A medical student who has crushed 100,000 cards asserts: Stop trying to memorize through sheer willpower. About the ultimate system called 'Anki'.
“The amount of memorization required before medical school exams is insane.”
“No matter how much I memorize, I’ve completely forgotten it by the next day.”
“I’m using a study method where I rewrite notes, but I never have enough time.”
If you are struggling with these problems, let me say one thing first.
Please stop trying to memorize using 'willpower' or 'guts' right now.
It’s a waste of time.
The human brain is designed to 'forget' in the first place.
Taking on that challenge with sheer willpower is like jumping into a battlefield completely naked.
Memorization is not a matter of talent or guts; it is a problem that should be solved simply by the 'power of a system'.
In this article, I will talk all about 'Anki', the ultimate spaced repetition app that I have trusted immensely since I first encountered it in my second year of high school, having created a total of 4,300 cards, reviewed them over 100,000 times, and currently still crushing an average of 500 cards a day.
Honestly, if I were to tell you everything, it would become a textbook of tens of thousands of characters, so this time I will pour out my love by focusing on the core: 'Why is this the best?' and 'How can you use it to make your study efficiency 10 times better?'
1. What is 'Anki' anyway? (*I'll leave the explanation of the mechanism to AI)
There are many flashcard apps in the world, but 'Anki' is fundamentally on a different level from them.
It would be a huge mistake to think of it as just a 'digital flashcard app'.
Now, let’s have my brilliant AI partner explain the scientific mechanism behind why Anki is called the ultimate memorization system.
🤖 AI Explanation: Why does Anki prevent you from 'forgetting'? At the heart of Anki is an algorithm based on brain science called **'Spaced Repetition'**. Are you familiar with the 'Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve', which studied the retention rate of human memory? Humans start forgetting things at high speed immediately after learning them, and that speed slows down over time. Anki learns from the feedback of the 'Again', 'Hard', 'Good', and 'Easy' buttons you press when flipping cards, and schedules them to automatically reappear at the perfect timing 'just before you are about to forget that memory'. Cards you got wrong or aren't confident about: Reappear immediately, such as after 1 minute or 10 minutes. Cards you have memorized perfectly: The interval automatically extends to 3 days, 1 week, 1 month, and eventually 1 year later. In other words, you no longer need to use your human brain to think about 'what should I review today?'. It is a system that forces memories to stick in your brain just by launching the app and crushing the cards that appear in front of you. That is Anki.
2. My encounter with Anki and the track record of crushing 100,000 cards
I encountered this god-tier app when I was in my second year of high school.
It started when I watched a video by 'BO-HUI' (a legendary Japanese student at Peking University Medical School) who is active on YouTube.
I was shocked, thinking, 'What is this? This is insane!', and set it up that very day.
At the time, the thing I focused on most was memorizing English vocabulary for the 'Eiken Pre-1st Grade' exam.
As a result of trusting the Anki system and flipping cards every day, I successfully passed the Eiken Pre-1st Grade on my first try.
This success story is the origin of my 'efficiency-obsessed' nature.
While writing this article, I took a look at my Anki statistics for the first time in a while, and even I was taken aback (lol).
Total cards created so far: approximately 4,300 cards
Total cards studied so far: over 100,000 in total
I was surprised myself to see how much I had done, but this is the proof of the overwhelming numbers that supported my medical school admission and continue to support my studies today.
3. Three reasons why an efficiency-obsessed medical student 'cannot let go' of Anki
Currently, as a first-year medical student, I am battling a tsunami of technical terms I need to memorize, such as basic life sciences and cell mechanisms, but I maintain an overwhelming lead.
This is because of the following three reasons.
① 'Image Occlusion' has increased my study efficiency tenfold
This is truly insane.
Medical school materials contain not just text, but a massive amount of 'complex diagrams, charts, and slides'.
I take university lecture materials and notes directly from Goodnotes into Anki, and mass-produce 'image occlusion cards' where I hide the parts I want to memorize (such as cell names or structures) with square boxes.
Compared to 'normal studying' where you go through the trouble of neatly summarizing textbooks into notes, the time it takes to create and memorize is honestly 10 times faster.
Moreover, since you can memorize them visually as they are, the quality of memory is overwhelmingly better.
② The 'invincible routine' of crushing 500 cards a day in spare time
When I say 'I do an average of 500 cards a day,' people who have never used Anki tell me, 'That's insane' or 'How many hours does that take?'
But, it's not hard at all. That's the amazing thing about Anki. You know what I mean, right?
The response time per Anki card is 1 to 3 seconds.
Since you can quickly breeze through cards you have already mastered, even if it's 500 cards, you don't need a large block of study time.
When do I get through these? I do them during:
My daily commute (on the train or while walking)
Short breaks at university
Honestly, doing other work when the lecture is boring (lol)
Just by gathering these spare moments, 500 cards melt away on their own.
As long as you have your smartphone, anywhere you are becomes the 'ultimate study room'.
③ Thorough 'decluttering' of useless cards
As an efficiency-obsessed person, I am conscious of 'not putting just anything into Anki'.
Even if I made a card thinking it was necessary at first, if I realize after actually using it that 'this is useless' or 'this is too detailed and unnecessary,' I delete it or suspend it immediately.
Constantly maintaining your deck to be the 'most cost-effective elite deck' for your own brain is the secret to not giving up.
4. [Caution] The price trap. Those who skimp on 4,000 yen will lose out for life
Here, I will talk about a 'trap' that everyone who is about to start Anki inevitably falls into.
It's about the price.
Anki is completely free to use on Windows, Mac, Android, and web browsers.
There are no ads whatsoever.
However,only the iPhone/iPad version (AnkiMobile) is a paid app, costing approximately 4,000 yen (as of 2026, App Store price).is a paid app.
I used it for free on Android and Windows during high school, but after switching to an iPad/iPhone environment in college, I recently paid for this 4,000 yen app out of my own pocket.
You might hesitate for a moment before buying it.
4,000 yen might feel expensive for a flashcard app.
But here is the only message I, from my current account, want to give to those just starting out.
"Just buy it. It's not even about getting your money's worth. It's so valuable that it will change your life."
Thanks to this 4,000 yen, the Anki developers can keep the other platforms free, and more importantly, if your daily study efficiency increases tenfold, you'll recover your investment within the first week.
5. [Super-Dreadnought Hack] Do you know about the latest AI algorithm, 'FSRS'?
Here, I will share an incredible, cutting-edge hack that blew my mind when my AI partner told me,"There's a hidden, latest Anki feature that even you, Muto-san, might not know about."I will share this incredible, cutting-edge hack.
For many years, Anki ran on an algorithm called 'SM-2,' which is over 20 years old. That alone was amazing, but recently, Anki officially incorporated a new algorithm based on next-generation AI (machine learning) called 'FSRS' (Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler).
What makes this so insane is that it's a feature where 'the AI analyzes your past 100,000 review data points to calculate a completely bespoke forgetting curve just for you and sets your study schedule.'
Data shows that compared to the conventional algorithm, 'the number of reviews required to maintain the same level of memory retention decreases by 20% to 30%.'
🛠️ Steps to enable FSRS (Efficiency geeks, do this now)
In the PC or smartphone version of Anki, open the gear icon (Options) for the 'deck' you want to configure.
Scroll down to find the section labeled 'FSRS'.
If it is off by default, switch it to 'On (Enabled)'.
(For those who have already reviewed thousands of times) Press the 'Optimize' button, and the AI will learn from your past data and instantly optimize your schedule.
I heard this and set it up immediately, and it was exhilarating. A system that was already efficient has evolved into a monster thanks to the power of AI.
6. Summary: Just try it, even if you think you're being tricked.
In this article, I introduced 'Anki,' the god-tier app that I actually used to crush 100,000 cards, pass the Eiken test, and gain an overwhelming lead in medical school.
I'll write about detailed add-on settings and the revolutionary hack I'm currently recommending most,using the latest AI 'Manus' to instantly and automatically convert materials into .apkg (Anki data) files,in a separate, in-depth 'major article' next time, as it would truly take 50,000 characters to explain it all.
Please look forward to it.
Finally, to everyone struggling with memorization.
Just trust me and give it a try. It will seriously revolutionize your brain. You'll definitely understand what I mean later.
Stop memorizing through sheer willpower and let the ultimate system take over your brain.
Use the overwhelming amount of time you save to do more interesting things or pursue other meaningful efforts!