Using Flashcards

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anisidi1985

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I recently made the decision to postpone my MCAT date to January 2015. Now that I have some extra time, I've realized my content is really my weak point. I'm a good test-taker, timing is not an issue, and verbal was always my highest (avg around 10/11 - it isn't superb but not a problem). Science is where I struggle, with consistent 8/9's in all subject areas. I've realized for me (and probably most people) that when you don't consistently expose yourself to a topic, it gets rusty very quickly.

I've seen a LOT of people recommend using flashcards. I have downloaded Anki, and am going to figure out how to use it, but wanted to hear from people here, how did you use your flashcards? How often would you go through them? I'm just wondering how to use them as a tool.

Thanks in advance!

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I made flash cards of any questions that I missed or was not 100% positive on. If it was a passage based question then I would make up a question that had the same concept. I tried to go through my cards 1-2 times a week.
 
I made cards for any I felt needed to be reviewed or was in the passages
 
Anki works the best if you do it every day... it will space your cards out automatically based on how well you know them.
 
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Okay cool - so basically I should focus on going through them all the time. Interesting, am excited to use the program! If anyone else has any thoughts please feel free to share. Thanks!
 
I recently made the decision to postpone my MCAT date to January 2015. Now that I have some extra time, I've realized my content is really my weak point. I'm a good test-taker, timing is not an issue, and verbal was always my highest (avg around 10/11 - it isn't superb but not a problem). Science is where I struggle, with consistent 8/9's in all subject areas. I've realized for me (and probably most people) that when you don't consistently expose yourself to a topic, it gets rusty very quickly.

I've seen a LOT of people recommend using flashcards. I have downloaded Anki, and am going to figure out how to use it, but wanted to hear from people here, how did you use your flashcards? How often would you go through them? I'm just wondering how to use them as a tool.

Thanks in advance!
I studied for the MCAT using NOTHING but Anki and practice problems.
FL average was 41-42, though it is doubtful that that is specifically due to my study methods. Just worked out that way.

Anyway, my MCAT deck ended up being about 2800 cards all told. I reviewed the Due cards daily - usually about 50-150 reviews/day, depending on how many new ones I had added recently. I usually went through all New cards added as quickly as possible, just by clicking Custom Study and increasing the daily limit for New cards (I did not unbury siblings). In the days leading up to the exam, I did some cram decks by reviewing all cards which I had gotten wrong in the previous 2mo.

I thought that the constant review was very, very helpful for this test, considering how much ground it covered. I ended up skipping the final 1/3 of the TBR passages and the final chapter reviews as recommended in the SN2ed plan, but I did not feel that this was an issue because I had reviewed all topics frequently with my flashcards.

Anyway, I have a thread for Anki questions out there
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/anki-central.1064361/

and I posted the full content of my own MCAT study deck in the SN2'd first day thread, quoted below (other info included for truth and usefulness):
EDIT: This was supposed to be a thread about the first day of SN2. However as with all intelligent life, things evolve. This thread has now become a support page for people following the SN2 plan. You can think of it as Alcoholics Anonymous for people studying to take the MCAT using the SN2 plan.

EDIT July 1, 2014:
If you are interested in @mehc012's Anki Deck, DO NOT SEND A PM. Here is the link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7if6wgaif98rkoa/mehc012 SN2edCh4s.apkg
**A NOTE: @mehc012 and several others (myself included) want to tell you guys that studying from another person's deck will probably not be as beneficial to you as creating your own cards. Yes you can take advantage of @mehc012's generosity, but you won't get the same advantage. Study the material. Create cards as you go along. You will find it more helpful to your studying. **

EDIT July 22, 2014:
The following is @TBRBiosadist's official MCAT Verbal Reasoning Strategy:
@TBRBiosadist's strategy that got [him] from a 7 average to scoring 13-15 average..

Spend the bulk of your time reading. Up to 3 minutes per passage.
  • Read the first and last paragraph thoroughly to begin with. Understand what the authors main point will be because 90% of questions require nothing more than a general idea.
  • After this, read the entire passage slowly enough where you dont feel like you need to reread sentences for understanding.
Next is just answer questions, there is a few tricks here that work about 90% of the time
  • Unless the passage is asking you about a specific detail, dont look back. READ EVERY ANSWER THOROUGLY AND THEN Answer what makes sense from the general point of the passage. Its very easy to prove a wrong answer to be somewhat correct if you dig hard enough, dont. Answer what your gut says and move onto the next question, dont contemplate to much. With that being said...
  • Answer like you were dropped on the head as a child. Alot of times if Im arguing between two answers, there is the answer that is 100% correct, and one that is 90% correct. Be an idoit and choose the one that seems like it is correct. However.....
  • "Always" is a word to avoid. If an answer uses this word, or definites like it, it is something to avoid. I would say 80% of the time the wishy washy answer is more correct then the highly affirmative one. This leads to my final point....
  • 100% of the time you are not actually looking for the "right" answer in verbal, this isnt PS or BS where 1+1 almost always equals 2 (unless we are talking about the different sedimentation values for Ribosomes). In verbal you are looking for the answer that isnt wrong. Often times an answer will seem very "right" but one aspect of it is clearly wrong, as compared to an answer that isnt wrong, but doesnt seem as right as that answer, these are meant to fool you. Choose the answer that isnt wrong.
I understand that I few of these tips may be at odds with each other. Ultimately you must adjust slightly for each passage, but it comes down to one thing. Read thoroughly. Read every sentence in the passage. Read every question. Read every answer. Then the correct answer will be fairly obvious. This may seem like it takes longer, but it takes much less time than skimming, and then trying to find the correct information later.

Or to summarize in one sentence

Understand what the hell the author is arguing

EDIT July 26, 2014:

@DoctorInASaree uploaded a guide to Verbal Reasoning. If you're interested, it's worth a look. Here is the link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2byivymmqwlvjms/MCAT VR Primer DRSAREE.pdf

EDIT 2, July 26, 2014: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/sn2d-first-day.1074344/page-52#post-15510851
____________

As I said, best to make your own cards, but you are welcome to look through my deck for some ideas on how to format your own cards/content. You could, of course, just use my deck, but I really think that the most valuable part of studying via flashcards is the mental efforts required to make them. You have to understand not only the content, but also the kinds of questions which could be asked of you in order to make truly useful flashcards.
 
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I studied for the MCAT using NOTHING but Anki and practice problems.
FL average was 41-42, though it is doubtful that that is specifically due to my study methods. Just worked out that way.

Anyway, my MCAT deck ended up being about 2800 cards all told. I reviewed the Due cards daily - usually about 50-150 reviews/day, depending on how many new ones I had added recently. I usually went through all New cards added as quickly as possible, just by clicking Custom Study and increasing the daily limit for New cards (I did not unbury siblings). In the days leading up to the exam, I did some cram decks by reviewing all cards which I had gotten wrong in the previous 2mo.

I thought that the constant review was very, very helpful for this test, considering how much ground it covered. I ended up skipping the final 1/3 of the TBR passages and the final chapter reviews as recommended in the SN2ed plan, but I did not feel that this was an issue because I had reviewed all topics frequently with my flashcards.

Anyway, I have a thread for Anki questions out there
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/anki-central.1064361/

and I posted the full content of my own MCAT study deck in the SN2'd first day thread, quoted below (other info included for truth and usefulness):


As I said, best to make your own cards, but you are welcome to look through my deck for some ideas on how to format your own cards/content. You could, of course, just use my deck, but I really think that the most valuable part of studying via flashcards is the mental efforts required to make them. You have to understand not only the content, but also the kinds of questions which could be asked of you in order to make truly useful flashcards.


Thanks so much for the cards.

I downloaded them into my Anki. I notice that they are randomly shuffled. Is there any way I can organize them by subject?
 
Yes...The deck is extensively tagged according to the AAMC topic guide. Well, the earlier cards are, the later ones are less extensive as the time crunch came into play, lol! But yeah, either split it into separate decks or use Cram decks according to tag. Once you've covered the book of them though I would re randomize them, personally. Oh, and I'd probably avoid subdecks, as I think Anki handles the scheduling poorly for those.
 
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@mehc012 is in a league of his/her own for the most part. Nice score! However, I would not recommend relying solely on flashcards unless you're already scoring high in the science sections (12+). Flashcards on their own have the great ability to "float" your knowledge of content that would otherwise fade. They maintain your current level more or less, but if your scores are less then 10 (and you want to change that) then I recommend going back the chapters supplementing them heavily with quality practice questions. You have the time to do this.

As a tool, flashcards are invaluable. Use them often.

Good luck!
 
I concur...as I said, flashcards and practice problems! I also integrated any tricky setups or approaches into my cards when possible...anything I saw in TBR or EK where I missed the best approach to the question, I'd make a card which required me to use that thought process. When I say 'only', I mean excluding notes or outlines or highlighting or other retention methods, sorry.
 
@mehc012 is in a league of his/her own for the most part. Nice score! However, I would not recommend relying solely on flashcards unless you're already scoring high in the science sections (12+). Flashcards on their own have the great ability to "float" your knowledge of content that would otherwise fade. They maintain your current level more or less, but if your scores are less then 10 (and you want to change that) then I recommend going back the chapters supplementing them heavily with quality practice questions. You have the time to do this.

As a tool, flashcards are invaluable. Use them often.

Good luck!
Sorry, forgot to quote above. Also, thanks for the kind words...still waiting to see if it all paid off though!
 
@mehc012 So I just tried clicking the link to access your MCAT Anki cards, but it's not working. Do you mind re-posting the link again?
Did you use the one in my sig? Because I just double-checked it and it worked fine. The old deck, however, which only included <50% of the material, I have intentionally taken down because too many people were using the wrong one.
 
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Did you use the one in my sig? Because I just double-checked it and it worked fine. The old deck, however, which only included <50% of the material, I have intentionally taken down because too many people were using the wrong one.

Oops, no I didn't. I clicked on the link in your post earlier in this thread. But I just found the one in your sig. Thanks!
 
Oops, no I didn't. I clicked on the link in your post earlier in this thread. But I just found the one in your sig. Thanks!
Aye, that post was supposed to eventually be updated to the proper link. It wasn't, which is one of the main reasons I deleted the old file and started putting my full deck in my sig :laugh:
 
Hi, Sorry to bother you guys! I need clarification on what you meant my sig? Is it signature? I used the one in your sig, but it did not work, now I am not sure if I did it right though!
 
Hi, Sorry to bother you guys! I need clarification on what you meant my sig? Is it signature? I used the one in your sig, but it did not work, now I am not sure if I did it right though!
Yeah, sig = signature. It's odd that it is not working for you, I can click through right now and it still functions.

The link should take you to an SDN post, which contains a the hyperlink labelled "Mehc012's MCAT Madness Anki Deck". That goes to a Dropbox file. I left it as a 2-step process because I really feel that people should read through the information included in that post, rather than simply downloading the deck without context.
 
Yeah, sig = signature. It's odd that it is not working for you, I can click through right now and it still functions.

The link should take you to an SDN post, which contains a the hyperlink labelled "Mehc012's MCAT Madness Anki Deck". That goes to a Dropbox file. I left it as a 2-step process because I really feel that people should read through the information included in that post, rather than simply downloading the deck without context.

Thank you so much, it worked this time!
 
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