What is Anki?

[canihazMDplease?]

Could someone explain Anki to me. It seems like a big deal

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[JustAPhD]

It's a flashcard system. Check it out, it can be very useful for studying.

http://ankisrs.net/

Sidenote: In my head I read the title in the voice of Gary Johnson a la "what is Aleppo?".

 

[NotASerialKiller]

It's what my classmates incessantly talk about as I stare vacantly through them

 

[eteshoe]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=anki

 

[Fancy_Feast]

Anki is amazing because it re-stacks your flashcards based on how difficult you found the material. Things that you say are hard will be shuffled closer to the top of the deck (so you see it again sooner) vs. things that you've learned well will show up less often. It's great for retaining information

 

[xffan624]

Could someone explain Anki to me. It seems like a big deal

The best thing about Anki is honestly its customizability. You can use it for your classes and make your own cards or if you're studying more standardized material (ie during MS3 shelf exams or for Step 1) you can find pre-made cards of decent quality and even add or change them to suit you. Plus there's a app you can put on your phone and sync with the computer so you can study on the go or on the wards.

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

Check out @mehc012's anki thread:
Anki Central

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

If only it worked on Chromebooks.

 

[jqueb29]

It's something you never need to use if you also think it sucks

 

[68PGunner]

An overrated software that wastes your time on making flashcards instead of actively learning the materials. Just pay $200 for USMLERX, and it has its own version of a similar flashcard system based on FA.

 

[DantheManimal]

Anki is life.
I am not a memorizer...I've always been very visual and schematic when it comes to studying. But with Anki you can do crazy stuff. My roomates and I (and from what I've seen, hundreds of other ppl @ LECOM) use it religiously. You get very fast at making decks. I'm at the point where I literally transcribe lectures as they happen so when it's over I have anything and everything that might be on an exam in an anki deck. A must have is the "Image Occlusion" add on. Makes anatomy a joke.

 

[DantheManimal]

It's something you never need to use if you also think it sucks

Disagree.

 

[MareNostrummm]

Anki is life.
I am not a memorizer...I've always been very visual and schematic when it comes to studying. But with Anki you can do crazy stuff. My roomates and I (and from what I've seen, hundreds of other ppl @ LECOM) use it religiously. You get very fast at making decks. I'm at the point where I literally transcribe lectures as they happen so when it's over I have anything and everything that might be on an exam in an anki deck. A must have is the "Image Occlusion" add on. Makes anatomy a joke.

Which image occlusion version is the best?

 

[MareNostrummm]

Anki is life.
I am not a memorizer...I've always been very visual and schematic when it comes to studying. But with Anki you can do crazy stuff. My roomates and I (and from what I've seen, hundreds of other ppl @ LECOM) use it religiously. You get very fast at making decks. I'm at the point where I literally transcribe lectures as they happen so when it's over I have anything and everything that might be on an exam in an anki deck. A must have is the "Image Occlusion" add on. Makes anatomy a joke.

Are you watching your lectures from home?

 

[DantheManimal]

Are you watching your lectures from home?

I just have the add on that's called "image occlusion enhanced."
My lectures are in person, but It would be the same amount of time for me either way. You can orient the program towards your individual learning style if you know what that is and get crafty with it (like me), or you can just literally copy-past every sentence of the material with fill-in-the-blanks. Two of my roommates do that, and actually make like several hundred cards per lecture (I know), whereas I make around 30-80 per lecture. We all spend the same amount of hours studying, but I only study 300-500 cards/day and they study over 1000+. So it really just depends on your style.

 

[MareNostrummm]

I just have the add on that's called "image occlusion enhanced."
My lectures are in person, but It would be the same amount of time for me either way. You can orient the program towards your individual learning style if you know what that is and get crafty with it (like me), or you can just literally copy-past every sentence of the material with fill-in-the-blanks. Two of my roommates do that, and actually make like several hundred cards per lecture (I know), whereas I make around 30-80 per lecture. We all spend the same amount of hours studying, but I only study 300-500 cards/day and they study over 1000+. So it really just depends on your style.

I already use ANKI for my undergrad classes (and got a 99% on the psych soc section of the MCAT using anki alone so I'm always trying to improve my anki game), I'm familiar with the basics. I was wondering how you were able to effectively make cards while in the middle of lecture lol, without watching a recording and constantly pausing/rewinding. So I'm assuming you are just taking the information straight off the slides and turning them into cloze deletions as you go and running the anatomical diagrams through the image occlusion program? Straight forward like that? Thanks for the reply!

And yeah 1000+ cards a day is ridiculous. I hate doing any more than about ~300.

 

[DrDarce]

I grew out of anki after one semester. I did get really good at making decks but I found it to be way more efficient to go over the material multiple times and really understand it at a deep level. Anki is cool for memorizing stuff but I felt it sometimes had me missing key points and unable to connect the dots on lectures.

 

[Chris Hudson]

Anki is a software which helps to make digital flashcards. Once you learn how to use this software, trust me you will regret of not using it earlier. I have experienced this feeling. It can really make your learning process easier.
Search google → Visit anki website → Download ANki (it’s free!) → Search youtube for ANki tutorials → Try making flashcards

 

[futurephysician57]

If only it worked on Chromebooks.

You can use the ANKI website to make cards and use them online ! ankiweb.net

 

[bananafish94]

An overrated software that wastes your time on making flashcards instead of actively learning the materials. Just pay $200 for USMLERX, and it has its own version of a similar flashcard system based on FA.

I personally would consider Anki to be active learning. I think that anything which requires you to recall information and test your knowledge is active learning.

 

[jqueb29]

Disagree.

I spent 4 seconds looking at Anki before deciding it was worthless to me. Never looked at it again. Got a 247 on Step 1 without it or Firecracker or any of the other flashcard stuff. It certainly works great for some people, but I've seen too many people struggle because they keep trying to use stuff that everybody acts like is a required source/method even when it doesn't work for them personally at all.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

You can use the ANKI website to make cards and use them online ! ankiweb.net

The website said you don't get the same functionality without downloading the software, which doesn't work on ChromeOS.

 

[Astra]

If only it worked on Chromebooks.

What kind of Chromebook do you have? I have windows 10 running on mine