1. How to use Anki
Janurary 23rd, 2017

2. Outline Types of cards Memorization Tips Anki Philosophy
It’s important to know the mechanics of how to make a card, but more important on why certain material should be on cards and how that material should be presented

3. Types of cards

4. Starting with the basics: Basic & Cloze

5. Basic Card
Type whatever you want in the front and back, use snipping tool to post powerpoint slides directly into the back of the card for review

6. Cloze Deletion
Put whatever text you want, highlight the word that you want omitted, press the “…” button.
Numbers that are the same will be omitted during the same “round/review” of the card
Good for times when you want the information to be written a certain way, say, a phrase from a powerpoint or note set
I usually limit myself to 3 max cloze deletions, I used to make a lot of cloze deletions that were for review 1 and review 2, but now I don’t go past using the #1

7. Don’t get Cloze Deletion Crazy…
Too many cloze deletions at a time = confusion and frustration for you later on!

8. Image Occlusion Enhanced – Add-on
Snip the picture you want to use before clicking on the image occlusion button so that the image will automatically appear!

9. Image Occlusion – Enhanced
You can go ahead and start drawing boxes along the words that you want blocked out
If you want certain boxes to be grouped together (say, the cerebellum was written twice on the same image), you can select several boxes while holding down the “Shift” key, and then press “G” to group the boxes together. They will both be red at the same time
Options are at the bottom there: hide all, reveal one; hide all, reveal all; hide one, reveal all

10. Image Occlusion – Enhanced

11. Organizing Cards One anki deck per lecture One anki deck per block
After a certain number of decks, anki will tell you to cut down, otherwise it’ll run too slowly
Can move cards and combine decks
One anki deck per block
One anki deck for pathology and another for pharmacology

12. Browse Decks Main anki page, click “Browse” at the top
I’m on my test deck now. I can select multiple cards and click “change deck”; I can search for keywords in a deck if I want to test a particular concept, I can delete cards, I can suspend them (don’t see them while studying the decks), etc.
----
Even as you’re making cards, in the bottom right corner, you can go back through the cards you just recently made, in case you wanted to add/take away information as you’re making a deck

13. Options
Select how you want the “minutes” to be when you’re studying a card for the first time for the “again” and “good” interval
Show new cards in order added or random order
New cards/day – set to maximum (9999) in my example, but you can change that
Set interval lengths
Ease % - if you get something right very quickly, how much time do you want it to be hidden before you have to review again?
Bury related cards – cloze deletions for example that are #2 will show up the next day – not four days later with the other cards that have been reviewed and eventually marked as “easy”

14. Memorization Tips

15. Memorization Tips Minimum information per card
No more than 2-3 facts/ideas, but keep it to 1 per card if possible!
Learn before you memorize
Avoid lists
Other tips:
Check out:

16. Memorization – Bad Example
Q: What are the characteristics of the Dead Sea?
A: Salt lake located on the border between Israel and Jordan. Its shoreline is the lowest point on the Earth's surface, averaging 396 m below sea level. It is 74 km long. It is seven times as salty (30% by volume) as the ocean. Its density keeps swimmers afloat. Only simple organisms can live in its saline waters

17. Memorization – Better Example
Q: Where is the Dead Sea located? A: on the border between Israel and Jordan
Q: What is the lowest point on the Earth's surface? A: The Dead Sea shoreline
Q: What is the average level on which the Dead Sea is located? A: 400 meters (below sea level)
Q: How long is the Dead Sea? A: 70 km
Q: How much saltier is the Dead Sea than the oceans? A: 7 times
Q: What is the volume content of salt in the Dead Sea? A: 30%
Split information into small, condensed, manageable bits
Yes, you have more cards, but you’ll be able to learn them faster than that paragraph on the slide before
You can focus on the information that is giving you trouble, or is proving harder to remember, and getting through the cards that are easy for you and hiding them in your deck

18. Small details  Concepts

19. Anki Philosophy

20. Spaced repetition
Calculates when to review cards so you don’t have to!
Based on how many times you review the cards, it’ll give you different options on when you’d want to see it again
Just like any other technology, make sure you use it how you want to – a lot of settings are in your control to change!
Spaced recall  longer-term memory storage

21. FAQs How many cards per deck? About 50 (but that’s entirely up to you)
How many cards should I review per day?
In the options menu, you can change the maximum number of cards to review on a single day (some would suggest 40, others don’t have a maximum)
During the week, two decks per day; as it gets closer to the exam, maybe 4+ decks per day
It’s all about trial and error

22. FAQs When should I start reviewing a deck?
The day that you made the deck
The next day
The next week
All right before the exam
…it just depends on the block!

23. FAQs
Do you actually make a deck for each lecture? That’s too much for me, it takes too much time.
Consider splitting up the lectures with a friend
Just like with any skill, you will get better at making anki decks with more practice
I would suggest against making an anki deck while you are watching a lecture (i.e. watch the lecture in its entirety before starting a deck), because you may very easily lose the “big picture” of the topic at hand and make way too many cards that aren’t necessary
1.5 – 2 hours on making a deck

24. FAQs How many times should I review a deck before the exam?
Entirely your choice
Pros:
Can have an obvious end-point when you’re done reviewing
Material automatically spaced out appropriately
Cons:
Can get anki fatigue
Information can be all jumbled up

25. Studying Mantra
“Actively review the material several times on different days in different ways”

26. Possible solutions to jumbled knowledge
After going through an anki deck, scroll through the lecture powerpoint from start to finish
Develop “concept cards” later on in the block, in addition to the detail cards, that tie together a lot of facts
e.g. what is the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of lung cancer?
Consider your anki reviews as one type of “review” in the study guide

27. Other sources about anki
medical-school.html (med student giving tips on how to use anki)
usmle-step-1/ (another opinion on how to use anki in med school)
Tons of tutorials online and on youtube