Exploring Anki Usage Among First-Year Medical Students During an Anatomy & Physiology Course: A Pilot Study.

Objectives: As medical schools worldwide condense the preclinical phase of medical education, it is increasingly important to identify resources that help medical students retain and employ the medical information. One popular tool among medical students is an application called Anki, a free and open-source flashcard program utilizing spaced repetition for quick and durable memorization. The purpose of this study is to determine how variable Anki usage among first-year medical students throughout a standardized anatomy and physiology course correlates with performance. Methods: We designed a novel Anki add-on called "Anki Stat Scraper" to collect data on first-year medical students at Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine during their 8-week anatomy and physiology course. Anki users (N = 45) were separated into four groups: Heavy (N = 5), intermediate (N = 5), light (N = 16), and limited-Anki (N = 19) users, based on the time each student spent on the flashcard app, how many flashcards they studied per day, and how many days they used the app prior to their anatomy and physiology exam. A 14-question Likert scale questionnaire was administered to each participant to gauge their understanding of Anki and how they used the app to study. Results: Heavy and intermediate Anki users had higher average exam scores than their counterparts who did not use Anki as a study method. Average exam scores were 90.34%, 91.74%, 85.86%, and 87.75% for heavy, intermediate, light, and limited-Anki users respectively (p > 0.05). Our survey demonstrated that Anki users spent an average of 73.86% of their study time using Anki, compared to an average of 36.53% for limited-Anki users (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Anki users did not score significantly higher compared to limited-Anki users. However, survey responses from students believe that Anki may still be a useful educational tool for future medical students.

Anki Tagger: A Generative AI Tool for Aligning Third-Party Resources to Preclinical Curriculum.

Using large language models, we developed a method to efficiently query existing flashcard libraries and select those most relevant to an individual's medical school curricula.

A Cohort Study Assessing the Impact of Anki as a Spaced Repetition Tool on Academic Performance in Medical School.

Introduction: Anki is an application that capitalizes upon the techniques of spaced repetition and is increasingly utilized by medical students for examination preparation. This study examines the impact of Anki usage in a medical school curriculum on academic performance. Secondary objectives analyzed individual Anki utilization and a qualitative assessment of Anki use. Methods: A cohort-control study was conducted at Boonshoft School of Medicine. One hundred thirty first-year medical students were enrolled in an Anki utilization training program from July 2021 to September 2021. Training included educational Anki courses and subsequent survey data collection over Anki usage. Data variables included all course final examinations, the Comprehensive Basic Science Exam (CBSE), individual Anki user statistics, nationally standardized exams scores, and Qualtrics surveys on student perceived ease of use. Results: Seventy-eight students reported using Anki for at least one of the exams, and 52 students did not use Anki for any exam. Anki users scored significantly higher across all four exams: Course I (6.4%; p < 0.001); Course II (6.2%; p = 0.002); Course III (7.0%; p = 0.002); and CBSE (12.9%; p = 0.003). Students who reported higher dependency on Anki for studying performed significantly better on the Course I, II, and CBSE exams. Conclusion: Anki usage may be associated with an increase in standardized examination scores. This supports Anki as an evidence-based spaced repetition and active retrieval learning modality for medical school standardized examinations. There was little correlation between its specific statistical markers and examination performance. This is pertinent to physicians and medical students alike as the learning and preservation of biomedical knowledge is required for examinations and effective clinical care.

Academic and Wellness Outcomes Associated with use of Anki Spaced Repetition Software in Medical School.

OBJECTIVES: Medical students are increasingly using a spaced repetition software called Anki to study. There are limited studies evaluating the relationship between Anki and learner outcomes. In this study, we describe the history of Anki use in medical school and assess the potential relationships between use of Anki and medical student academic, extracurricular, and wellness outcomes. METHODS: We used cross-sectional data from a 50-item online survey and retrospective academic performance data from our institution's outcomes database. Participants were medical students. The survey assessed the frequency and timing of Anki use, student perceived stress, sleep quality, burnout risk, and involvement in extracurricular activities. Academic success was measured by USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 scores. RESULTS: 165 students responded survey. 92 (56%) identified as daily Anki users. Daily Anki use was correlated with increased Step 1 score (P = .039), but not Step 2 scores. There was an association between Anki use and increased sleep quality (P = .01), but no difference for other measurements of wellness or extracurricular involvement. CONCLUSION: The study demonstrates potential benefits of daily use of Anki but also confirms that a variety of study methods can be used to achieve similar medical school outcomes.

Enhanced Learning and Retention of Medical Knowledge Using the Mobile Flash card Application Anki.

INTRODUCTION: As medical schools condense the basic science phase of undergraduate medical education, it has become increasingly important to identify methods and tools that facilitate learning, mastery, and application of medical knowledge. One increasingly popular tool that promotes engagement with content is Anki, a web-based flash card system. Using Anki, medical students can access pre-made flash cards specifically tailored to prepare students for the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 1 exam. The objective of this study was to identify Anki use and its association to USMLE Step 1 performance. METHODS: In March 2020, medical students in years 2, 3, and 4 who had completed USMLE Step 1 were administered a survey to measure Anki usage. The survey was locally developed and was reviewed by survey experts on campus. Survey responses were paired with USMLE Step 1 results for analyses. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis. RESULTS: Anki usage was associated with higher USMLE Step 1 scores. Additionally, amongst those who used Anki, those with more consistent use had higher USMLE Step 1 scores and higher perceived levels of knowledge retention. CONCLUSIONS: This research suggests that Anki is an effective educational tool that should be recommended to medical students alongside other evidenced-based study tools, such as the popular question bank USMLE World. Future research should attempt to identify a relationship between Anki usage and future clinical performance to demonstrate the implications that Anki has on clinical skills. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-021-01386-9.

An Evidence-Based Guide for Medical Students: How to Optimize the Use of Expanded-Retrieval Platforms.

Recommendations have been made for improving medical education based on the available evidence regarding learning. Traditional learning methods in medical education (e.g. reading from textbooks) do not ensure long-term retention. However, expanded-retrieval studying methods have been shown to improve studying efficiency. Using evidence-based practices to optimize an expanded-retrieval platform has the potential to greatly benefit knowledge acquisition and retention for medical students. This literature review was conducted to identify the best practices of expanded-retrieval platforms. Themes within learning that promote knowledge gain and retention include presentation of related categorical information, schema formation, dual-coding, concrete examples, elaboration, changes in text appearance, and interleaving. Presentation of related categorical material together may mitigate retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). Spaced retrieval helps to reinforce schema formation by solidifying the framework the individual students form when learning the material. Dual-coding improves learning by creating more neural pathways. Multiple concrete examples can be compared by students to see their respective differences, highlighting the true underlying principle. Variation in text appearance is most useful during the initial, short-term inter-study intervals. Interleaving is a theme where different topics are combined in the same study session and is unpopular with students but shown to be successful. Students' subjective competency ratings of new material are largely inaccurate. More in-depth processing and learning methods that give off a sense of lower competency are actually associated with improved long-term retention. Expanded-retrieval platforms should utilize these evidence-based components of learning to increase knowledge gain and retention within all fields of medical education.