MD & DO MS1 and Zanki

[fourandtwo]

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Hello, I'm an MS1 using zanki to supplement my studies. It's been working fantastically for me! I'm wondering what you beautiful people of SDN do with those cards after the block is over or when the exam is over. Do you guys suspend those completed zanki cards and revisit during MS2? Or do you guys manage to review old cards every day even during MS1?

 

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Shamim's Guide to Medical School Using Anki (USMLE Step 1 and Class)

This dude has a good system I hope to follow. He has you create 2 decks. One called Current Review and the other called Combined Review. When you are in a specific block, like MSK, you move all the cards from the MSK decks to the Current review. Once that block is done and move onto, lets say, respiratory, you'd move the MSK cards into the Combined Review and then move all the Resp cards to Current Review. After the resp block you move the resp cards into combined review with the MSK cards.

The idea being that you're combined review will continually grow with all your past blocks. With this set up he has it set to review AT LEAST 50 cards from the Current Review (at least) and then 50 of the combined review everyday so that youre getting random variety of your past blocks and retaining the info, while also heavily reviewing your current block cards.

I haven't started but this seems like a good set up that I'm gonna try.

 

[wanderingorion]

Shamim's Guide to Medical School Using Anki (USMLE Step 1 and Class)

This dude has a good system I hope to follow. He has you create 2 decks. One called Current Review and the other called Combined Review. When you are in a specific block, like MSK, you move all the cards from the MSK decks to the Current review. Once that block is done and move onto, lets say, respiratory, you'd move the MSK cards into the Combined Review and then move all the Resp cards to Current Review. After the resp block you move the resp cards into combined review with the MSK cards.

The idea being that you're combined review will continually grow with all your past blocks. With this set up he has it set to review AT LEAST 50 cards from the Current Review (at least) and then 50 of the combined review everyday so that youre getting random variety of your past blocks and retaining the info, while also heavily reviewing your current block cards.

I haven't started but this seems like a good set up that I'm gonna try.

I did exactly this, but with decks I made myself. I'm currently doing this with Zanki starting second year. You'll be in great shape if you start this during first year, as it will save a lot of time.

 

[popopopop]

Shamim's Guide to Medical School Using Anki (USMLE Step 1 and Class)

This dude has a good system I hope to follow. He has you create 2 decks. One called Current Review and the other called Combined Review. When you are in a specific block, like MSK, you move all the cards from the MSK decks to the Current review. Once that block is done and move onto, lets say, respiratory, you'd move the MSK cards into the Combined Review and then move all the Resp cards to Current Review. After the resp block you move the resp cards into combined review with the MSK cards.

The idea being that you're combined review will continually grow with all your past blocks. With this set up he has it set to review AT LEAST 50 cards from the Current Review (at least) and then 50 of the combined review everyday so that youre getting random variety of your past blocks and retaining the info, while also heavily reviewing your current block cards.

I haven't started but this seems like a good set up that I'm gonna try.

I feel having a current deck is a bit redundant, like an extra stop for the sake of naming it "current." Instead of moving to Current review, just leave it in the original deck you're pulling from. From there, you can add a tag to specify which lecture if you want to hone down something for a quiz or a weakness. Once the block is done, move those cards to combined review using hierarchical tags.

 

[Lnsean]

I feel having a current deck is a bit redundant, like an extra stop for the sake of naming it "current." Instead of moving to Current review, just leave it in the original deck you're pulling from. From there, you can add a tag to specify which lecture if you want to hone down something for a quiz or a weakness. Once the block is done, move those cards to combined review using hierarchical tags.

Not at all...some people like to see structured decks in terms of what is going on in class at that moment vs what is the long term goal. You get statistics on both.

 

[fourandtwo]

This thread has been immensely helpful. I just spent 30 min reorganizing my zanki decks. I was already doing more or less what shamim did, but now I have a review deck and 50 review cards a day isn't bad at all 🙂

 

[fourandtwo]

I now have a follow-up question. When you make your own cards for class that ARENT already on zanki, do you delete them afterward because they're low yield? Or do you put them in your combined review decks?


I'm also feeling a little OCD about moving my old cards to combined review haha. Now all my cards have no organization to them except for the tags

 

[RockMcat520]

I feel like Zanki is going to consume a lot of my time especially since I have to search for every card per topic. Did anyone used LightYear Deck that is based on Boards and Beyond and organized per topic? What do you guys suggest?

 

[7331poas]

Light-year > zanki

 

[mybluedog]

Light-year > zanki

Could you elaborate?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MakeLifeHappen13]

Could you elaborate?

Lightyear deck is basically built straight from B&B videos and supplemented with some extra details from First Aid. My favorite thing is the organizational system because all 400+ B&B videos have their own hierarchical tag so it is easy to pick and choose which video coincides with lecture material and study the cards from that particular video. I've been using it for about a month and it is definitely helping me retain more information.

 

[kb1900]

Lightyear deck is basically built straight from B&B videos and supplemented with some extra details from First Aid. My favorite thing is the organizational system because all 400+ B&B videos have their own hierarchical tag so it is easy to pick and choose which video coincides with lecture material and study the cards from that particular video. I've been using it for about a month and it is definitely helping me retain more information.

Your post implies zanki wouldn’t. Lol


Imo both decks are really good and I prefer taking what I think is better from each as I browse cards

 

[mybluedog]

Your post implies zanki wouldn’t. Lol


Imo both decks are really good and I prefer taking what I think is better from each as I browse cards

Lightyear deck is basically built straight from B&B videos and supplemented with some extra details from First Aid. My favorite thing is the organizational system because all 400+ B&B videos have their own hierarchical tag so it is easy to pick and choose which video coincides with lecture material and study the cards from that particular video. I've been using it for about a month and it is definitely helping me retain more information.

Thank you! I do really like Lightyear's organization, but I think I'll also go through zanki and hopefully that isn't too much to go through!

 

[MakeLifeHappen13]

Both decks are good and they are pretty similar in content so it wouldn't make much sense to try and get through both. WAY too many cards and redundancy. Best thing you could do is figure out which one you like and stick with it as you go through the year.

Thank you! I do really like Lightyear's organization, but I think I'll also go through zanki and hopefully that isn't too much to go through!

 

[7331poas]

Your post implies zanki wouldn’t. Lol


Imo both decks are really good and I prefer taking what I think is better from each as I browse cards

Zanki doesnt sort by video. It tags by system. So if i want to study cardio-electrophysiology, i have to search for those cards within the entire system.

 

[Happy Duck]

How have you guys been finding the cards you need to study for a particular lecture from the 20k or so in the premade decks?

 

[Welshman]

How have you guys been finding the cards you need to study for a particular lecture from the 20k or so in the premade decks?

For every lecture we have in class there has pretty much been a corresponding BB video and so a LY tag. Zanki makes it hard, I usually fill in LYs gaps with Zanki, just retag relevant cards into the BB hierarchy.

 

[Happy Duck]

For lightyear, I see that they have tags that I would want to pull out. But I'm not able to search by term because the tags all have many parts (ex. bab::biochemistry::metabolism::fattyacid) and I would really only know the last part that I want. Anyone know how to get around this?

 

[Yasuo]

For lightyear, I see that they have tags that I would want to pull out. But I'm not able to search by term because the tags all have many parts (ex. bab::biochemistry::metabolism::fattyacid) and I would really only know the last part that I want. Anyone know how to get around this?

The tags are like that because they are specially matched to that specific video.

On a side note, does anyone know at this point if lightyear is as compressive as Zanki? I used lightyear for a few videos, and it seemed a bit oversimplified and redundant at times, while Zanki seems to cover like ALL the bases.

I love BNB, but idk if lightyear is as comprehensive as Zanki

 

[Scrubb]

The tags are like that because they are specially matched to that specific video.

On a side note, does anyone know at this point if lightyear is as compressive as Zanki? I used lightyear for a few videos, and it seemed a bit oversimplified and redundant at times, while Zanki seems to cover like ALL the bases.

I love BNB, but idk if lightyear is as comprehensive as Zanki

I'm feeling the same way. Been doing LY alongside BnB for the first few months of school, and it has for sure helped, but it seems to have gaps with respect to Zanki and even with respect to the BnB videos.

Did you switch over to Zanki? And are you using Zanki alongside BnB?

 

[Medic741]

I feel like Zanki is going to consume a lot of my time especially since I have to search for every card per topic. Did anyone used LightYear Deck that is based on Boards and Beyond and organized per topic? What do you guys suggest?

Firecracker fixes this problem. Way less bull crap organizing cards — it’s already done for you & it’s easy to go in, mark current material as current & after the block change it to ‘past’ and get your spaced repetition review of past material from a daily task.

 

[DrDwayneJohnson]

This thread has been immensely helpful. I just spent 30 min reorganizing my zanki decks. I was already doing more or less what shamim did, but now I have a review deck and 50 review cards a day isn't bad at all 🙂

Even though reviews are capped at 50 with Shamim's method, he mentions you should still click the 'do more reviews' button to get them all in for the day. Otherwise it kind of defeats the purpose IMO. I'm not really positive why this was his advice bc I didn't care enough to think into it too much so I did everything on the guide except maxed my reviews/day. Has worked well enough so far.

 

[MedicineN'Jazz]

Does anybody here take NBME exams? If so, how do you use Zanki to study for those. Our exams are selected from subject Q banks, and it appears that First Aid is not enough

 

[MedicineN'Jazz]

Firecracker fixes this problem. Way less bull crap organizing cards — it’s already done for you & it’s easy to go in, mark current material as current & after the block change it to ‘past’ and get your spaced repetition review of past material from a daily task.

This is what I’m debating right now. Using Firecracker vs joining Zanki. I honestly prefer Firecracker so much more, but it’s difficult to keep up with the med school curriculum and still review 90+ cards. Is there a way to lessen the review or new cards? Im thinking of just releasing all my present cards and past cards as past material. Otherwise, I just view 30 cards a day, and zero end up being review cards (they’re just all on the material I learned)

 

[fldoctorgirl]

Even though reviews are capped at 50 with Shamim's method, he mentions you should still click the 'do more reviews' button to get them all in for the day. Otherwise it kind of defeats the purpose IMO. I'm not really positive why this was his advice bc I didn't care enough to think into it too much so I did everything on the guide except maxed my reviews/day. Has worked well enough so far.

Yeah, I follow his guide but I max my reviews. Anki is pointless if you're not doing your reviews when they're actually due.

 

[Medic741]

This is what I’m debating right now. Using Firecracker vs joining Zanki. I honestly prefer Firecracker so much more, but it’s difficult to keep up with the med school curriculum and still review 90+ cards. Is there a way to lessen the review or new cards? Im thinking of just releasing all my present cards and past cards as past material. Otherwise, I just view 30 cards a day, and zero end up being review cards (they’re just all on the material I learned)

I found that after doing it every day for a while it becomes something you can cruise in 30 minutes in the morning. Doing this consistently will bias your 'learning' content more than your past, but if you watch a lecture > mark as current > do the review cards right after the lecture you'll then only see the 'learning' cards that you're not confident on & you'll see a lot more review material on your 'today todo' task. Hope that helps

 

[MedicineN'Jazz]

I found that after doing it every day for a while it becomes something you can cruise in 30 minutes in the morning. Doing this consistently will bias your 'learning' content more than your past, but if you watch a lecture > mark as current > do the review cards right after the lecture you'll then only see the 'learning' cards that you're not confident on & you'll see a lot more review material on your 'today todo' task. Hope that helps

Yeah that actually makes a lot of sense. I just need to get over the idea that if I don’t do Zanki, i won’t do well on step.