This is my story as an MS2 trying to find the best study routine that is effective and efficient. The below blog I wrote for Picmonic based on my experience with utilizing Picmonic and Anki together, which as you’ll read below, I have found to be a lethal combination. I truly hope this helps you too.
I impulsively bought Picmonic to prepare for my first set of tests. I didn’t use it… thought it was a silly gimmick. And I felt so badly about wasting $200 on a years subscription (there are monthly subscriptions). Picmonic uses picture mnemonics to teach/review material in medicine, pre-med and now K-12 subjects. I was so unimpressed with using it at first that I was going to actually write a post about how bad it was. But I just stopped using it and carried on.Well, I got burned on a couple of subjects and, after listening to how some friends used Picmonic to score much better than I did I realized that I would have to take a 2nd look at it.
I. Was. Wrong.
The vignettes, although sometimes a bit jarring to my delicate sensibilities, stick with you in such a way that you are able to get diseases, viruses, conditions in your mind all at the same time. I have 3 regrets:
1) I didn’t use it in preparing for the last test
2) I didn’t use it in preparing for the last test
3) That they don’t cover EVERYTHING I’m studying.
However, I have coupled my picmonic study with Anki and I not only feel like I’m mastering the concepts for the next set of tests, but I’m going to master them on Step 1 too due to Anki’s spaced repetition.
How do I use Anki with Picmonic?
Picmonic now has a spaced repetition driven Daily Quiz! I used to take a screenshot (for my personal use…) and put the picture into Anki for each bullet/concept that can be found in each Picmonic. This allowed me to learn each Picmonic pretty quickly. My recall accuracy of facts associated with Picmonics is much better (I’ll quantify when I get time) than facts not associated with a Picmonic.
Editors Note: Picmonic recently released a Picmonic Anki Add-On!
With this direct integration between Anki and Picmonic, students now have instantaneous access to Picmonic thumbnail images, explanations, high-yield fact list, Video and Quiz for any Anki flashcard they are studying. Learn more & download the Add-On here!
Anki was working just fine for me but was a bit time consuming. Picmonic’s Spaced Rep Daily Quiz facilitates checking your memory and storing facts in long term, and is a seamless experience now that it’s included and I don’t have to use Anki like I used to. My quiz performance improved a ton after using the Daily Quiz with Spaced Repetition… it’s incredible!
Thanking God I found it when I did.
If you are a second year student who has memory issues like me, you will appreciated Picmonic. If you can add Anki flashcards with your use of Picmonic, I think you will have a long term solution for scoring well on boards.
I highly recommend it. Highly.
