Lesson 6: The fundamentals: Learn → remember → apply
Remember this sequence: Learn → remember → apply. This will provide you with a strong foundation for the rest of your medical journey. Don’t try to remember if you haven’t learn yet, otherwise, you will not be using Anki effectively!
Learn
Before you jump into the flashcards, you will want to learn each topic really well first. This is primarily done in a variety of ways, including:
- Your medical school curriculum & lectures
- Third-party resources (e.g., Boards&Beyond, Bootcamp, Pathoma, Sketchy, Pixorize, First Aid)
- Free resources on YouTube (e.g., NinjaNerd, DirtyMedicine)
If you are planning on studying cardiology, you would first learn the material covered on the flashcards by watching videos or reading a textbook on the material. After you have completed learning the material, that is when you can go onto the next step of remembering
Remember
Remembering is where Anki comes in. Now that you have learned the material, you will want to use Anki to remember it. The good thing is, all the resources mentioned above already have tags embedded right inside the AnKing deck. The videos you watched already have accompanying cards ready for you to unsuspend.
Apply
Application is the last step, but also a crucial one. After you’ve learnt the material and remembered it, you will want to apply it. This is done primarly with question banks such as AMBOSS & UWorld. By answering questions, you retrieve what you have learnt and memorized, and apply it in novel situations. This helps you further consolidate your knowledge, but also realize where the gaps are in your knowledge.
The Cycle
You will want to repeat this cycle over and over again. Although tedious, it is the most effective way to learn in medicine, so remember, learn first, remember second, apply third.
Next topic: Lesson 7 - Unsuspending cards and jumping into your first card review
Previous topic: Lesson 5 - The AnKing flashcard, explained
