sounds like biochem and pathology basics, which is in zanki
When should I start zanki?
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sounds like biochem and pathology basics, which is in zanki
You can PM for more details but I think the key is not to use Anki as a primary learning resource but rather as reinforcement. I started out suspending all cards that weren't related to what I had already learned in terms of subject (ie, micro, immuno, cardio, pulm, etc.) and then unsuspended cards as I covered the topics in class. I prioritized learning the physio and pathophys over memorizing minute facts in general. However, for some subjects, there's no way around memorizing the facts, like Micro. You just have to know which drugs cover what.
That might make clinical year unnecessarily difficult. Since you're going to be going home, doing UWorld questions for shelf exams, and studying for that along with reading up on how to manage your patients. Doing hours of Zanki on top of that seems unreasonable given that there are only 24 h in a day.
Meh, once zanki is matured it shouldnt take you hours to do your reviews.
Better things to do with your time during clinical years than Zanki.
True, but the prospect of being very well prepared for step 1 is attractive.
Didn't use Zanki, was very well prepared for Step, 260+. But then again, I didn't do clinical years before I did Step.
the same exact way you would do it in any other curriculum.
also league is dota for dummies.
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Is Zanki better than firecracker?
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I used FC in first semester and it was a giant time suck for me. But it’s more inclusive than Zanki. I thought it was a good resource for reference but the cards just took forever. I think Wikipedia and a digital FA with search function would be just as good for the most part.
On the flip side, if you keep up with Zanki, I could see step 1 still messing you up. If you have the ability to somehow keep up with FC I don’t see how your baseline would be below 240.
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Which video library / practice question set do you recommend for first year? I know people say use UW for second year. I was looking into Boards & Beyond but I'm not sure which QB to use to practice what I've learned.
Firecracker is actually a pretty good resource. The information is more complete than zanki (which is more complete than lightyear). That being said I agree, each card takes much longer than a zanki card.
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Did Firecracker change significantly after its recent acquisition by Wolters Kluwer? I think they mentioned linking it to UpToDate / Step Up / other LWW resources, but I'm not sure.
Not sure about that sorry. There was definitely information on the cards that are never covered in zanki
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You’ll get lots of different answers to this question so take mine with a grain of salt.
I don’t think a Qbank is worth it first semester. There’s so much to get used to and most questions have elements of systems you haven’t covered yet. I think the best use of a qbank is for after a block, like cardio for example, is done just to work through the cardio questions and use it as a tool solidify what you learned from classes/Zanki to help prep for the final. I found it stressful to do them during a block bc it would often be questions about stuff we hadn’t covered yet and wasn’t conducive to learning. The thing that most of us struggle with in regards to question banks is the low scores. Just try to remember that you’re playing the long game and it’s for learning, not assessment.
I preferred Rx. But it doesn’t matter really. Boards and beyond is really worth it for the first two years.
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Does FC still have spaced repetition methods so that I can continue studying the cards over the 2 years before step?
And if I'm understanding you correctly, FC is actually a more complete resource than Zanki, and in turn more time intensive? I've heard that Zanki especially the new AnKing version is totally comprehensive for Step 1 material so I guess, what does it mean to be even more complete than that?
I've heard FC has more than mere facts to memorize on its cards but rather has concepts as well and this is why it can take so long. Is this true? If so, is FC still good to memorize facts?
Thanks for your time also contributing back to us paranoid M1s.
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FC has a spaced repetition aspect, but it seemed less customizable than anki. I haven’t used it in 18 months, so maybe it’s different.
The cards in FC are insane at times in terms of what you’re expected to regurgitate. Like it’ll ask you a question, and the answer is several sentences long. It was good, but too intense for me. I remember reading someone make similar comments on sdn when I was in your shoes and was like “whatever I’m going for it!” I couldn’t hang. I can cover the same material in half the with Zanki.
I guess the comment about concepts vs facts between the two is accurate. But if you have say 3 facts in Zanki that are somehow interrelated but there’s not a card about the overarching concept, well nothing is stopping you from making that card yourself. Off the top of my head the concept of oxygen induced hypercapnia is multifactorial and I remember making making several cards on it trying to nail it down from all angles. You don’t need a premade card. In fact, during dedicated I probably made about 500+ in anki.
I don’t have experience with Anking. But Zanki is not comprehensive. It’s wonderful, but not comprehensive. FC is closer. But, and this is the part all of us type A’s don’t like to hear, it doesn’t matter if it’s comprehensive if it’s not practical for you to do. FC wasn’t practical for me despite being a good resource. Memorizing Robbins is comprehensive for pathology and memorizing Harrison’s is comprehensive for your internal med classes. Doesn’t matter though bc there’s no way I could do it.
Edit: Happy to help
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Great points. Given your experience with FC, what sort of daily time commitment for 2 years would that require? I'm guessing 2-3 hours?
With firecracker, does it like ask you when your step 1 is and whether you're gonna do it daily or what lol? Kinda confused how it or I will determine how many new cards and review cards I would need to do in a day?
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FC cards took me a couple hours per day. But that was just first semester. I feel like if I kept up during the whole two years it would have been up to 5-6 by the end of second semester. I can’t imagine doing it for the whole two years but I’m sure you can find someone who did it.
Time breakdown for Zanki:
I started Zanki in second semester and it took about 90 minutes or less per day by the end of second semester. Over the summer I added in sketchy micro and the FA micro cards that weren’t in sketchy. During third semester I added in pharm from first semester (antibiotics/ antivirals/anti fungals, etc). I also added in a lot of Zanki biochem (it hurts so good). Between all this and adding relevant cards for semester 3 and keeping up with all of my daily reviews, I started hitting 1000+ card days which was taking 3-6 hours per day of just Zanki.
During 4th semester I finished biochem, and the rest of the system specific decks and their associated pharm decks and kept up with all of my reviews of everything until 2 weeks before Step 1. My review count for the day was routinely between 1,500-2000+ cards per day and routinely took about 8 hrs. I kept up with pharm and biochem until the day before Step 1. Keep in mind I still did 1-3 blocks of uworld/day (an hour to do each block and depending on your knowledge base a lot longer to review. I also made cards on the stuff I missed in uworld). I also forced myself to do an hour of boards and beyond everyday.
I also crammed turn up to path for omm in two weeks at one point but ignored the reviews. Just wanted exposure so I could cram it again for comlex.
In retrospect, I wish I did Zanki in first semester instead of FC so I didn’t feel the need to overload third semester with first semester concepts.
But everyone’s different and there’s no rule saying you have to do any flash card set. This is all a relatively new style of studying.
Edit: don’t remember enough about FC to answer questions in your second paragraph.
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So I will start at MSU CHM in the fall and their curriculum is truly different than anything that could fit zanki decks. Content is broken up in to self contained chunks around chief complaints rather than organ systems or topics. I'm curious if you all had any advice how to incorporate zanki into msu's unique curriculum
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I'm taking Anatomy's advice and running Zanki independently from day 1. Do 40-50 new cards a day, making sure to finish well before dedicated. Over time, the Zanki workload should go down to about an hour a day. You won't be on pace with class (like not even close, lol) but that's where making your own decks comes in.
Doing it this way should keep the total workload manageable, as long as you're consistent. You'll also be able to do reasonably well in class and you'll be in a really good place come winter of M2 and dedicated.
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Does anyone make separate Anki cards for the B&B videos on top of the premade ones, or are you simply watching the B&B videos w/o taking notes and going about Zanki review as normal? Or are you annotating FA along with B&B, on top of doing Zanki? #lol
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I annotated b&b powerpoints in notability and often times the concept was in Zanki, but I would just screenshot that slide and throw it into an existing Zanki card. I did this a lot in cell bio bc his images were superior to those in Zanki.
I made some unique decks from his slides covering ekgs and pressure volume loops and murmurs. And some covering reproductive stuff and genetics.
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deleted600623
So what about the reviews from school lecture decks? Did you just move those cards to a combined review deck after you were done with the block?
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deleted600623
Image occlusion add-on and google images.
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deleted600623
Just a tip for those if you're interested. I've purchased a couple of resources to just get a feel for them (B&B and Pathoma), mainly because they aren't expensive at all compared to what you get for them. If you aren't following Anatomy's advice for Zanki, I would recommend doing all of your reviews first before starting new material for the day. There are settings that you can change in Anki to do new cards first if you want to watch the videos first and then do related cards right after but I've found this to be tedious. Just my two cents.
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Hi guys, how many news + reviews have you been doing daily for Anki? I am in my second week of my first block right now and I have been doing about 477 news+reviews/day since I started (combo of lecture-specific cards + Zanki).
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AnatomyGrey12
I never did them once the block was over. For long term reps I just did the zanki reviews.
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I like the idea of lecture cards b/c it seems like an active way to engage w/ the lecture material and not completely ignore what's going on in class. I am going to keep up the lecture cards until I take my exam for my first block and then get a feel of how I want to continue moving forward.
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I like this, I was thinking I would just suspend all my school-specific cards at the end of each block and just continue on with Zanki for long-term.
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AnatomyGrey12
One suggestion is to not make anki cards for every little thing in lecture. Just do it for the stuff you really need it for.
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deleted600623
Good point.
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Can someone tell me if this is a decent idea? P/F school, professor written exams.
Watch high yield videos (sketchy, pathoma, B&B etc.) --> Zanki cards for those topics --> Watch lecture and make cards out of topics I may need to know for the exam, but aren't in Zanki --> Profit
We have frequent quizzes so unfortunately I can't just go through all a Zanki deck then watch lectures after.
Also, do you guys watch the lectures or just look through the slides?
Watch high yield videos (sketchy, pathoma, B&B etc.) --> Zanki cards for those topics --> Watch lecture and make cards out of topics I may need to know for the exam, but aren't in Zanki --> Profit
We have frequent quizzes so unfortunately I can't just go through all a Zanki deck then watch lectures after.
Also, do you guys watch the lectures or just look through the slides?
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Hey guys, I start school next Monday and I’m planning on using AnKing. I’ve never used Anki before.
I apologize if this had already been mentioned, but if I plan on doing 40-50 new cards every day, should those cards be random or concurrent with the classes I’m taking?
Also, I see that you guys mention to keep up with the reviews every day. What should you do when you have other plans/ can’t review for a few days because of vacation, other obligations, etc?
I apologize if this had already been mentioned, but if I plan on doing 40-50 new cards every day, should those cards be random or concurrent with the classes I’m taking?
Also, I see that you guys mention to keep up with the reviews every day. What should you do when you have other plans/ can’t review for a few days because of vacation, other obligations, etc?
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deleted967981
Short answer: you do your reviews anyway, otherwise they pile up. Zanki/Anking is a commitment.
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I plan on doing that amount of cards in the same sequence as my curriculum. Obviously, unless your curriculum moves stupidly slow, you'll still be doing Zanki biochem while you're in a completely different block because you're way ahead in your curriculum. That doesn't matter because you're preparing long term for step. All you have to do is make sure you finish Zanki before dedicated. The plus side is that when you're doing Zanki you'll be recalling the cards from 1 month or more ago with the added context from lecture, so it will be reinforced very strongly. The downside, if you could call it one, is that you won't be able to use Zanki to reinforce lecture material like you would if you were doing enough new cards/day to keep up with your curriculum. But that's where making your own cards or using other people's premade decks come in. Theoretically, doing it this way will allow you to do very well in class and on boards. Furthermore, your Zanki burden will be so much more manageable than someone doing Zanki at the pace of their curriculum.
To answer your other question, I probably shouldn't be saying this, but there's a new add on for postponing reviews. It's basically crack, lol. If you're not the type to be consistently consistent, it will screw you over.
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lol. If you are doing only 50 cards a day you will not be "ahead" of your curriculum.
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You misread what I wrote. I was saying that you will be farther along in your curriculum than you are in Zanki. If you read my other posts in this thread, you'll see that I already said this.
I couldn't tell exactly because your comment was somewhat nonsensical.
The good way to do zanki imo is to pound the cards in the order of your curriculum. I do about 150 new per day and stay ahead of class. I never do class material and I pass all my exams. Life is great.
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I clearly explained that what you're doing in class will not match up to what you're doing in Zanki because of the pace of the curriculum and the fact that you're only doing 40-50 cards a day. How is that nonsensical? It was pretty clear.
That's a good strategy of course, but everyone's curriculum is different and some people would barely pass doing it that way. Also, some people are aiming for AOA, so class grades may matter depending on your school. Obviously, step over everything, but some people gunning for derm or PRS will try to get AOA too. Nothing wrong with that.
That's a good strategy of course, but everyone's curriculum is different and some people would barely pass doing it that way. Also, some people are aiming for AOA, so class grades may matter depending on your school. Obviously, step over everything, but some people gunning for derm or PRS will try to get AOA too. Nothing wrong with that.
If your school determines AOA off class grades I feel bad for you. But if AOA is not determined from class grades you absolutely should never pay attention to slides. That is the only caveat here. If if your classes are graded, you should not do class content if you can still pass.
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I don't see why that's a bad thing. It's better than the popularity contest that it is at some schools.
But there's something to be said for being able to know both class content and step content very well. Many times I have heard of people getting several questions correct on step that they only knew because of class. Also, there's the conceptual foundation to be gained from learning lectures. When it comes to step, I feel like the decision of completely ditching class content depends on the person and how good the curriculum is. If you need more material to reinforce what you're learning in Zanki and your school's curriculum is very good, maybe you should focus on class material at least to some degree. If Zanki alone is enough for you to master all the content and your classes are mainly PhD minutiae, then maybe completely ditch class material.
Will respectfully disagree. It sounds like you havent started so you will learn. Class material is not important and is usually full of BS that the PhD or MD decided to throw in.
The people I know doing straight zanki at our school are hitting around 240+ on the cbse and we still have a couple blocks left to go.
You are better off not going to class and instead using that time to put out publications. if you want to learn clinically relevant material at least make sure its step 2 relevant.
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Like I said, this is really a school to school thing. Some schools have pretty good step relevant curricula. Some don't. Also, a lot of us may not even be able to determine if class material is low yield at this point (incoming M1s), so it's better to learn everything well (class content and boards stuff), all things equal.
For the record, I 110% agree with skipping class completely and using that time to study and/or do research.
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what is the difference between anki & zanki? idk why i can't seem to get a clear answer when i google this...
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Anki is the spaced repetition flashcard program. Zanki is just a deck, like Bros or Lightyear.
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