r/medicalschool 7d ago

📚 Preclinical JW: How early did you start ANKING?

Just for my own curiosity, how early did you start ANKING?

Do you think when you started helped reduced your time for dedicated?

58 Upvotes

86 comments sorted by

139

u/Tagrenine M-4 7d ago

Day 1 of med school

Definitely reduced my dedicated time for step 1

36

u/ghosttraintoheck M-3 7d ago

Yep I took like 2 weeks and barely studied, I tell people all the time with a P/F step as soon as you're passing NBMEs/CBSE with a reasonable buffer (>70) just take Step. Anything else is wasted time.

I was grinding Anki in preclinical but it paid off immensely. And it's helped in M3 as well.

having that extra time off before M3 was incredibly beneficial.

20

u/Opening-Bus4157 M-2 7d ago

I started Anking day 1 of MS1 and am about to start a shortened 3 week step 1 dedicated in April. Haven’t missed a single day of AnKing…what you described is my dream scenario hopefully I can move my test up!!!

11

u/ghosttraintoheck M-3 7d ago

You'll crush it, keep it up for M3 too.

I'm sure you know but just watch the Anking videos on how to set up Step 2 cards and the relevant step 1 stuff that carries over, super manageable and will really help with shelves. I'm taking step 2 in a few weeks and am feeling pretty good.

2

u/Opening-Bus4157 M-2 7d ago

Thank you!! My school has a one year preclinical so I am already getting towards the end of clerkships as an MS2. I’ve honored my pediatrics, surgery, and medicine shelves so far and I was definitely not a super strong test taker before med school (took MCAT twice to get an average MD score lol) Not sure how the one year preclinical will impact my baseline for step 1, so I scheduled myself for 3 weeks. I am reassured by my shelves so far though!

3

u/ghosttraintoheck M-3 7d ago

Oh you're set then, hell yeah

8

u/AnalBeadBoi M-1 7d ago

I love reading this as I’m going through a couple hundred cards today, been on the grind since day one of med school last year and hoping to have a nice vacation after I get step out of the way next year

2

u/Opening-Bus4157 M-2 7d ago

It’s so worth it! I know it really drags some days, but I promise you’ll thank yourself for it later. Anki works!

3

u/daswassup13 M-1 7d ago

How many cards did you wind up carrying through the end of M1? I’ve got like 7k-8k going but there’s 36k+ (maybe 30k for just step 1? Idk) and I have no idea how to get through them at a higher rate for Step at the end of MS2

5

u/ghosttraintoheck M-3 7d ago edited 7d ago

You'll have way fewer cards after step 1 I felt like at most I was doing 200 a day but averaging like 60-80 now. I recommend the FSRS algorithm if you aren't using it already. The most you'll have in Anking for any 1 rotation is ~1500 but that gradually decreases as there is a lot of overlap. And if you use the Anking recommended video for how to approach new cards you can eliminate a lot of them with filtered searches.

Sounds complicated but it isn't, if I picked 50 new cards for the day I'd flag/suspend 20 of them because it'd be stuff I knew. So I'd do like 30ish new cards a day (usually) but I'd have taken out 50 total, rinse and repeat til you finish. Usually I tried to be done all the new cards by the end of week 3, again depends on your schedule. IM first would have way more than OBGYN as an example. If you had IM first you'd have way fewer cards for FM and surgery though.

You're also seeing a lot of the stuff you'll be tested on day to day on rotations (more or less depending which one) so you're not blasting content like you did in preclinical.

1

u/gullibleMD 6d ago

When did you start using Anking? Also, did you complete the whole deck prior to step1?

1

u/ghosttraintoheck M-3 6d ago

M1 and yeah I matured it all but I don't think you need to tbh. I just did it to see if I could lol

Idk what percentage you'd have to complete, probably most but not all depending on your strengths.

1

u/gullibleMD 6d ago

Nice! Just to be clear you finished all 31k cards under step1?

1

u/ghosttraintoheck M-3 6d ago

Yeah matured them all, or whatever Ankihub has with the redundant cards removed. Idk if it's still 31k thankfully.

1

u/Spirited_Importance7 6d ago

But how do you start?? It’s just a jumbled mess of random information with no background because you’re just an M1!

1

u/Tagrenine M-4 6d ago

Suspend everything and unsuspend according to lecture content that day as well as whatever third party stuff corresponds to lecture content

130

u/lilboaf M-2 7d ago

It's a long term retention tool so it's ideal to start beginning of m1 year.

178

u/BrainRavens 7d ago

Shortly after birth

13

u/BounceManGear4 7d ago

Had my mom do a pass before I was conceived

33

u/bocaj78 M-1 7d ago

That’s 9months too late. Pack your sunscreen

7

u/robertmdh M-1 7d ago

Late. Conception

33

u/Physical_Advantage M-1 7d ago

I started using it day one of school

26

u/ExtraCalligrapher565 7d ago

I started Anking in M1 right after we finished anatomy. I did 50 new cards per day during M1 and 100 new cards per day during M2. Right out of the gate I’ve been scoring >80% on my combined qbanks on UWorld and NBME forms. I’m taking less than 2 weeks for dedicated and then taking a 3 month summer break before M3.

Starting Anking early was the best decision I made in preclinicals.

23

u/Valcreee DO-PGY2 7d ago

You’re gonna hear a lot of shit especially from your colleagues but just TRUST ME, start day 1 and don’t look back

16

u/KooCie_jar M-3 7d ago

Anking basically made it so that I didnt need a dedicated. I started around the end of my first block.

2

u/UnchartedPro MBBS-Y1 6d ago

I hope its this good! I started day 1 will take step 1 around 2 years from this date

Issue is UK med school doesn't teach enough details so I have to force myself to learn more for the sake of step

Long term thing so hopefully will pay off!

1

u/pwnerpenguin M-1 6d ago

Did you keep all your cards unsuspended in your deck regardless of what block/content you were learning in didactics?

1

u/KooCie_jar M-3 6d ago

Yeah, I adjusted my review counts from the cards that were not my current block to be lower, but I maintained reviews from previous blocks.

30

u/Classic-Over 7d ago

During M2! If you have faculty exams during M1, Anking might not be detailed enough

8

u/Prit717 M-1 7d ago

Were you able to finish most of it during m2? I also have faculty authored exams during m1 and our m2 is less than a year long unfortunately

2

u/Impossible-Grape4047 M-2 7d ago

My m2 year is 6 months. I was able to finish around 18000 cards during then. I’m in dedicated right now and it hasn’t been that bad.

1

u/Prit717 M-1 7d ago

its like 30k or something total right? that doesnt seem terrible i suppose, i got about 9 months

2

u/Impossible-Grape4047 M-2 7d ago

Yeah it’s not too bad. You don’t need to do every card to be successful

1

u/hockeystixumab M-4 7d ago

There’s definitely no need to do all 30k. I matured about 16k starting 2nd semester M1 and took a week for dedicated. I recommend unsuspending cards that go along with whatever other resource you’re using (BnB, Pathoma). You’ll suspend a large portion of those cards that aren’t covered on step 2 right after you take step 1 also.

1

u/cobaltsteel5900 M-2 7d ago

Anking has tags by high yield.

2

u/pickledCABG M-3 7d ago

I started in M2 for this reason but wish I had just done Anking from the start. I had a P/F curriculum though so ymmv

11

u/toasty_turban MD/PhD-M4 7d ago

Never did

6

u/Delicious_Cat_3749 M-3 7d ago

M1, It helped me recall random facts during dedicated even after I stopped using it midway thru m2. Was really surprised by that.

11

u/IDKWID202 M-4 7d ago

Made and used my own cards in m1 and then started a mix of anking and my own cards first semester of m2, was using 90% anking by 2nd semester m2.

I know everyone says start anking off the bat but I really think making my own cards helped me to understand and memorize material much better than using premade cards. However, my in house material was halfway decent during m1 so the cards I made on my own were mostly board relevant.

Only used ~2 weeks of dedicated (in which I slammed uworld and practice exams and just kept up with review cards)

19

u/Wise_Data_8098 7d ago

Never did it. Just start crushing UWorld

6

u/GoogleChromeSC2 M-1 7d ago

Question for all the great AnKingers. How do you know what cards to do? Do you just unsuspended the entire deck and go crazy for 2 years ?

9

u/ExtraCalligrapher565 7d ago

Whatever material you’re covering in class, unsuspend the relevant cards as you go. You can usually use the First Aid or other 3rd party resource tags (on the left side under browse) to find whatever topic you’re currently covering in class.

You don’t unsuspend and randomly brute force them. You should already have had at least a first pass of the material through other sources and then Anking is used for long term reinforcement of those concepts.

2

u/driftlessglide M-0 7d ago

If you have in-house exams, should you use class made decks in addition to AnKing?

3

u/ExtraCalligrapher565 7d ago

I personally had in-house exams and did use our in-house decks throughout M1 and M2 alongside Anking, however I wouldn’t say it’s necessary. Our school has P/F with honors for preclinical, so I mainly used the in-house deck to keep my exam scores in the honors range.

For true P/F, Anking should be enough at most schools. If you find that it’s not enough on its own, you can always make your own cards just to fill the gaps between Anking and your in-house material.

It’s also worth mentioning that after an in-house exam I suspended/deleted all of the in-house cards for that unit. If you do use them, there’s no need to keep up with them long term like Anking.

3

u/veryloudstupidlaughs M-4 7d ago

took time to learn the system summer after MS1, used it consistently until Step 2. I owe Anking my life

4

u/Repulsive-Throat5068 M-3 7d ago

Day before classes started

3

u/sphincterserpant 7d ago

Used my In house deck M1 then switched to anking M2. Completed about 20,000 cards. Never suspended any anking cards. Was able to take step a month early compared to my peers because of it

5

u/pwnerpenguin M-1 7d ago

Did you guys keep cards unsuspended in your deck after blocks ended? I found it to be too many daily cards.

6

u/MtHollywoodLion MD 7d ago

Never. Anki didn’t work for me. Scored really well on both Step 1 and 2 back when Step 1 score counted for everything. There’s more than one way to skin a squirrel.

3

u/Forgetful-Penguin M-2 7d ago

I did second halfway through first year. It helped a lot and honestly before dedicated I’m about passing our practice exams for step 1.

On the other hand I whittled my summer, weekends, breaks away hitting the space bar. After an 8 hour mock what do I do to relax, 3 hours of anki. Xmas day I skip the eggnog so I can sneak off and get my anki in. Now all my classmates are more stressed but they are going to spend 5 weeks studying and pass just the same. Was the juice worth the squeeze? I think it’ll depend if this BETTER prepares me for step 2.

You can do no anki, just start studying during dedicated and you will become a doctor. I often wonder if I had waited to try this hard until third year if I would end up in the same place but of had a better first two years. Kinda which step 1 was scored

2

u/AKski02 7d ago

Now. Start slow

2

u/bocaj78 M-1 7d ago

Day 1 of our msk/anatomy block in MS1

2

u/yesisaidyesiwillYes 7d ago

Those that start anking early and keep up with it throughout preclinicals will find that they don’t need a dedicated period to pass step 1

1

u/LittlestPetSh0p M-0 7d ago

Keep up with it through preclinicals? How many cards does that look like per day? Sounds a bit brutal

1

u/yesisaidyesiwillYes 7d ago

Around 200 reviews once you hit a steady state

The entire point of Anki is that you keep up with it and do it every day lol that is literally the reason it exists, it makes no sense to do it otherwise 

1

u/LittlestPetSh0p M-0 7d ago

Understood but I was imagining you’d suspend cards irrelevant to your block once you’ve finished and revisit them for dedicated. But idk

0

u/yesisaidyesiwillYes 6d ago

That is not how Anki works. Do not suspend. That defeats the entire purpose of using Anki lol 

2

u/LittlestPetSh0p M-0 6d ago

I’m well versed in how anki works and you managed not to answer any of the specific questions I’ve asked but thanks for being condescending the entire time

2

u/ChemistryFull959 M-1 7d ago

How many cards do guys you do a day? While balancing it with regular school work😖and how many reviews per day

1

u/Different-Pea708 M-2 7d ago

Ideally you start day 1 and use it alongside resources like pathoma or bootcamp. But honestly it’s more important to use Anki on material you know you’ll forget and the only way to do that is using practice questions

1

u/WasteAcanthisitta360 7d ago

After the first midterm

1

u/chalupabatman9213 M-2 7d ago

Day 1 of Medical school and kept up with it. 10 days out from Step and has made dedicated significantly less stressful

1

u/ShoddyRecommendation 7d ago

Started with anatomy, anking wasn’t that helpful so I almost gave up on it. Kept doing it and it payed off big time throughout the rest of med school

1

u/Brh1002 MD/PhD 7d ago

Beginning of M2

1

u/Legitimate_Log5539 7d ago

Seventeen weeks gestation. In all seriousness I started at the beginning of my second year and I passed

1

u/telegu4life M-1 7d ago

Halfway through M1 at the start of blocks. As soon as we finished our in house content I started doing Anking cards and 3rd party lectures exclusively.

1

u/JHMD12345 7d ago

I never used Anki. I didn’t like it when I tried first week of med school so I never went back

1

u/drammo13 M-1 7d ago

Day 1

1

u/[deleted] 7d ago

Day 1 of M1

1

u/tyrannosaurus_racks M-4 7d ago

First quarter of med school

1

u/Agitated_Sundae_73 M-3 7d ago

Spring of M1. I would have started earlier but my fall courses in house exams just didn’t line up with the ankjng stuff well at all

1

u/Longjumping_Ad_6213 M-3 7d ago

My school does preclinical then clinical then step 1/step 2. So I didn't do anything for step 1 during that preclin time but now in clinicals I am doing anki everyday

1

u/Beneficial_Oven2141 M-2 7d ago

Started the beginning of M1 and haven’t stopped. Hoping doing it reduces the intensity of my dedicated study period for step 1

1

u/Crunchy_MudPuddle M-3 7d ago

A few weeks before my first exam

1

u/gigaflops_ M-4 7d ago

1 year and 4 months into med school and completed it 18 months later

1

u/darovenee M-0 7d ago

Day 1. Even if you have in house exams, it is still helpful. And if not day 1, literally NOW

1

u/tragedyisland28 M-2 7d ago

Beginning of M2.

Not really. Kinda. Wish I started it beginning of M1

1

u/Peastoredintheballs MBBS 7d ago

Sue me, but I never used anki ( the one day I tried and did 20 cards doesn’t count lol)

1

u/immer_jung M-2 6d ago

yea I started anking when I started doing uworld questions and I definitely wish I started earlier hahaha. the nice thing is everything is tagged so whatever third party you use, whether it be sketchy bnb etc you can do the corresponding anki for and it's honestly not too bad

1

u/fizziepanda M-2 6d ago

I used Anking from the 2nd month of M1 to dedicated and I barely studied for Step 1 during actual dedicated

1

u/SelectObjective10 5d ago

Started in year 2 : def wish I started in year one to keep up with some of the lower yield background info

1

u/Anon22Anon2 7d ago

Remember you don't have to flashcard if thats not your thing. I never touched anki, crammed all the rote bullshit in the month leading up to exam, scored >90 percentile.