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It really does seem like a waste to go all out and sacrifice class rank for a board exam that is p/f now. But people say to still continue the same approach since apparently a good step 1 can make a good step 2 score.
 
It’s all memorization, but it still helps build your vocabulary and start associating terms together. Having taken Step 1 and now preparing for Step 2, I can say that my Step 2 prep has been greatly benefited by my solid Step 1 foundation, and I owe it all to Zanki.
 
TheDavidLettermanShow said:
I have seen advice about studying Zanki from day 1 of MS1. I was wondering how people manage to do this prior to any sort of exposure to medical school content. Are you memorizing without understanding the content or are you exploring the content after you look at each card? Also, what is your daily routine with Zanki?
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Don’t do that !!!! Do what I do - wait for lectures to start , and as soon as lecture is done - start doing the cards. Instead of using them as blind memorization , I use them as review . And I actually talk through them - for example , if a card come up about some tiny fact about a specific bacteria , I check what else I remember about that bacteria , and how I can tell this bacteria from other similar bacteria. This is way faster , way more productive , and will actually help you solidify information in your head vs blindly stuffing your head with facts you don’t understand over and Over again .
 
M&L said:
Don’t do that !!!! Do what I do - wait for lectures to start , and as soon as lecture is done - start doing the cards. Instead of using them as blind memorization , I use them as review . And I actually talk through them - for example , if a card come up about some tiny fact about a specific bacteria , I check what else I remember about that bacteria , and how I can tell this bacteria from other similar bacteria. This is way faster , way more productive , and will actually help you solidify information in your head vs blindly stuffing your head with facts you don’t understand over and Over again .
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Btw using anki this way is also better because it is not just for exams or boards . It helps with every stage of medical school .

also - install it on your phone . It’s 25 bucks for the app , but it’s faster (clicking on the laptop is slower ). Plus you will end up doing more - for example , when I wake up , before I even get out of bed I do 5-10 cards .Go for a walk - a hundred more . Elevator - 5 more . This adds up . I go through about 150 new cards a day plus 200-400 review .
 
So many false dichotomies. It’s not like you have to choose between zanki and doing well in classes. Believe it or not, zanki helps you learn stuff for med school since step is a test of what you learn in med school. The only anki decks I have used were zanki (and then I switched to cheesy lightyear last block because it has a more q and a style that I like better, but it’s the same content basically) and a cadaver deck for anatomy. Unless your school only tests with faculty exams and those exams only test esoteric stuff that is super low yield, doing zanki will only help you in your blocks. Maybe if you have a traditional curriculum that isn’t systems based it wouldn’t be super helpful.

M&L said:
Don’t do that !!!! Do what I do - wait for lectures to start , and as soon as lecture is done - start doing the cards. Instead of using them as blind memorization , I use them as review . And I actually talk through them - for example , if a card come up about some tiny fact about a specific bacteria , I check what else I remember about that bacteria , and how I can tell this bacteria from other similar bacteria. This is way faster , way more productive , and will actually help you solidify information in your head vs blindly stuffing your head with facts you don’t understand over and Over again .
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Everyone is different. I don’t do this at all. I do each block’s cards completely on random and just knock them out whether they are related to what videos I’m watching that day or not (I don’t watch my school’s lectures, so that would be BnB videos). This has worked amazingly for me.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
So many false dichotomies. It’s not like you have to choose between zanki and doing well in classes. Believe it or not, zanki helps you learn stuff for med school since step is a test of what you learn in med school. The only anki decks I have used were zanki (and then I switched to cheesy lightyear last block because it has a more q and a style that I like better, but it’s the same content basically) and a cadaver deck for anatomy. Unless your school only tests with faculty exams and those exams only test esoteric stuff that is super low yield, doing zanki will only help you in your blocks. Maybe if you have a traditional curriculum that isn’t systems based it wouldn’t be super helpful.



Everyone is different. I don’t do this at all. I do each block’s cards completely on random and just knock them out whether they are related to what videos I’m watching that day or not (I don’t watch my school’s lectures, so that would be BnB videos). This has worked amazingly for me.
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True. To each their own . I know that blind fact memorization didn’t work for me and I found it so frustrating. I found that I started getting something out of anki only when I started grouping it together with lectures and talking through the cards as I was doing them .
 
In medical school, what is understanding, other than knowing the how of something (the mechanism) or knowing the why of something (the reason behind it)? It's just another layer deeper than the surface level facts you've been given. This is all memorization, like stickgirl said. As far as step goes, the challenge is making sure that you pick up and retain all of this knowledge in your brain, and then being able to apply it. That comes through practice.

There are multiple ways to approach the understanding aspect of learning. Thankfully, in Zanki, the how/why is very often included in the extra section of the card, along with clinical context. BnB/Pathoma provide these things as well. Lastly, practice questions serve this purpose, along with giving you the testing effect and the spaced repetition effect (if you do enough of them over time), which is what makes them so powerful.

People always say you HAVE to watch BnB or some form of lecture before unsuspending cards. That doesn't work for me. I did this for months, but I could never really follow what Dr Ryan was saying because I had no idea what he was talking about. I then started doing my cards first, and all of a sudden things became crystal clear. I'm a details first kind of person. So during M1, a typical day was like this:

1. Do my cards
2. Watch the BnB relevant to the topics given in lecture for the day
3. Do a crapton of practice questions from review books
4. Ignore lecture
5. Cram cram cram before exams

This worked pretty well for me overall, and my grasp of phys, which is very dependent on knowing those mechanisms and the why behind things, is pretty strong. Like I said in another post, that subject doesn't come naturally to me.
 
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slowthai said:
In medical school, what is understanding, other than knowing the how of something (the mechanism) or knowing the why of something (the reason behind it)? It's just another layer deeper than the surface level facts you've been given. This is all memorization, like stickgirl said. As far as step goes, the challenge is making sure that you pick up and retain all of this knowledge in your brain, and then being able to apply it, and that comes through practice.

There are multiple ways to approach the understanding aspect of learning. Thankfully, in Zanki, the how/why is very often included in the extra section, along with clinical context. BnB/Pathoma provide these things as well. Lastly, practice questions serve this purpose, along with giving you the testing effect and the spaced repetition effect (if you do enough of them over time), which is what makes them so powerful.

People always say you HAVE to watch BnB or some form of lecture before suspending cards. That doesn't work for me. I did this for months, but I could never really follow what Dr Ryan was saying because I had no idea what he was talking about. I then started doing my cards first, and all of a sudden things became crystal clear. I'm a details first kind of person. So during M1, a typical day was like this:

1. Do my cards
2. Watch the BnB relevant to the topics given in lecture for the day
3. Do a crapton of practice questions from review books
4. Ignore lecture
5. Cram cram cram before exams

This worked pretty well for me, and my grasp of phys, which is very dependent on knowing those mechanisms and the why behind things, is pretty strong. Like I said in another post, that subject doesn't come naturally to me.
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so you are doing the exact opposite of me. hahahhaha.

@TheDavidLettermanShow so, OP, you have options here. 1). Do cards first, then lectures. 2) Do cards right after the lectures (to use it as solidifying/review thing), 3) do them independent of lecture. 4) dont do anki at all (i know plenty of people who didnt do any anki during m1 year at all, and did very well in classes. They only picked up anki summer after M1 to start reviewing for step.)
Try each way and see what works for you. And remember, - just because majority of ppl love a specific resources, doesnt mean you will! and it certainly doesnt mean that you will be less successful if you do not use it.
 
TheDavidLettermanShow said:
Thanks. Did you use Zanki on a daily basis and from day 1 of MS1?
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I kinda did what @M&L suggested. I would unsuspend relevant Anki cards that overlapped with in class lecture. I started about half way through M1 only because I didn’t know about Anki before then. Had I known, I would have absolutely started day 1.
 
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