

ANKI has a search feature that allows users to review published decks that other students have made and shared. If you are short on time (a good definition is less than 100 days until your MCAT exam) I would suggest using a premade deck. In deciding this, consider how much time you have prior to your exam and if it is feasible to make cards while reading a set of content review books or doing an MCAT preparation program.

Once you have decided that ANKI is a tool you plan to utilize, the greater question lies in whether you want to use a premade deck or create your own deck. Needless to say, this a powerful tool for an exam such as the MCAT - especially given that it supplies you with a way to numerically assess your progress and create goals through a number of assigned cards to review and study each day. While it is not a perfect science, most medical students swear by it and utilize ANKI for their board exam preparation. ANKI’s algorithm is an excellent way to continually review various topics and takes the guesswork out of deciding what to review because it is constantly assessing what you remember and what you’ve forgotten. This means that the brain is presented with information before it can forget, ensuring that it constantly stays fresh in your mind. ANKI works through ‘spaced repetition’, meaning that the learner is exposed to information over increasing intervals of time between subsequent review. On further examination, ANKI is much more than just that. Here we will detail ANKI, a popular study tool used by most medical students and a great way to maintain and measure long-term learning.ĪNKI at first glance appears to be a typical flashcard application.

