When should I start zanki?

[slowthai]

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Day 1 of medical school. Start from the very top and just go through it. If you do 40 new cards a day first thing and all reviews your reviews will cap at about 200 and you should be able to do all of your cards for the day in an hour. Then just spend the rest of the time on class. I know at first it's going to feel like you are simply memorizing random facts, and that's ok. Just keep at it and do your cards every single day.

Really? Reviews will be capped at 200 for the entirety of the time you're working to mature Zanki? Even if you've got the max reviews setting (9000+)? If true, your advice should be stickied, like everywhere. It would save sooooo much time and make life 10x less stressful. Imagine maturing the whole of Zanki only spending one hour a day everyday. That's hard to believe, lol.

 

[sargon2123]

Yep and the fact that they’re talking about it is scary as is.

That’s life. Be sure to think about a backup plan for residency that p/f step 1 wouldn’t totally foil.

 

[deleted600623]

That’s life. Be sure to think about a backup plan for residency that p/f step 1 wouldn’t totally foil.

Well it depends on what else happens if they make it P/F. Do PDs look at Step 2 CK? Is it clinical grades now? Prestige of school? I matriculate at a top 15 med school this fall so I don’t think it affects me as much but that doesn’t mean I agree with making it P/F.

 

[chlorocruorin]

This is not turning into a step 1 p/f thread

 

[Dantes]

Really? Reviews will be capped at 200 for the entirety of the time you're working to mature Zanki? Even if you've got the max reviews setting (9000+)? If true, your advice should be stickied, like everywhere. It would save sooooo much time and make life 10x less stressful. Imagine maturing the whole of Zanki only spending one hour a day everyday. That's hard to believe, lol.

No no no this defeats the purpose of Anki. The point is that the algorithm spaces cards out appropriately so you only see them enough to not forget (ideally). Capping reviews messes with this and will change the scheduling of cards you push back. If you're running low on time cap your news until your reviews even out. Although capping reviews in the short-term probably won't mess with things too much if you're in a real bind. That's me speculating though.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Reviews will be capped at 200 for the entirety of the time you're working to mature Zanki?

Somewhere in that ballpark yes.

Imagine maturing the whole of Zanki only spending one hour a day everyday.

It will take you longer at first, but the time commitment will decrease more and more as you get the hang of it.

Capping reviews messes with this and will change the scheduling of cards you push back.

Nobody said anything about putting a cap on reviews. I said if you only do 40 new a day then the homeostasis of review cards will eventually level out somewhere in that ballpark.

 

[Dantes]

Nobody said anything about putting a cap on reviews. I said if you only do 40 new a day then the homeostasis of review cards will eventually level out somewhere in that ballpark.

Yep, turns out I can't read lol. I agree, earlier you can start while still handling class load the better.

 

[slowthai]

Somewhere in that ballpark yes.


It will take you longer at first, but the time commitment will decrease more and more as you get the hang of it.

This sounds fantastic, honestly. The only issue is if you're trying to keep pace with the curriculum. It would be impossible to go at the same rate, like you would be so behind. This is especially true for schools with more frequent testing.

Edit: Like, you won't even be close to finishing that deck by the time the test comes around if you keep it at 40 instead of doing it the way you originally did it (doing all the cards that were relevant to the current topics) You'll be more than okay for step, but you would have to do some extra studying of some sort just to make up for not knowing the rest of the deck for your school exam. Am I missing something, or?

 

[sargon2123]

Well it depends on what else happens if they make it P/F. Do PDs look at Step 2 CK? Is it clinical grades now? Prestige of school? I matriculate at a top 15 med school this fall so I don’t think it affects me as much but that doesn’t mean I agree with making it P/F.

In that case I'd say it benefits you

 

[7331poas]

Somewhere in that ballpark yes.


It will take you longer at first, but the time commitment will decrease more and more as you get the hang of it.


Nobody said anything about putting a cap on reviews. I said if you only do 40 new a day then the homeostasis of review cards will eventually level out somewhere in that ballpark.

Most curriculums do not run at a 40 card per day pace lol.

 

[LebronManning]

So Zanki doesn't include Micro, does it? Someone on reddit was saying you have to get Lolnotacop deck for micro. Or, does the AnKing deck in fact have micro? Or is sketchy enough for micro?

 

[deleted600623]

So Zanki doesn't include Micro, does it? Someone on reddit was saying you have to get Lolnotacop deck for micro. Or, does the AnKing deck in fact have micro? Or is sketchy enough for micro?

AnKing has lolnotacop in it. And even some B&B micro. My understanding is Sketchy is enough for micro since it’s so memorization heavy.

 

[7331poas]

So Zanki doesn't include Micro, does it? Someone on reddit was saying you have to get Lolnotacop deck for micro. Or, does the AnKing deck in fact have micro? Or is sketchy enough for micro?

zanki + notacop. ****s not complicated.

 

[LebronManning]

zanki + notacop. ****s not complicated.

Above poster just said AnKing already has notacop in it. Maybe its more complicated than u think

 

[7331poas]

Above poster just said AnKing already has notacop in it. Maybe its more complicated than u think

"Anking" is just a repackaging of zanki and notacop by a guy who is trying to make a quick buck off his youtube channel. It simply does not matter at all whether you download "Anking" or just the zanki (with BG expansion) and the notacop deck.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Edit: Like, you won't even be close to finishing that deck by the time the test comes around if you keep it at 40 instead of doing it the way you originally did it (doing all the cards that were relevant to the current topics) You'll be more than okay for step, but you would have to do some extra studying of some sort just to make up for not knowing the rest of the deck for your school exam. Am I missing something, or?

Most curriculums do not run at a 40 card per day pace lol.

Lol. I didn't think reading comprehension was this hard.

Day 1 of medical school. Start from the very top and just go through it. If you do 40 new cards a day first thing and all reviews your reviews will cap at about 200 and you should be able to do all of your cards for the day in an hour. Then just spend the rest of the time on class. I know at first it's going to feel like you are simply memorizing random facts, and that's ok. Just keep at it and do your cards every single day.

You won't be doing Zanki cards that line up with your class. You will be spending the first hour or so of your day on Zanki, and then the rest of the day should be spent hammering class materials. This is how you end up with high boards AND a high rank. The one caveat to this is if your school does NBME subject exams then just do Zanki to study for those because the material in Zanki IS studying for the test in that case.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Nobody said anything about putting a cap on reviews. I said if you only do 40 new a day then the homeostasis of review cards will eventually level out somewhere in that ballpark.

I don’t think that’d be the case for me. I must repeat cards a lot more than you or something. For example, I completed the neuro deck in January and despite keeping up with it every day and doing all my reviews all the way until mid June, there were only a handful of times my card count was below 100/day. And that’s just one of the decks I had going. Just the cards from fourth semester classes, excluding pharm was over 200/day.

Edit: maybe I’m just not understanding

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

I don’t think that’d be the case for me. I must repeat cards a lot more than you or something. For example, I completed the neuro deck in January and despite keeping up with it every day and doing all my reviews all the way until mid June, there were only a handful of times my card count was below 100/day. And that’s just one of the decks I had going. Just the cards from fourth semester classes, excluding pharm was over 200/day.

Edit: maybe I’m just not understanding

It would depend on what your max interval is.

 

[slowthai]

Lol. I didn't think reading comprehension was this hard.



You won't be doing Zanki cards that line up with your class. You will be spending the first hour or so of your day on Zanki, and then the rest of the day should be spent hammering class materials. This is how you end up with high boards AND a high rank. The one caveat to this is if your school does NBME subject exams then just do Zanki to study for those because the material in Zanki IS studying for the test in that case.

I'm looking at it from the lens of spending most of my time on Anki. I guess that's why I missed what you were saying. But I figured that that would be the only way you could do it with this method. Sounds scary, tbh. I'm like almost completely reliant on Anki for retention. Your bread and butter would have to be non-Anki methods.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

I'm like almost completely reliant on Anki for retention. Your bread and butter would have to be non-Anki methods.

Like I said previously I was this way too, and it paid off for boards, but my rank suffered a bit. The tests I studied for by hammering class materials were, on average, higher scores than the ones where I just did Zanki but doing Zanki and questions were the key to me performing well on Step. The ideal set up is to both do Zanki and questions for boards while also hammering class materials, starting Zanki from day 1 and chipping at it for 2 years is a way to do that.

 

[7331poas]

It sucks you guys have to deal with class rank. I have never read a class slide in all of m1 and manage to pass with just zanki

 

[Ho0v-man]

It sucks you guys have to deal with class rank. I have never read a class slide in all of m1 and manage to pass with just zanki

Sadly, just doing Zanki would only get grades in the 70s at my school. Don’t care about class rank tbh, but I do want some cushion going into our 8 hour cumulative finals (which apparently other schools also don’t have)

 

[7331poas]

Sadly, just doing Zanki would only get grades in the 70s at my school. Don’t care about class rank tbh, but I do want some cushion going into our 8 hour cumulative finals (which apparently other schools also don’t have)

Fair enough, luckily we split into midterm and final 50/50. So I know going in beforehand where I need to skim the slides a little.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Sadly, just doing Zanki would only get grades in the 70s at my school. Don’t care about class rank tbh, but I do want some cushion going into our 8 hour cumulative finals (which apparently other schools also don’t have)

Yeah for us it would be about an 85ish, so if you wanted to get a 90+ you had to actually study the class material.

 

[LebronManning]

"Anking" is just a repackaging of zanki and notacop by a guy who is trying to make a quick buck off his youtube channel. It simply does not matter at all whether you download "Anking" or just the zanki (with BG expansion) and the notacop deck.

Gotcha. Well would you recommend the Anking Zanki Deck or Zanki with BG expansion + notacop if I am downloading from scratch?

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Gotcha. Well would you recommend the Anking Zanki Deck or Zanki with BG expansion + notacop if I am downloading from scratch?

The anKing deck. Purely because of the tagging structure.

 

[LebronManning]

The anKing deck. Purely because of the tagging structure.

Downloading the Anking deck by itself doesn't have the media in it though, correct?

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Downloading the Anking deck by itself doesn't have the media in it though, correct?

I dunno honestly, I used the original Zanki deck.

 

[Dantes]

Downloading the Anking deck by itself doesn't have the media in it though, correct?

Correct, you'd have to download the same decks with images first. You could also download the hierarchical tags add-on with the BG expansion and lolnotacop micro and it would have a similar tagging structure. Just not as streamlined/detailed but it's what I've been using.

 

[Ko8e24]

I start orientation in a couple days...should I just start Zanki top to bottom, 40 cards/day, or follow along with blocks? (first block is foundations of medicine so I wouldn't start until the second block?)

 

[7331poas]

I start orientation in a couple days...should I just start Zanki top to bottom, 40 cards/day, or follow along with blocks? (first block is foundations of medicine so I wouldn't start until the second block?)

you should follow the blocks so you are learning as you go. Learning the block in zanki will help you in class.

 

[slowthai]

you should follow the blocks so you are learning as you go. Learning the block in zanki will help you in class.

Yeah, I think I'm gonna do this and just use as many strategies as possible (add ons, settings, etc) to reduce the amount of daily reviews (not capping them though of course) so that it's at least somewhat manageable.

 

[Ho0v-man]

For every soon to be M1 reading this. Zanki, bros, firecracker, etc is not a magic bullet. It’s easy to type on sdn but it’s really hard work and a daily commitment. Don’t get discouraged if it’s extremely overwhelming and seems impossible. In 4th semester, my “days off” still had about 4-5 hrs of anki. Every time I booted up that app I died a little inside. Anyone who tells you it’s easy is lying, not doing it right, or crazy. It’s okay if you think you think you can’t do it. I felt that way every day.

TLDR; overwhelmed is the new normal. Subscribing to one of these types of programs is even more overwhelming. Stick with it.

 

[bearsfan95]

For every soon to be M1 reading this. Zanki, bros, firecracker, etc is not a magic bullet. It’s easy to type on sdn but it’s really hard work and a daily commitment. Don’t get discouraged if it’s extremely overwhelming and seems impossible. In 4th semester, my “days off” still had about 4-5 hrs of anki. Every time I booted up that app I died a little inside. Anyone who tells you it’s easy is lying, not doing it right, or crazy. It’s okay if you think you think you can’t do it. I felt that way every day.

TLDR; overwhelmed is the new normal. Subscribing to one of these types of programs is even more overwhelming. Stick with it.

What did you set your intervals to, if you don't mind me asking / if you would adjust them to something different if you had to do it all over again

 

[Ho0v-man]

What did you set your intervals to, if you don't mind me asking / if you would adjust them to something different if you had to do it all over again

Graduating interval 1 day
Easy interval 2 days
Minimum interval 1 day

I honestly just copied these from a random person on reddit who said the default settings were trash. Despite selling my soul to Zanki, I’m not really tech savvy enough to understand the algorithm. I just obey it’s will.

 

[bearsfan95]

Graduating interval 1 day
Easy interval 2 days
Minimum interval 1 day

I honestly just copied these from a random person on reddit who said the default settings were trash. Despite selling my so to Zanki, I’m not really tech savvy enough to understand the algorithm. I just obey it’s will.

Right there with you... thanks a bunch.

 

[7331poas]

For every soon to be M1 reading this. Zanki, bros, firecracker, etc is not a magic bullet. It’s easy to type on sdn but it’s really hard work and a daily commitment. Don’t get discouraged if it’s extremely overwhelming and seems impossible. In 4th semester, my “days off” still had about 4-5 hrs of anki. Every time I booted up that app I died a little inside. Anyone who tells you it’s easy is lying, not doing it right, or crazy. It’s okay if you think you think you can’t do it. I felt that way every day.

TLDR; overwhelmed is the new normal. Subscribing to one of these types of programs is even more overwhelming. Stick with it.

Such a true statement. Its actually very hard to "do zanki + lolnotacop" properly. Thats 28k cards, doing the reviews every single day. Anki alone takes up 5 hours of my day minimum.

 

[Cranjis McBasketball]

For every soon to be M1 reading this. Zanki, bros, firecracker, etc is not a magic bullet. It’s easy to type on sdn but it’s really hard work and a daily commitment. Don’t get discouraged if it’s extremely overwhelming and seems impossible. In 4th semester, my “days off” still had about 4-5 hrs of anki. Every time I booted up that app I died a little inside. Anyone who tells you it’s easy is lying, not doing it right, or crazy. It’s okay if you think you think you can’t do it. I felt that way every day.

TLDR; overwhelmed is the new normal. Subscribing to one of these types of programs is even more overwhelming. Stick with it.

This. Once you start you're basically marrying zanki. Ive had nightmares where I forgot to do it one day and had 400 cards pile over to the next day.

 

[7331poas]

This. Once you start you're basically marrying zanki. Ive had nightmares where I forgot to do it one day and had 400 cards pile over to the next day.

More like 800

 

[Ho0v-man]

More like 800

You misspelled 1500

 

[7331poas]

You misspelled 1500

true. I use load balancer tho

 

[Ko8e24]

Are there corresponding Zanki cards for "scientific foundations of medicine" block or does this vary by school in terms of what they teach?

 

[7331poas]

Are there corresponding Zanki cards for "scientific foundations of medicine" block or does this vary by school in terms of what they teach?

Depends, what does your school cover in "scientific foundations of medicine"?

 

[deleted967981]

I'm looking at it from the lens of spending most of my time on Anki. I guess that's why I missed what you were saying. But I figured that that would be the only way you could do it with this method. Sounds scary, tbh. I'm like almost completely reliant on Anki for retention. Your bread and butter would have to be non-Anki methods.

Why not make your own Anki deck for your classes, if it’s your go-to for studying?

 

[slowthai]

Why not make your own Anki deck for your classes, if it’s your go-to for studying?

That sounds like a good idea. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[BOAO523]

For anyone who's done Zanki, how much time would you estimate the daily commitment to be (ballpark) if you start in the beginning of M1 and do it daily/rarely miss any days? Assuming you review some block-related and some non-block-related cards on any given day.

I'm trying to see if I can use Zanki as a supplement during pre-clinicals (ie rely on lecture and other resources to initially learn).

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

For anyone who's done Zanki, how much time would you estimate the daily commitment to be (ballpark) if you start in the beginning of M1 and do it daily/rarely miss any days? Assuming you review some block-related and some non-block-related cards on any given day.

I'm trying to see if I can use Zanki as a supplement during pre-clinicals (ie rely on lecture and other resources to initially learn).

If you chip away at it then it shouldn't be more than 2 hours max. That's assuming you aren't trying to do all the cards in one section trying keep up with the current block you are in.

 

[aldol16]

Didn't use Zanki at all (used different deck), started end of M1, and never spent more than 2 hours on it a day. 260+. Emphasize learning the fundamental concepts and use Anki to keep those concepts fresh in your mind and to reinforce them.

 

[BOAO523]

Didn't use Zanki at all (used different deck), started end of M1, and never spent more than 2 hours on it a day. 260+. Emphasize learning the fundamental concepts and use Anki to keep those concepts fresh in your mind and to reinforce them.

Thank you for your reply! Do you mind sharing which deck you used or which decks you've heard might be better/worse over others? I've seen many reviews out there, just wondering if you have any thoughts seeing as it seems you were very efficient with your use of Anki. Also congrats on your score!

 

[Ko8e24]

Depends, what does your school cover in "scientific foundations of medicine"?

This is the description of the block: "The aims of this course are: to present the fundamental molecular, cellular and morphological principles of the biomedical sciences, to convey to the student how these principles govern the holistic control of life itself, and to link the learned scientific information to clinical medicine."

Not sure exactly