Passive anki “learning” is stealing your gainz

[mistafab]

Just wanted to point out a phenom i’ve seen with lots of struggling students.

Students are using anki because they heard that it is the blessed one. Yet when studying, I see students open the answer before actually reading the question. This is essentially turning the spaced, active learning software into paced, passive recognition akin to glazing over a textbook. They get through the cards at breakneck speed, so they add even more reviews per day... This phenom is essentially wasting time of students on another passive learning modality that could have been better spent at the gym (making gainz).

I highly encourage users to make sure they subvocalize in order to get the most out of the software. This means mentally reading the prompt out loud, then saying the answer before revealing it. This will not only force you into active learning, but it will help encode the data through auditory pathways along with the visual/recognition pathway.

Don’t cheat yourself! Passive learning is wasting your time and burning you out.

Cheers

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[7331poas]

Thanks for the heads up!!!!!

 

[Lawpy]

Nice, this advice is critical. Will add to directory

 

[thatchemguy]

I was just thinking about this and I noticed it happening to me as well. Particularly with Cloze deletions, I realized I wasn't really actively recalling the answer, but the context of the sentence primed me to know what the answer was without me really understanding it.

 

[7331poas]

I was just thinking about this and I noticed it happening to me as well. Particularly with Cloze deletions, I realized I wasn't really actively recalling the answer, but the context of the sentence primed me to know what the answer was without me really understanding it.

You have to edit the cards to make them harder.

I probably edit around 10% of the zanki cards because they can be guessed from the context. Also, in my humble opinion the BG expansion cards are usually lower quality and I dont bother with them. They arent written in the same style as zanki and are usually easily guessed.

 

[thatchemguy]

You have to edit the cards to make them harder.

I probably edit around 10% of the zanki cards because they can be guessed from the context. Also, in my humble opinion the BG expansion cards are usually lower quality and I dont bother with them. They arent written in the same style as zanki and are usually easily guessed.

I agree, I'm using the anking deck (which is mostly zanki + BG I think?). Personally I'm not the biggest fan of cloze deletions because of the priming aspect, but its better than spending so much time making your own cards lol

 

[7331poas]

I agree, I'm using the anking deck (which is mostly zanki + BG I think?). Personally I'm not the biggest fan of cloze deletions because of the priming aspect, but its better than spending so much time making your own cards lol

Nothing wrong with cloze, you just need to make sure the card cannot be guessed.

 

[Sterling_Archer]

Just wanted to point out a phenom i’ve seen with lots of struggling students.

Students are using anki because they heard that it is the blessed one. Yet when studying, I see students open the answer before actually reading the question. This is essentially turning the spaced, active learning software into paced, passive recognition akin to glazing over a textbook. They get through the cards at breakneck speed, so they add even more reviews per day... This phenom is essentially wasting time of students on another passive learning modality that could have been better spent at the gym (making gainz).

I highly encourage users to make sure they subvocalize in order to get the most out of the software. This means mentally reading the prompt out loud, then saying the answer before revealing it. This will not only force you into active learning, but it will help encode the data through auditory pathways along with the visual/recognition pathway.

Don’t cheat yourself! Passive learning is wasting your time and burning you out.

Cheers

Totally agree. I say the entire question and answer out loud for most cards if I'm at home studying. Otherwise I say it all in my head, but its usually faster to say it out loud.

 

[kepler16b]

One strategy is to have a piece of scratch paper around and quickly jot down the answer before flipping the card. This forces you to actively recall the answer in full instead of vaguely recognizing what it should be. I've found this to be particularly helpful near the end of a long study session, when I'm mentally fatiguing.

 

[BobbyKoch]

One strategy is to have a piece of scratch paper around and quickly jot down the answer before flipping the card. This forces you to actively recall the answer in full instead of vaguely recognizing what it should be. I've found this to be particularly helpful near the end of a long study session, when I'm mentally fatiguing.

glass top desk + dry erase markers.

 

[4thtimeretaker]

@mistafab So for someone who is new to starting out Anki and is also using it as a learning tool. What is the best way to use it? For example, if I'm starting Immunology block soon and I want to begin learning the Zanki Immunology deck as class starts (or even before) how can I go about doing this? What times should I have set for learning more versus actually spaced repetition for board prep?

 

[mistafab]

I only used anki for clinical rotations and step 2ck. I’d look at some other threads about strategy for m1/m2 or ask some upper levels at your school who got scores you want to get (exams and step).

@mistafab So for someone who is new to starting out Anki and is also using it as a learning tool. What is the best way to use it? For example, if I'm starting Immunology block soon and I want to begin learning the Zanki Immunology deck as class starts (or even before) how can I go about doing this? What times should I have set for learning more versus actually spaced repetition for board prep?

 

[Ho0v-man]

I’m noticing this problem more in third year so far, at least for me. It’s all info you probably knew for step 1, but like 10-15% farther or in a set of guidelines. It’s so easy to convince yourself you know it when you almost know it.

 

[Alkain]

@mistafab So for someone who is new to starting out Anki and is also using it as a learning tool. What is the best way to use it? For example, if I'm starting Immunology block soon and I want to begin learning the Zanki Immunology deck as class starts (or even before) how can I go about doing this? What times should I have set for learning more versus actually spaced repetition for board prep?

It depends on how much you want to rely on it.

If you're going to use it as your primary review:
Skim through class ppts, figure out what topics they're on
Do a first pass of the associated material (Costanzo, B&B, FA etc.)
Unlock those related cards in the deck and run through them
Repeat until done with block.

Right before an exam run through lectures at 2x just to get some of those low yield bits that might show up.
Once the block is done, stick those Immunology cards into your main review deck.

How many new cards you do per day depends on how many total you have and how long you have. You should do as many reviews as you can per day.

 

[JooceMan137]

Most of my anki was done passively, and I thankfully ended up acing my exams and doing good on Step 1.

To make up for the passive, I just upped the repetition. Don’t be afraid to hit again. Keep repeating it until that snapshot is burnt deep in the back of your brain.

 

[Scrubb]

This is why I much prefer LY to Zanki and similarly Pepper to lol. In my opinion, Zanki and lol, though objectively more comprehensive, are a lot more conducive to the type of passive learning mentioned by OP. I say conducive but not equivalent to because some people still do Zanki/lol the right way and reap the rewards.

 

[slowthai]

This is why I much prefer LY to Zanki and similarly Pepper to lol. In my opinion, Zanki and lol, though objectively more comprehensive, are a lot more conducive to the type of passive learning mentioned by OP. I say conducive but not equivalent to because some people still do Zanki/lol the right way and reap the rewards.

Yeah, people say that LY's cards are better constructed than Zanki's, so I get where you're coming from. When I use Zanki, I try to make as many connections to other material as I can and I also use the pictures in the extra section to build a conceptual image of everything going on. For example, in the chylomicron to LDL pathway (don't know what it's called) there's a lot going on there. You could blindly memorize that B-100 is associated with LDL, VLDL, and IDL (which I did during the first few passes, lol) or you can slow down, look at the process, and understand it sequentially. That makes the memorization aspect so much easier. I'm always asking why/how if there's a biochemical/phys mechanism involved.

 

[Coltuna]

This is the reason I can't use Zanki... The cards are essentially just reading sentences of material with one (often non-crucial) word missing. I'm jealous of those who are able to retain knowledge in this fashion and utilize that resource.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Yeah, people say that LY's cards are better constructed than Zanki's, so I get where you're coming from. When I use Zanki, I try to make as many connections to other material as I can and I also use the pictures in the extra section to build a conceptual image of everything going on. For example, in the chylomicron to LDL pathway (don't know what it's called) there's a lot going on there. You could blindly memorize that B-100 is associated with LDL, VLDL, and IDL (which I did during the first few passes, lol) or you can slow down, look at the process, and understand it sequentially. That makes the memorization aspect so much easier. I'm always asking why/how if there's a biochemical/phys mechanism involved.

Or just remember where the balloons and submarines are in the statin sketch😉

 

[Lucca]

1. Obtain google glass
2. Port Anki onto google glass
3. Rig “blink” gesture as spacebar
4. ???
5. Profit

Now you can Anki every waking hour of the day, even while lifting!