When should I start zanki?

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So why do people still recommend Zanki when AnKing incorporates Zanki plus other material?

 

[slowthai]

So why do people still recommend Zanki when AnKing incorporates Zanki plus other material?

I think when people say Zanki nowadays, they really mean Zanki + lolnotacop or Zanki + Pepper Micro or Zanki + whatever else. It's definitely what I mean, lol.

 

[LebronManning]

what is the difference between anki & zanki? idk why i can't seem to get a clear answer when i google this...

Anki is just the software/app for electronic flash cards using spaced repetition.

Zanki is simply one pre made deck of cards some savvy med students created for us that pretty much has all the facts from step 1 in about 30k cards

 

[LebronManning]

So why do people still recommend Zanki when AnKing incorporates Zanki plus other material?

Zanki has pretty much become the colloquial term for any deck that incorporates it since it was the original. AnKing is just Zanki with better organization

 

[Osteosaur]

I feel late to the party starting M2. I used to base Anki off lectures but things are getting tight.

What is a good cards/day at this point so I can hit boards without interfering with classes too badly?

 

[BOAO523]

Anki is the software/program for time-interval flashcards. Zanki is a pre-made deck for the Anki software that many students use during M1 and M2 to prepare for Step. Although not comprehensive, it does cover a lot of information and reddit/sdn threads swear that consistent, disciplined review and eventual completion of Zanki or similar decks yields a high Step score (assuming it's used as a supplement to other forms of studying such as UWorld practice exams).

Ya'll can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[premed_mamba]

Hello I’m an M1 , If i wanted to follow anatomys advice and do 40-50 new zanki cards a day And just go straight through zanki instead of matching them up during my class, would I just download the anking deck and change my new cards limit to 50 and then start. Or is there anymore steps I need to take. I’m not very tech nor Anki savy. And the videos haven’t helped much with this method.
Thanks

 

[initialize]

Hello I’m an M1 , If i wanted to follow anatomys advice and do 40-50 new zanki cards a day And just go straight through zanki instead of matching them up during my class, would I just download the anking deck and change my new cards limit to 50 and then start. Or is there anymore steps I need to take. I’m not very tech nor Anki savy. And the videos haven’t helped much with this method.
Thanks

I’m wondering the same thing. I’ve watched a lot of the AnKing videos but it’s still pretty complicated to follow.

 

[slowthai]

Hello I’m an M1 , If i wanted to follow anatomys advice and do 40-50 new zanki cards a day And just go straight through zanki instead of matching them up during my class, would I just download the anking deck and change my new cards limit to 50 and then start. Or is there anymore steps I need to take. I’m not very tech nor Anki savy. And the videos haven’t helped much with this method.
Thanks

I’m wondering the same thing. I’ve watched a lot of the AnKing videos but it’s still pretty complicated to follow.

This is what I've done so far: joined FB groups with previous classes' Anki/Zanki decks. Thankfully, there are a few people (bless them) ahead of us that have made a school specific Zanki deck. They've added cards to the deck, even labelling subdecks and tagging cards by week in the curriculum. This way, I have almost zero work to do on my end when it comes to making cards or even finding pertinent cards (for class). The way I did this was by talking to upperclassmen and joining FB groups where they post these decks and discuss them.

Secondly, I would start with 40 cards a day, and adjust from there. As I get closer to dedicated, my number of new cards will probably be increased to 50-80, depending. I'd rather titrate up, because with Anki, you can't titrate down. Once you set a new card limit, your review workload will reflect that initial limit permanently. But right now, 40 new cards will give me a really manageable daily workload. The reason why I will have to increase the number of new cards towards the end is because I want to finish/mature about 30000 cards by dedicated, which is 4-8 weeks before step, depending on when I take it.

Thirdly, I would download most of the add-ons AnKing discusses, because they are very helpful. Also, you could look for other add ons to optimize Anki for yourself.

Lastly, you don't need to download AnKing's deck. With this way of doing it (slow burn over two years), you won't even need the level of organization that his deck has because you won't be searching for new cards to add every day/week. You can just run Zanki the two years and do your class specific cards until the end of the block tests and then suspend those class cards permanently.

I hope this makes sense.

 

[Alkain]

Hello I’m an M1 , If i wanted to follow anatomys advice and do 40-50 new zanki cards a day And just go straight through zanki instead of matching them up during my class, would I just download the anking deck and change my new cards limit to 50 and then start. Or is there anymore steps I need to take. I’m not very tech nor Anki savy. And the videos haven’t helped much with this method.
Thanks

Please don't do it this way. You're going to end up trying to memorize 50 random facts every day with no context.
If you want to start Anki day 1 of M1, I'd go for Lightyear. Watch the B&B video for whatever your curriculum is teaching then do those cards.

 

[slowthai]

Please don't do it this way. You're going to end up trying to memorize 50 random facts every day with no context.

This isn't true if you do it the way I'm doing it.

This is the context:
For normal phys: BnB + Costanzo + lecture
For pathophys: Pathoma + Sketchy +/- BnB + lecture

If you're doing your cards in the same sequence as your curriculum, you'll be developing a strong background as or even before you're seeing the cards. Now you would be right if you just set it up to see 50 random cards, but if you go in order, you should be good.

And even if you do see some cards that you have no background in, that will not remain the case for long. It may take a week or two, (or maybe even the whole block) before those cards truly make sense, but it doesn't matter as long as you get it down before dedicated/step.

 

[Alkain]

This isn't true if you do it the way I'm doing it.

This is the context:
For normal phys: BnB + Costanzo + lecture
For pathophys: Pathoma + Sketchy +/- BnB + lecture.

If you're doing your cards in the same sequence as your curriculum, you'll be developing a strong background as or even before you're seeing the cards. Now you would be right if you just set it up to see 50 random cards, but if you go in order, you should be good.

And even if you do see some cards that you have no background in, that will not remain the case for long. It may take a week or two before those cards truly make sense, but it doesn't matter as long as you get it down before dedicated/step.

And just go straight through zanki instead of matching them up during my class,

 

[slowthai]

Aha, fair point. I assumed he meant not running Zanki at the same pace as class, like most people that use it do. That doesn't mean that you can't learn the cards at a much slower rate but in the same order as the curriculum, which is what I'm doing. For example, if you're in your endo and repro block, you may still be doing new GI cards, but as soon as you finish the GI deck, you move on to the endo and repro decks.

 

[initialize]

Apparently an M2 or M3 at our school sent this to one of the M1s, would you guys agree with this or should I stick to Zanki?

“Once you finish pre-clinical years, firecracker also has shelf exam material for Clinical rotations, which I am still using. While some people like using zanki, I dont recommend it. It is compiled of tons of low yield material, was created over 6 years ago, and is over 25,000 cards so you spend a lot of time memorizing low yield facts that you likely wont see. Firecracker is constantly updated to target the list of topics published by the USMLE for the step 1 exam.”

 

[slowthai]

Apparently an M2 or M3 at our school sent this to one of the M1s, would you guys agree with this or should I stick to Zanki?

“Once you finish pre-clinical years, firecracker also has shelf exam material for Clinical rotations, which I am still using. While some people like using zanki, I dont recommend it. It is compiled of tons of low yield material, was created over 6 years ago, and is over 25,000 cards so you spend a lot of time memorizing low yield facts that you likely wont see. Firecracker is constantly updated to target the list of topics published by the USMLE for the step 1 exam.”

That's just total propaganda. Zanki all day. It's proven. I have seen a lot more positive reviews of Zanki in regards to daily use, customizability, and step score than FC. I've heard a lot a mixed stuff about FC (more negative, to be honest).

He's just a firecracker shill, lol. How can something based off of BUFAPS have a ton of low yield? Getouttahere

 

[Ho0v-man]

Apparently an M2 or M3 at our school sent this to one of the M1s, would you guys agree with this or should I stick to Zanki?

“Once you finish pre-clinical years, firecracker also has shelf exam material for Clinical rotations, which I am still using. While some people like using zanki, I dont recommend it. It is compiled of tons of low yield material, was created over 6 years ago, and is over 25,000 cards so you spend a lot of time memorizing low yield facts that you likely wont see. Firecracker is constantly updated to target the list of topics published by the USMLE for the step 1 exam.”

Absolute nonsense. If anything, FC has more “low-yield” material. Can’t speak for its utility in 3rd year, but for preclinical this just isn’t true.