Time Stamps: 0:00 Why I Did This 1:12 Flashcard Formatting 2:15 The First Couple Weeks 4:17 Month Two of Anki 5:55 Searchability 7:35 The Last Week 8:19 Results and Future Direction
BE CAREFUL! When I started using Anki a year and a half ago as a first year medical student, I made the biggest mistake which was literally transforming everything into a flashcard! DO NOT DO THAT! be careful it almost cost me my 1st year. I'd spend like 8 hours a day just doing that and end up with hundreds of flashcards that I rarely came back to review.. Now what I do is learn and understand the material and then when i come back to it a few days later, if I find myself struggling to remember certain pieces of information and if I come across an important date ou drug name, then, and only then, I start making flashcards. I noticed that for the most part there are a lot of things that once you understand them you're good to go and no need to do transform them into a flashcard. and yeah use images please! anyway great video Dani! I just found out about you. Good luck with your journey on UA-cam and in med school! cheers all the way from France :D
Hey Kade! I needed this message when I started Med School haha. I felt the flashcards piling up after a few months of doing this. Eventually I switched to a process like the one you use, and it is sooo much better! Thanks for sharing your insite, it really is appreciated 😊
I did handwritten notes of the lectures in semester 1, and typed in semester 2. Got over 90% in all exams but there was no longterm retention since all I did was reread my notes the week before the exams. Semester 3 I'm going to do it directly into anki and see what it's like. Initially I thought it was a bad idea since I use my notes as a reference but then I thought "oh wait the lectures can be the reference for anki" lol. So giving it a shot in year 2
Interesting. I start by doing an overview in OneNote and then transform the questions into Anki! I was curious if it was redundant, but I firgured that it is necessary. Transforming direclty into Anki or using it as main learning resource isn't the way. :D Great video!
I'm actually very bad at taking Anki notes, probably because of a lack of time and consistency. But I'm using it for computer science which is not really as intuitive for me.
This was a really interesting video! I also heard that a friend of Ali Abdaal's used to not take down notes at all, but instead just make up a long list of guiding questions in a word document and go through them with spaced repetition, referring to textbooks or online resources wherever needed to reinforce his memory. What are your thoughts on that?
Thanks Rudra!! I think that strategy is good when you think about it generally, but for most people this wouldn't work too well. The nice thing about the strategy I used was that I tried to use the minimum information principle when going through concepts. Meaning that when I get things wrong when doing the flashcards, I am primarily reviewing the specific things I got wrong as opposed to entire concepts composed of things I know and things I don't. If you study entire concepts it could end up being less productive because if you get 90% of the information about the concept and miss the 10% you might feel inclined to repeat the full thing just for getting that small portion wrong. I personally also tend to get dissuaded from continuing studying when things get overwhelming/challenging from an information overload. It really does come down to how it is implemented, and whether or not it works well for that particular individual
Super interesting content, but please get a microphone, or just speak closer to your laptop, and don't include background music. Again, your content is super interesting and I wouldn't be saying these things if I wasn't interested. Thank you for your work. It's very much appreciated.
How is the system faring? Are you still using the same system a year later? I'm not a med student but an engineering student and there are some courses that have examinable content. Was initially thinking of getting an iPad to hand write notes for retention. But just want if Anki truely is a good replacement for notes. Or should I do both haha.
Hey, thanks for asking! I’ve switched it up slightly. I’ve been taking typed notes using One Note so that I have something to refer back to when needed. When I study for my exams, I’ve been using Anki decks created by a student in the year ahead of mine. This has worked quite well, it’s just required me to double check topics that have been updated year to year (surprisingly few have changed haha). If you’re able to keep up while hand writing, my understanding is also that it’s probably the best for retention. Then you can always create some focussed Anki flashcards as you’re reviewing and preparing for exams. Anki is probably not an ideal replacement for notes, unless you’re able to really refine the process of making flashcards
@@DaniKilani My course isn’t as content heavy as medical so hand written on top of flash cards should be viable, I think I will go down that route then. I like the idea of having something all in one place anyways. Thanks!
Great vid Dani, I was wondering how did your use of anki differ from when you were using it in undergrad. Also was wondering if you had any advice in increasing typing speed.
Thanks Kareem! During undergrad, I used anki more so for the purposes of cramming rather than with the intent of doing long-term spaced repetition, now in medical school I am working on keeping my use of it more consistently. I would also just take notes during a lecture using OneNote and then closer to the exam (or whenever I had time) I would start to go through the lectures, try and understand them and make some cards based on what I thought was important. While this strategy did keep my GPA in the 3.96 range, I found it stressful to be trying to get through all of my lectures in the time before an exam while still having time to actually review the cards I had made. In medical school, like I was saying in the video I have been putting the cards together as I go, so all I need to do as an exam approaches is work on more flashcards as opposed to make the flashcards. This is a lot less stressful. For typing speed, there are a few things I recommend. First make sure you are typing using the correct fingers. Somehow my typing form became so out of shape that I was using all the fingers on one hand and one finger on the other hand to type, which both hurt that poor finger but also hindered my typing speed. I used typing club (www.typingclub.com/) to try and fix my form. If you're using good form already, then try doing typing games online whenever you have some free time in front of the computer. I practice my typing on a daily basis switching between KeyBR (www.keybr.com/) and 10fastfingers (10fastfingers.com/). I started off with a typing speed around 70 WPM and was able to get it to an average of 110 WPM and I think I can keep getting it higher as I work on it. The last thing to try is getting your keyboard set up in the right position, which can make a big difference (look up ergonomic desk setup). I got a standing desk recently, but really like it when sitting because I can adjust the height so that my keyboard is at the right height. Another thing is the keyboard itself. If you're going to go for a mechanical keyboard, make sure to be selective about the switches your keyboard has because some of them are too difficult to press for typing nicely over a long period of time.
@@DaniKilani thanks so much for the thorough advice and im definitely going to start practicing. Do you think there would be much of a benefit to typing up lecture notes prior to making anki cards just to avoid making an excessive amount of cards, or is that not worth your time
@@kareemsadek6789 No worries, happy you are finding this helpful!! I essentially used the note-taking followed by anki approach for the entirety of my undergrad, so I've proven to myself that it has potential to produce good results. It wasn't the nicest though because I found it super hard to keep up with making flashcards after attending lectures. It ends up being fairly time consuming because you're essentially repeating the fairly passive process of note-taking/card-making twice by first taking the notes and second making the cards. I have come to prefer only having to go through the passive note taking / card making process once, because it leaves me with more time to work on active learning (active recall from flashcards) plus I do think that making flashcards is a bit more active of a learning process than taking notes at least for myself. By the end of the two months of making flashcards with Anki, I was able to get fast enough to make flashcards within the time allocated towards a lecture.The TLDR is: making cards once >> making notes + cards, in terms of productivity and learning
Here is the link for the add-on: ankiweb.net/shared/info/1210908941 You can install it by opening Anki, then going into Tools, then Add-Ons, then click Get Add-Ons, and then putting in this code: 1210908941
Exactly, it isn’t something I do anymore for that reason. I still had issues getting through everything for my final exam a couple months ago, so I’ve been using notion primarily to study this semester and it seems to work okay for med school
Actually, I want to follow what you do since your grade seems nice while trying it, but you did mention that you did it with recorded lectures, which is not available for me..,
@@ahmadridwan8763 I think the main thing that makes this successful is the use of active learning techniques. Since my lectures have become live on zoom instead of recorded I stopped using this method. I still use Anki, just after taking lecture notes. Anki is still super helpful as an active learning technique. I made a video on how to use it if you're looking for some guidance getting started: ua-cam.com/video/Zu8SEkH-7jE/v-deo.html
Time Stamps:
0:00 Why I Did This
1:12 Flashcard Formatting
2:15 The First Couple Weeks
4:17 Month Two of Anki
5:55 Searchability
7:35 The Last Week
8:19 Results and Future Direction
BE CAREFUL! When I started using Anki a year and a half ago as a first year medical student, I made the biggest mistake which was literally transforming everything into a flashcard! DO NOT DO THAT! be careful it almost cost me my 1st year. I'd spend like 8 hours a day just doing that and end up with hundreds of flashcards that I rarely came back to review.. Now what I do is learn and understand the material and then when i come back to it a few days later, if I find myself struggling to remember certain pieces of information and if I come across an important date ou drug name, then, and only then, I start making flashcards. I noticed that for the most part there are a lot of things that once you understand them you're good to go and no need to do transform them into a flashcard. and yeah use images please! anyway great video Dani! I just found out about you. Good luck with your journey on UA-cam and in med school! cheers all the way from France :D
Hey Kade! I needed this message when I started Med School haha. I felt the flashcards piling up after a few months of doing this. Eventually I switched to a process like the one you use, and it is sooo much better! Thanks for sharing your insite, it really is appreciated 😊
I did handwritten notes of the lectures in semester 1, and typed in semester 2. Got over 90% in all exams but there was no longterm retention since all I did was reread my notes the week before the exams.
Semester 3 I'm going to do it directly into anki and see what it's like. Initially I thought it was a bad idea since I use my notes as a reference but then I thought "oh wait the lectures can be the reference for anki" lol.
So giving it a shot in year 2
Im curious, how was your experience with it?
Interesting. I start by doing an overview in OneNote and then transform the questions into Anki! I was curious if it was redundant, but I firgured that it is necessary. Transforming direclty into Anki or using it as main learning resource isn't the way. :D Great video!
tyyyy
Notability seems to be better tho I haven't tried it yet but it's got some pretty cool features
I'm actually very bad at taking Anki notes, probably because of a lack of time and consistency. But I'm using it for computer science which is not really as intuitive for me.
How did you improve your your typing speed I'm stuck with 30 wpm help!!
This was a really interesting video! I also heard that a friend of Ali Abdaal's used to not take down notes at all, but instead just make up a long list of guiding questions in a word document and go through them with spaced repetition, referring to textbooks or online resources wherever needed to reinforce his memory. What are your thoughts on that?
Thanks Rudra!!
I think that strategy is good when you think about it generally, but for most people this wouldn't work too well. The nice thing about the strategy I used was that I tried to use the minimum information principle when going through concepts. Meaning that when I get things wrong when doing the flashcards, I am primarily reviewing the specific things I got wrong as opposed to entire concepts composed of things I know and things I don't. If you study entire concepts it could end up being less productive because if you get 90% of the information about the concept and miss the 10% you might feel inclined to repeat the full thing just for getting that small portion wrong. I personally also tend to get dissuaded from continuing studying when things get overwhelming/challenging from an information overload. It really does come down to how it is implemented, and whether or not it works well for that particular individual
Super interesting content, but please get a microphone, or just speak closer to your laptop, and don't include background music. Again, your content is super interesting and I wouldn't be saying these things if I wasn't interested. Thank you for your work. It's very much appreciated.
How is the system faring? Are you still using the same system a year later?
I'm not a med student but an engineering student and there are some courses that have examinable content. Was initially thinking of getting an iPad to hand write notes for retention. But just want if Anki truely is a good replacement for notes. Or should I do both haha.
Hey, thanks for asking! I’ve switched it up slightly. I’ve been taking typed notes using One Note so that I have something to refer back to when needed. When I study for my exams, I’ve been using Anki decks created by a student in the year ahead of mine. This has worked quite well, it’s just required me to double check topics that have been updated year to year (surprisingly few have changed haha).
If you’re able to keep up while hand writing, my understanding is also that it’s probably the best for retention. Then you can always create some focussed Anki flashcards as you’re reviewing and preparing for exams. Anki is probably not an ideal replacement for notes, unless you’re able to really refine the process of making flashcards
@@DaniKilani My course isn’t as content heavy as medical so hand written on top of flash cards should be viable, I think I will go down that route then. I like the idea of having something all in one place anyways. Thanks!
Great vid Dani, I was wondering how did your use of anki differ from when you were using it in undergrad. Also was wondering if you had any advice in increasing typing speed.
Thanks Kareem!
During undergrad, I used anki more so for the purposes of cramming rather than with the intent of doing long-term spaced repetition, now in medical school I am working on keeping my use of it more consistently. I would also just take notes during a lecture using OneNote and then closer to the exam (or whenever I had time) I would start to go through the lectures, try and understand them and make some cards based on what I thought was important. While this strategy did keep my GPA in the 3.96 range, I found it stressful to be trying to get through all of my lectures in the time before an exam while still having time to actually review the cards I had made. In medical school, like I was saying in the video I have been putting the cards together as I go, so all I need to do as an exam approaches is work on more flashcards as opposed to make the flashcards. This is a lot less stressful.
For typing speed, there are a few things I recommend. First make sure you are typing using the correct fingers. Somehow my typing form became so out of shape that I was using all the fingers on one hand and one finger on the other hand to type, which both hurt that poor finger but also hindered my typing speed. I used typing club (www.typingclub.com/) to try and fix my form.
If you're using good form already, then try doing typing games online whenever you have some free time in front of the computer. I practice my typing on a daily basis switching between KeyBR (www.keybr.com/) and 10fastfingers (10fastfingers.com/). I started off with a typing speed around 70 WPM and was able to get it to an average of 110 WPM and I think I can keep getting it higher as I work on it. The last thing to try is getting your keyboard set up in the right position, which can make a big difference (look up ergonomic desk setup). I got a standing desk recently, but really like it when sitting because I can adjust the height so that my keyboard is at the right height. Another thing is the keyboard itself. If you're going to go for a mechanical keyboard, make sure to be selective about the switches your keyboard has because some of them are too difficult to press for typing nicely over a long period of time.
@@DaniKilani thanks so much for the thorough advice and im definitely going to start practicing. Do you think there would be much of a benefit to typing up lecture notes prior to making anki cards just to avoid making an excessive amount of cards, or is that not worth your time
@@kareemsadek6789 No worries, happy you are finding this helpful!! I essentially used the note-taking followed by anki approach for the entirety of my undergrad, so I've proven to myself that it has potential to produce good results. It wasn't the nicest though because I found it super hard to keep up with making flashcards after attending lectures. It ends up being fairly time consuming because you're essentially repeating the fairly passive process of note-taking/card-making twice by first taking the notes and second making the cards. I have come to prefer only having to go through the passive note taking / card making process once, because it leaves me with more time to work on active learning (active recall from flashcards) plus I do think that making flashcards is a bit more active of a learning process than taking notes at least for myself. By the end of the two months of making flashcards with Anki, I was able to get fast enough to make flashcards within the time allocated towards a lecture.The TLDR is: making cards once >> making notes + cards, in terms of productivity and learning
Dani Kilani thanks so much, good luck with your studies and looking forward for your next video
How do you change the background on anki?
Here is the link for the add-on: ankiweb.net/shared/info/1210908941
You can install it by opening Anki, then going into Tools, then Add-Ons, then click Get Add-Ons, and then putting in this code: 1210908941
Dani Kilani awesome! Thanks. This is really helpful
0:59 dude you have strong Ali abdaal vibes hahah
Interesting, but it seems really hard..,
Exactly, it isn’t something I do anymore for that reason. I still had issues getting through everything for my final exam a couple months ago, so I’ve been using notion primarily to study this semester and it seems to work okay for med school
Actually, I want to follow what you do since your grade seems nice while trying it, but you did mention that you did it with recorded lectures, which is not available for me..,
@@ahmadridwan8763 I think the main thing that makes this successful is the use of active learning techniques. Since my lectures have become live on zoom instead of recorded I stopped using this method. I still use Anki, just after taking lecture notes. Anki is still super helpful as an active learning technique. I made a video on how to use it if you're looking for some guidance getting started: ua-cam.com/video/Zu8SEkH-7jE/v-deo.html
are you blind?