Since then, many students have opted to stay within the UWorld platform to create and review their flashcards. However, UWorld, the QBank leader for USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK test preparation, recently launched its own Flashcards feature. Many medical students swear by Anki, and Anki’s popularity has largely been attributed to the fact that it is free to use and offers many high-quality flashcard decks for USMLE Step 1 and Step 2.Īnki is often used in tandem with First Aid and the UWorld question bank (QBank) to make flashcard sets based on the material being reviewed in each resource. Medical students worldwide have become hooked on spaced repetition flashcards, facilitated by the release of the Anki app in 2006 (Anki is the Japanese word for “memorization”). Source: a depiction of Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve derived from the research of Hermann Ebbinghaus from 1880 to 1885 Flashcards Meet Medical School Essentially, repeatedly reviewing flashcards over longer intervals of time lifts the “forgetting curve” so students can better retain what they have learned. Spaced repetition is considered by many in medical education to be the best way to retain the vast amount of information needed to succeed on the USMLE Step exams.
Spaced repetition involves reviewing the material at different intervals based on difficulty: more complex concepts are reviewed more frequently until they’re mastered, then reviewed again at progressively more spaced out intervals. Spaced repetition is another reason flashcards are so effective. Making your own flashcards (rather than using a premade deck) forces you to interact with the material, increasing your retention rate. This is why taking the time to create your own set of flashcards is so critical.
The important concepts of “active learning” and “spaced repetition” were born through this research.Īctive learning refers to any learning activity in which the student dynamically participates or interacts with the learning process (versus passively taking in information). Over the last 30-40 years, researchers have taken a closer look at the effectiveness of flashcards and other learning techniques.
By: Karolina Woroniecka & Martin Bauknight Why Flashcards Workĭid you know that flashcards have been around since the 1800s when paper became readily available to the average student? Since then, thousands (maybe millions) have used flashcards as a memory aid at some point in their educational careers.
0 kommentar(er)
