
I knew I wasn’t great at keeping up with my reviews, but I didn’t know I was that bad. When I first installed it, I was shocked to see that I only used Anki on 68% of days. I also like this add-on because the streak feature motivates me to keep up with my reviews. With that information, I started shifting half of my Thursday reviews to Wednesday or Friday, and I got much better at planning my reviews around my school and work schedule. When I first started using Review Heatmap, I noticed that I often skipped Thursdays - my busiest day of classes. Each square represents one day, so if I miss a day, it will show up as a blank spot in a sea of colors. This add-on is one of my personal favorites because it helps me see patterns in my reviews over the past few weeks or months.

Read on to learn about ten Anki add-ons that will make your flashcard use easier and more productive - and will help you leave time for the activities you care about. The last thing you want is to blank on a test question that you know you made a flashcard for, all because you chose social or extracurricular activities over keeping up with reviews a few times too many. Unfortunately, the science behind spaced repetition means that skipping days will catch up with you quickly. Still, even the most devoted Anki user knows that on some days, staring at your laptop screen while smashing your spacebar for hours is the last thing you feel like doing.

And with good reason: spaced repetition is one of the best ways to make sure you have your high-yield facts down. If you didn’t use Anki before starting medical school, chances are a classmate convinced you to download it by the end of the first week.
