Zanki Vs Brosencephalon

[itsallgood123]

After talking to a couple rising third year students, it has come to my attention there there is a new anki deck (zanki) competing with brosencephalon. Can anyone provide insight on to which is the better of these two decks? To those who have just taken boards, any thoughts/comments on what you used and why? What are their respective strengths/weaknesses?

Thank you all for your time

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[pericardium]

Questions in zanki are better written, so you can blow through them really quickly Some of the question stems in Zanki may give away the answer and make it easy. There are also way more cards in Zanki

Bros seems to be more proven, but people have great things to say about zanki. For now, I'm sticking with Zanki

 

[QueryNeurology]

Bros has better designed cards (harder but tests your memory in a better way) but Zanki has more material (plus loads of stuff in FA that Bros left out.)

 

[mehc012]

Bros has better designed cards (harder but tests your memory in a better way) but Zanki has more material (plus loads of stuff in FA that Bros left out.)

That seems hard to believe. I tried Bros but gave up because the questions were poorly designed. You can make cards that test your memory without being vague. It's one of those decks that phrases things so you have to memorize both what the question really means, and the answer...knowing the material is largely irrelevant.

 

[QueryNeurology]

That seems hard to believe. I tried Bros but gave up because the questions were poorly designed. You can make cards that test your memory without being vague. It's one of those decks that phrases things so you have to memorize both what the question really means, and the answer...knowing the material is largely irrelevant.

Have you compared them to Zanki's questions? They're both good decks but Zanki's questions are very easy to remember (so you will remember the card because you remember how the question is posed.)

I find I do better in practice tests for the sections in which I use Bros instead of Zanki...but maybe that's just me...YMMV.

 

[blah12346497]

Some cards in zanki are easier to remember due to question layout. But there are other cloze deletion variants of that same card, that usually do the job. I plan to just edit the ones that give too much away. Other than that, Zanki seems to be more comprehensive

 

[mehc012]

Have you compared them to Zanki's questions? They're both good decks but Zanki's questions are very easy to remember (so you will remember the card because you remember how the question is posed.)

I find I do better in practice tests for the sections in which I use Bros instead of Zanki...but maybe that's just me...YMMV.

No, haven't compared the two, but I would hardly call Bros well written, is all.

 

[JamesPotterMS-3]

I'll just play the Devil's advocate and say that I, PERSONALLY, did not like Zanki and preferred Bros. My main reason is the size. Zanki is too, too big. It currently has 20,000 cards but will most likely be 25,000 after you add the micro, biochem, and all the other subjects that are currently being added that were absent from the original deck. Unless you start from M1, I can't see how you will graduate all 20k+ cards by dedicated which should be your goal if you are using anki. I just used bros and edited cards and added stuff from lectures/FA2016 when studying. If you want a more "comprehensive" deck, I would just use Firecracker. Zanki is too big and you really can't sort out the HY stuff. At least with Firecracker, you get a huge deck but you have the option to, later on, edit it down to high yield cards only.

 

[Mh0311]

I'll just play the Devil's advocate and say that I, PERSONALLY, did not like Zanki and preferred Bros. My main reason is the size. Zanki is too, too big. It currently has 20,000 cards but will most likely be 25,000 after you add the micro, biochem, and all the other subjects that are currently being added that were absent from the original deck. Unless you start from M1, I can't see how you will graduate all 20k+ cards by dedicated which should be your goal if you are using anki. I just used bros and edited cards and added stuff from lectures/FA2016 when studying. If you want a more "comprehensive" deck, I would just use Firecracker. Zanki is too big and you really can't sort out the HY stuff. At least with Firecracker, you get a huge deck but you have the option to, later on, edit it down to high yield cards only.

So if one is starting from MS1 do you recommend zanki, from what I've gathered people use Anki because of its superior algorithm when it comes to the spaced repetition aspect vs firecracker and also because it's free

 

[kb0275]

Which subjects from bros should not be used? I heard some subjects are overkill and some info. he has in his decks are from his lecture? Thanks

 

[JamesPotterMS-3]

So if one is starting from MS1 do you recommend zanki, from what I've gathered people use Anki because of its superior algorithm when it comes to the spaced repetition aspect vs firecracker and also because it's free

honestly, just use bros. Zanki is too big. I don't know 1 person who has finished it. Bros has been out for years and there are many, many people on these forums who have graduated all their cards before dedicated and attest to the quality of the deck. No one can say that about zanki.

 

[NeuResurgens]

Where can I download the Zanki deck? Google isn't helping much as I'm getting a ton of reddit threads that don't actually have any Anki files to download. All I got was Zanki Pharm on Ankiweb.

 

[QueryNeurology]

No, haven't compared the two, but I would hardly call Bros well written, is all.

Do you have or know better? If so please share

 

[mehc012]

Do you have or know better? If so please share

I make my own, but my deck is spotty during school. I'll crack down during dedicated.

 

[Elessar]

honestly, just use bros. Zanki is too big. I don't know 1 person who has finished it. Bros has been out for years and there are many, many people on these forums who have graduated all their cards before dedicated and attest to the quality of the deck. No one can say that about zanki.

You do realize that Zanki was only released like 3 months ago, right? Of course nobody has finished it yet, 20k cards in 3 months would be impossible (not to mention a bad use of time during dedicated). It was meant for MS1/MS2s to slowly work through along with their coursework.

 

[DexterM]

Where can I download the Zanki deck? Google isn't helping much as I'm getting a ton of reddit threads that don't actually have any Anki files to download. All I got was Zanki Pharm on Ankiweb.

Here you go, let me know if the links to the deck still work

 

[backside_attack]

So for someone like me who finished MS1 a month ago and I've just slowly started working my way through the content from MS1 that's on Bros - should I continue or switch to the Zanki decks? My school has a traditional curriculum so we have had zero pharm or pathophys yet.

 

[itsallgood123]

So for someone like me who finished MS1 a month ago and I've just slowly started working my way through the content from MS1 that's on Bros - should I continue or switch to the Zanki decks? My school has a traditional curriculum so we have had zero pharm or pathophys yet.

Currently in the same predicament.

 

[NeuResurgens]

Here you go, let me know if the links to the deck still work

Thanks for the help!

 

[backside_attack]

Currently in the same predicament.

I just did 100 of the Zanki cards (that covered material I've been covering in Bros) - I definitely like how the cards are structured/worded better. I think it's actually making me recall more details than Bros. This is n=1 but I think I might power through it to catch up to where I ended MS1 in time to start MS2 next month.

 

[LilOrphanFourval]

M1, I was wondering how many new cards I'm supposed to do a day. My curriculum is systems based so I figure I should do my system and throw in biochem and micro now, but anyone have a good Idea of how many cards to do daily?

 

[itsallgood123]

M1, I was wondering how many new cards I'm supposed to do a day. My curriculum is systems based so I figure I should do my system and throw in biochem and micro now, but anyone have a good Idea of how many cards to do daily?

I think as an M1 a good idea would be to calculate the amount of new cards you would need to do a day in order to finish the deck pertaining to the block you're in. This would help reinforce some lecture material as well. Still a long way to go for boards but definitely gives you an edge in my opinion.

Also, what micro deck are you using if you dont mind me asking? Anyone here know of a micro deck that combines sketchy pictures with facts?

 

[LilOrphanFourval]

I think as an M1 a good idea would be to calculate the amount of new cards you would need to do a day in order to finish the deck pertaining to the block you're in. This would help reinforce some lecture material as well. Still a long way to go for boards but definitely gives you an edge in my opinion.

Also, what micro deck are you using if you dont mind me asking? Anyone here know of a micro deck that combines sketchy pictures with facts?

Im in a PBL curriculum, so atm Im focusing on physiology and histology, but I downloaded sketchy anki and Microbiology V1 + TorkyMicro for after i go though one or more textbooks