How to Anki

bit.ly/zuckeranki

What is Anki?

• Anki is a program that manages digital notecards for you
• Anki is based on the concept of spaced repetition
• Anki is free, open-sourced, and community supported

Add-Ons

• Since Anki is an open-source program, it’s free and very customizable
• Today we’re going to download some add-ons that will help you get Anki working well for proper studying�
• Hierarchical Tags: 1835859645
• Load Balancer: 1417170896
• Image Occlusion: 1374772155
• Special Fields: 1102281552 (Specific for AnKing)

The Decks

• You could make your own decks (and I recommend this for structure lab)
• However, other medical students have covered the groundwork for you
• AnKing
• For more information about AnKing and instructions on how to update the deck, check here.

Adding a Deck

• Download “AnKingv4 - Pineapples9” from the previous link
• In Anki, click “Import File”

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• Navigate to where you’ve downloaded “AnKingv4 - Pineapples9”
• Select “AnKingv4 - Pineapples9”, click “Open”

Setting Up the Deck

• Click “Browse”
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• Click “Whole Collection”
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Setting Up the Deck

• Click inside the “Sort Field”
• Select All (Windows: CTRL + A; Mac: Command + A)

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• Right Click and Select “Toggle Suspend” (CTRL + J)

What did we just do?

• As you noticed, there were thousands of flashcards “On” when you first downloaded this deck
• When a card turns yellow it is “suspended” and Anki will ignore it
• When you’re ready to study a card, you will “unsuspend” the card (turning it white) and Anki will begin to quiz you on the card

Anki Settings

• Click the “Gear” next to your deck and select “Options in order to change the settings:

Anki Settings

• Follow the directions for Shamim’s anki settings here
• Navigate to the “Setting Up Anki” section
• Follow the directions for the “Default” settings
• Set New Cards/Day and Maximum Reviews/Day to “9999”
• Set Leech Action to “Tag Only”
• In “Preferences” set to “Show New Cards After Reviews”

How to Use Anki

• Everyone uses Anki a little differently, but there are two major rules:
• You have to use Anki every day
• Always do your reviews�
• General Framework for Success
• Look over your pre-work and figure out the topics you need to study for each week
• Find the relevant tags in your deck (or use the search function) and unsuspend those cards
• Complete those cards by the end of the week
• Do all of your reviews
• Rinse and repeat

Filtered Decks

• Filtered decks allow you to study a specific topic whenever you want based on tags
• Regardless of the home deck, Anki will pull them together for you to learn/review and put them back where they belong afterwards
• From the top toolbar go to Tools → Create Filtered Deck… (or press the F key)
• Set limit to “999999”
• Optional: Custom reschedule to “3 15”
• Now you can ensure you’re only studying those specific cards, and they will automatically be updated in their respective deck

AnKing Videos and Filtered Deck Syntax

• AnKing Videos
• General videos that describe a lot of Anki features more in-depth
• Add-Ons that help with creating a filtered deck
• Example of Filtered Deck Syntax
• tag:”#B&B::Cell::Cell_bio::Cell_Cycle” is:new
• tag:”#B&B::Cell::Cell_bio::Cell_Cycle or #FirstAid::respiratory::path::cf::*” is:due

Occlusion Example

Occlusion Example

• Click “Add” at the top
• Click “Add Image Occlusion”
• Anki will automatically use a picture in your clipboard if you have one
• You can also upload an image on your desktop

Occlusion Example

• You can then use Anki’s editor to cover whatever you want on the image
• When you’re done, click either “Hide All, Guess One” or “Hide One, Guess One”
• Anki will automatically generate the necessary cards for you to review your occlusions at once

Anki Mobile

• Having Anki on your phone is a great way to study on the go
• Make a free account on Ankiweb.net
• Download the app and sync your account
• Apple products: Anki Mobile Flashcards, $24.99
• Android: AnkiDroid, Free

Final Thoughts

• Check out Shamim’s Guide for a good way to set up your Anki review settings
• “Setting Up Anki” - https://medshamim.com/med/anki-step-one
• Don’t be afraid to edit your cards
• If you can think of a better way to ask yourself the question or come across a more nuanced answer in your research, change the card or add some notes
• Use the “Lecture notes” section in AnKing
• In med school, studying is about quality not quantity

Additional Optional Add-Ons

UI Improvements:

• Customize Sidebar
• Fastbar
• Review Heatmap
• Edit Field During Review
• WebBrowser
• Shamim’s “pretty card” CSS
• Custom Hotkeys

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AnKing Specific:

• Hint Hotkeys
• Clickable Tags