal to complete however many questions they give me. Plus, since I paid $$$$$ for it, I feel like I have to use it even when I don't feel like it (unlike anki). I go through phases of love/hate but honestly it is money. Doing solid on Uworld blocks because of it.