Hey everyone!
I’m an IMG medical student planning to take the USMLE in 2029, so I have roughly two years to prepare. I’ve already started studying and am currently using Boards and Beyond videos along with AnKing. I’ve finished the biochemistry section so far.
My current plan is to spend the first year building a strong theoretical foundation by going through BnB and reinforcing what I learn with AnKing. Then, in my second year, I would start doing UWorld and other question banks more intensively.
However, I’m wondering whether this is the best approach. Would it be better to start incorporating UWorld questions now, even though my exam is still two years away, or should I focus on building my knowledge base first and save UWorld for later?
For those of you who have taken the USMLE or are currently preparing as IMGs, what would you recommend? Would you change anything about this study plan?
Thanks in advance!

Current undergrad whose only wishes for medical school would be primarily for the knowledge provided. How effective do you believe AnKing decks would serve a non-medical student? Would this method be the most idyllic way to circumvent medical school for my given goals?

Has anyone used this book for Pharm? Seems decent but I cant seem to find any notes or flashcards about this book.

I know absolutely nothing about anki like how to use it or anything else. I want to learn everything about it from zero. Which videos should I watch or is there any other source where I can learn everything about Anki??

I'm 1st yr med student and med books are so expensive..i don't afford to buy so many standard books and i have to buy tab or may be lap too idk how to manage this shit...i just moved in my hostel..and it's kind of ..i have to buy so many stuff as hostel doesn't provide us..even there is particular dress code so i had to bought clothes too...kind of unmanageable for me...i have one tab ...i use to read pdf ..but now ..when it comes to med books...idk where tj download..😭😭😭😭sr help mee please with it

I have joined my college 5 days ago..am scared nervous and even professors whatever they says...it take me long to understand...i feel like not less than a deaf not able to hear them properly..done my ear cleaning today now let's see what will happen in class 📚🥲

I will take an exam in about a year, and it consists of 60 days, approximately 200 cards per day, which comes to 10000-12000 cards in total.

I have never used anki but due to the sheer amount of information, i want to start with it.

What add ons are needed? How should i do ot when i have 60 staples with each 200 cards. Should I like try to complete 2 days per week with repetition? What are the repetition frequencies? I dont like the idea of having some cards revised ina few months. The interval seems a bit too much.

For example it is obviously needed to revise, but when I finished one day and want to redo a staple a few months later, I want to revise every card and not the ones I failed at. I have this concern that some cards willl be forgotten because I swiped them of as easy and never saw them again. Makes sense?

And how do you find the discipline to revise every topic every time.

Also: how do you learn with anki? Do you learn the topic and use anki to test your knowledge or do you directly learn from anki. Like when you have a card on you, eg: the allosteric activator of carbamoylphosphate synthetase 1, do you just learn that and move on or do you revise the whole urea cycle?i tried the latter and couldnt really finish 200 cards in a day and got demotivated.

Summary:
- need add ons for better efficacy, learning experience
- need to know if we use anki to learn from scratch or just a tool after learning lectures
- do you only answer the card directly or revise whole cycles when only an aspect is asked

Thinking ahead, how do you decide what’s actually worth keeping in your permanent Anki decks for long-term retention? I’m talking about basic sciences like Histology, Biochem, etc.

​To clarify: I don't use Anki as my main study tool to pass upcoming exams. I use it for long-term knowledge retention. Because of this, I want to avoid ending up with thousands of cards full of tiny details that are only relevant for a specific test.

​How do you curate what to put in your cards? Any tips on how to structure or organize this, especially for these preclinical subjects?

Just curious. Do y’all use 2 or 4 buttons during Anki? Thanks in advance!! Keep hearing that the difference between them is negligible but I’m just curious what MOST people do.

Edit: Couldn’t figure out how to add a poll lol so just drop a comment pls!

Hey so I’m not an avid anki user but my classmates swear by it. I have an anatomy exam on the pelvis and lower limbs and also histology endocrine exam. Both 40 questions each. So you think it’s worth trying it with the time I have ? It’s on nov 3rd and I have struggled for some reason with anatomy . I need an A to pass. Thank you in advanced

I recently found this farming simulator and I am obsessed with it and wanted to tell everyone! You have to review cards to make things grow. Its engaging enough that I keep wanting to play but not too distracting. I really don't love doing anki but this add-on has singlehandedly made me hit 1000 cards a day which is crazy for me.

Only thing I don't love is that it seems to be AI art but the person who made it seems to be really new at making things so I hope that with support they will commission real artists and change it

https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1998064290

Im currently doing anki system by system, trying to work on 20 amboss qs everyday.

And planning on starting U world after finishing all the systems and while im doing my reviews.

Is this a sound plan or should i ditch amboss for uworld ? And not postpone uworld till the end?

And if i did that what should i be doing after finishing anki.

I plan on taking the step by 4/2027

I am a big boards and beyond fan and would love to have the associated B and B slide (s) on my anking cards under the boards and beyond section similar to how screenshots of associated sketchy's are placed in the sketchy and sketchy 2 section of cards.

Does anyone know if there is a way to do this with Anking deck?

I don’t think I will be able to keep this going, I am already feeling overwhelmed. And I also keep forgetting some cards. What can I do to still learn new cards, do some reviews to be prepared for exams, but not have this huge amount to do ?

quero muito ir fazendo uma revisão periodica de assuntos que já tive na faculdade através do baralho deles, mas sem as imagens o estudo fica meio limitado em alguns decks.

Does anyone have a good prompt for chat or claude to make anki decks? I feel like my cards are disorganized sometimes or i get lazy and i learn well with some premade cards but anking is sometimes all over the place.

I've just been adding a lot of cards and wasting time on one subject. Like how do yall manage to go through them and how many cards for each subject required

Has Anki really helped you ace an exam, land a job, or learn something you struggled with before? I’d love to hear your stories, what you studied, how you used it, and how long it took to see results. Looking for some motivation!