How to Use Anki for the MCAT: Smarter Studying with Spaced Repetition

Using Anki for the MCAT? Here's How to Actually Do It Right.

Let me be blunt: if you’re not using Anki for the MCAT, you’re leaving points on the table. Anki is one of the most powerful tools for long-term retention on the MCAT. If you don’t really know what Anki is—don’t worry. You’re not alone. This guide breaks down how to set it up, when to use pre-made decks (and when not to), and how to make your own cards in a way that will actually boost your score.

Table of Contents

• Setting Up Anki
• Should I Use Pre-Made Decks?
• Making Your Own Anki Deck

Setting Up Anki

First, download Anki from ankiweb.net. Once it's installed, create a free account. This lets you sync your decks between your computer, your phone, and the web app—so you can study anywhere, even in line at Trader Joe’s.

Recommended Settings

Once you're in, go to the deck options. I recommend setting "New cards/day" to 500 and "Maximum reviews/day" to 5000. That doesn't mean you’ll actually do that many, but these settings keep Anki from arbitrarily capping your learning. Don’t worry about messing with other settings—though if you’re curious, you can explore more in the Anki Docs.

Plugins You Should Definitely Install

• Image Occlusion: Perfect for o-chem mechanisms, anatomy pathways, or memorizing complex visuals. Download it here.
• Edit Field During Review: Lets you quickly edit a card with CTRL + click. Saves you tons of time. Get it here.
• Review Heatmap: Visualizes your study streak and motivates you to keep going. I’ve seen students get addicted to their streaks—and in this case, that’s a good thing. Install it here.

Should I Use Pre-Made Decks?

Yes… and no.

Premade decks are great for supplemental content review. They help you passively absorb facts, identify content gaps, and reinforce foundational knowledge. You can check out a breakdown of the best premade decks here.

But here's the truth: they're not enough on their own. If you want to deeply understand and retain the material, nothing beats making your own cards.

Making Your Own Anki Deck

Students always try to fight me on this, and understandably so. Making your own Anki deck is a lot of work. However, it is exactly the fact that it is a lot of work that makes it so important. Using someone else’s cards is like studying from someone else’s notes. Helpful, sure. But not personalized to your brain. I always tell my students this—and the ones who listen often see 20+ point jumps.

Why Should I Make My Own Deck?

Here’s the science: When you make your own flashcards, you’re forced to actively engage with the material. You’re not just rereading someone else’s definitions—you’re reasoning through concepts, writing them in your own words, and connecting them to what you already know in your semantic network.

This taps into elaborative rehearsal—a deeper, more meaningful form of memory encoding—versus the maintenance rehearsal you get with premade decks. You’re fitting new info into your own schemas, not someone else’s. That matters. Concepts stick better when they’re tied to your unique framework of understanding. Plus, with the self-reference effect and encoding specificity principle in play, your retention improves when material is personally relevant and encoded in the same context in which you’ll recall it.

TL;DR: Personalized cards = better memory.

Setting Up a Deck

In Anki, create a main deck called something like "MCAT Master Deck". Then make subdecks for each section:

• Biology
• Biochemistry
• General Chemistry
• Organic Chemistry
• Psychology
• Sociology
• CARS (yes, even for vocab you didn’t know)

You can also tag your cards for specific topics (e.g., 'amino-acids', 'electrostatics', 'neurotransmitters'). This makes it easier to find and review specific concepts later.

How and When Should I Make Cards?

The golden rule: Create a card every time you realize you don’t understand something during practice.

Don’t just copy the question—figure out why you got it wrong. Then write an Anki card that captures that insight. This ensures you’re learning from your mistakes, not repeating them. You can see a step-by-step breakdown of how to do this at Practice Question to Anki Card.

Yes, you can also make cards from Kaplan, Princeton Review, or Khan Academy videos—but only if it’s something you genuinely didn’t understand. Otherwise, you’ll overload yourself with cards you don’t actually need.

If you're aiming for a 520+, that level of intensity might be worth it. But for most students, less is more—if the cards are high-quality.

Conclusion: Build a Deck That Works for You

Making your own Anki deck is more work—but that’s why it works. It’s built around your strengths, your weaknesses, your thought process.

At WozPrep, that’s what we’re all about. Our mission is to replace one-size-fits-all strategies with human-centered, personalized MCAT prep. If you’re ready to study smarter—and with guidance that actually meets you where you are—click here to learn more about tutoring at WozPrep.