An Assessment of Anki Flashcards Use in Comparison to Alternative Study Methodologies in First Year Graduate Entry Medical Students

Aug 29, 2026

Upload by Putri

First year graduate entry to medicine students need personalised study techniques to master large volumes of factual course content. This study examined learning methodologies used by 53 first year GEM students, with focus on spaced-repetition app Anki, and compared study-methodology use against assessment performance. Students completed a pre-module test, post-module test, and survey. Results showed no overall statistically significant performance advantage for Anki versus non-use, while exam performance benefits emerged in specific categories and for physiology.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Spaced repetition and flashcards

Context for graduate entry medicine

Abstract

Medical Science Educator [https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-025-02504-7](https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-025-02504-7) An Assessment of Anki Flashcards Use in Comparison to Alternative Study Methodologies in First Year Graduate Entry Medical Students Colleen Haughey1 · Sten Kajitani1 · Maria Buckley1 · Mawadda Mohamed1 · Mark Rae1 · Elizabeth Brint1 Received: 28 May 2025 / Accepted: 25 August 2025 © The Author(s) 2025 Abstract First year graduate entry to medicine (GEM) students require effective personalised study techniques in order to learn significant amounts of factual information. This study analysed learning methodologies utilised by a cohort of first year GEM students and their perception of their utility, particularly of the spaced-repetition learning app, Anki. Furthermore, our study compared assessment performance with study methodology utilised by this cohort of students. In total, 53 students participated in some aspect of the study, with 43 students completing all three components: a pre-module test to assess baseline knowledge of module content, a post-module test, and a survey questionnaire. Our survey revealed that students utilised a diverse range of learning and study methodologies. In terms of satisfaction rating, students positively perceived preparedness for exams and time management, irrespective of the study methodology used. While 80% of study participants reported using Anki, the number of Anki cards used and its daily usage varied significantly among users. Overall, there was no statistically significant benefit for Anki usage in terms of performance outcome compared to those who did not use Anki when the module was considered as a whole. However, we did find it to be of significant benefit to exam performance in two categories: (1) those who used Anki extensively compared to those who did not engage consistently, and (2) a significant correlation between Anki usage and physiology exam performance was identified. Keywords Anki · Spaced repetition learning · Assessment outcome Introduction First year medical students are required to learn and retain significant volumes of course material delivered at pace [1, 2]. This is particularly true of the accelerated graduate entry to medicine (GEM) programmes, common in Ireland and the UK, which are open to students who have previously completed an undergraduate degree and can be completed in 4 years [3]. As such, the issue of content understanding and retention is significant for these students, particularly those from a non-biomedical sciences background. Exacerbating the need for vast information understanding, examination formats are often multiple-choice question (MCQ) based, such as the high-stakes United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE), which requires a high degree of recall by the students [4, 5] . * Elizabeth Brint[e.brint@ucc.ie](e.brint@ucc.ie) 1 School of Medicine, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland Advances in artificial intelligence, online learning tools, and regular recording of didactic lectures have provided students with a myriad of options for developing a toolkit with which to enhance their learning and information retention. One such methodology is spaced-repetition learning, relying on regular, repeated learning sessions. Several studies have demonstrated the efficacy of spaced repetition, also known as expanding retrieval practice, as a learning tool [2 , 6, 7] . For example, a study by Dobson demonstrated that participants who underwent any form of active recall/retrieval practice performed approximately twice as well as controls [8] . Therefore, electronic-based spaced repetition aims to reduce the cognitive load of rote memorisation [9] . Spaced repetition is often conducted in conjunction with flashcards, which are a method in which a prompt is displayed on one side of the card and the answer on the opposite [6, 10, 11] . Multiple platforms now exist that enable students to combine the use of digi

FAQs

How was Anki usage compared with other study methodologies?

The study assessed learning methodologies used by first year GEM students, emphasizing Anki, and compared assessment performance with the study methods reported by the same cohort.

What assessment components did participants complete?

Participants completed a pre-module test, a post-module test, and a survey questionnaire to capture study methodology use and perceptions.

Did Anki provide an overall performance improvement?

Overall, there was no statistically significant benefit for Anki use in performance when the module was considered as a whole, though benefits were found for certain exam categories and in physiology performance.

Aug 29, 2026

Upload by Putri