# 2 Decks = a 30-Point Jump (NBME edition)

> FA Foundation Anki revises First Aid. The NBME Booster Anki revises every NBME. Why you need both, how to run them in your plan, and what they have done to my students' NBME scores.

URL: https://drmarishasudani.com/two-decks
Canonical: https://drmarishasudani.com/two-decks

## Questions this guide answers

- **Which Anki decks should I use to raise my NBME score for Step 1?** 2 decks. FA Foundation Anki revises First Aid: 2,499 cards, page by page, with the First Aid page on every card, about 400 a day for a full pass in 5 to 6 days. The NBME Booster Anki revises every NBME: 4,493 one-line cards from forms 20 to 34 and the Free 120, each explained underneath, sorted into 18 system decks. Run the Foundation deck per system and before your first NBME, and the Booster system by system in the final 1 to 2 weeks before a form. Students who came in at 45% were scoring 69 to 75% on NBMEs within 6 weeks using these 2 decks.

## Page text

USMLE Vault · Step 1 · NBME edition
2 decks = a 30-point jump
For IMGs on Step 1 whose NBME scores won't move, whatever they add.
By Dr. Marish Asudani · Published 22 October 2026
Which Anki decks should I use to raise my NBME score for Step 1?
2 decks. FA Foundation Anki revises First Aid, page by page. The NBME Booster Anki revises every NBME from form 20 to 34 and the Free 120, system by system. Run the Foundation deck per system and before your first NBME, and the Booster in the final 1 to 2 weeks before a form. Students who came in at 45% were scoring 69 to 75% within 6 weeks using these 2 decks.
The whole idea in 1 line The exam tests 2 things: First Aid, and the way the NBME asks it. That is all the exam is about .
That's why I tell every student to do both, FA Foundation Anki and the NBME Booster Anki . Not 1. Not "whichever I have time for".
45% Where some students came in
69–75% Their NBMEs within 6 weeks
That's the 30 points. The Foundation deck teaches you the book. The Booster teaches you the exam. Here's each one, then how they fit together.
Students on the NBME Booster Anki
Real students on the deck built from every NBME form. Tap to play.
Ashna · Passed Step 1 An honest review of Vault Anki
Lakshmi · Passed Step 1 An honest review of Vault Anki
Try a free 3-day trial → usmlevault.com · no card needed
1
Deck 1 FA Foundation Anki: First Aid, revised
No matter how many times you read First Aid passively, it doesn't stick. The Foundation deck is a page-by-page aggregation of the whole of First Aid: the actual high-yield lines of every page, asked actively. It revises the book.
2,499 cards (as of October 2026), system by system, in First Aid order.
The First Aid page on every card. Flip it and "Study this in First Aid" opens that page's Focus on and Key takeaways beside the card.
About 400 cards a day = a complete First Aid pass in 5 to 6 days.
Keep First Aid open. If a card makes you hesitate even slightly, open that page and read a couple of lines above and below. How to read First Aid itself: the First Aid Guide →
Open FA Foundation Anki All 17 systems in First Aid order, with the First Aid page on every card. Start with renal, the way the plan does.
Open renal →
▶ How to do Anki from the FA Guide My video. 10 minutes on running FA Foundation Anki properly. It's on your Vault schedule as a task.
A FA Foundation Anki card, flipped: the answer, then “Study this in First Aid” with its page (p. 597).
2
Deck 2 NBME Booster Anki: every NBME, revised
The NBME retires forms. It doesn't retire logic. The concepts tested on forms 30 and 31 already appeared on 20 to 25, with new vignettes. It revises every NBME.
4,493 one-line cards from NBME forms 20 to 34 and the Free 120, sorted by system.
Each one tutored. The concept is explained underneath, so you're taught the exact point, then asked it back.
System by system, never form by form. Finish a system completely before the next.
Before your next form, every form from 20 up to the last one you took. Took 28 last week, giving 29 next week? Run 20 to 28, every system. And the form itself goes offline, in blocks of 20: online gives you 50 questions in 75 minutes and inflates your score by 4 to 6%. Why offline →
A real Booster card: the form it came from, the one-liner, the explanation, and the First Aid page it maps to.
The NBME Booster Anki library in the Vault: 1 deck per system.
Open the NBME Booster Anki Every form from 20 up to the last one you took. Pick & Mix filters by form, so you only get the forms you need.
Open NBME Booster Anki →
Full breakdown: the NBME Booster →
3
Why both, and not just 1
Foundation alone, and you know the book but keep getting surprised by how the NBME asks it. Booster alone, and you're drilling exam patterns on top of a book you haven't revised. Together, they cover both halves.
"For the general series, when I completed, I started scoring above 60. And when I completed the NBME decks, I was above 70."
Dr. A, on the Foundation deck (the "general series") and then the Booster
And there's a reason Anki works where re-reading doesn't. Anki forces you to think of the answer yourself, every time. You're never given options. That's exactly the habit the NBME rewards: your answer before the options →
4
How to run both in your plan
They don't compete. They belong at different points, and your schedule puts each one on the right day . On the Vault schedule , every Anki task opens its deck directly.
When
Which deck
Every system
FA Foundation Anki for that system, after Mehlman and before UWorld.
Week before NBME 1
FA Foundation Anki , every system, in the order you studied them.
Before the mocks
NBME Booster Anki , system by system, before Mock Exam 1. Forms 31 to 33 after Mock Exam 2.
Final week
FA Foundation Anki , a complete pass of all 17 decks.
Stuck at 62–65%
NBME Booster Anki : the move marked most important.
2 modes on every card. Tutored: no clock. Timed: 60 seconds a side, 2 minutes at most, so your reviews stop eating your evening. And for the cards you keep failing, Pick & Mix builds a session from only your flagged and missed cards. Timed mode and the First Aid links →
Want a day-by-day schedule that tells you exactly what to study next? The Vault builds it around your exam date.
Get both decks on my schedule →
5
What it does to scores
45→69+ 69–75% within 6 weeks, both decks
49→75 In 15–20 days, Booster run properly
+5–10 Next form after the Booster, from a 65% plateau
Not because they learned new medicine in 3 weeks. Because they stopped being surprised .
Students on the Vault Anki decks
Haritha · Passed Step 1 An honest review of Vault Anki
Dr. Rana · Passed Step 1 An honest review of Vault Anki
Try a free 3-day trial → usmlevault.com · no card needed
Want 10 more points on top? 2 PDFs = a 10-point jump → · Running the whole Booster before a form: all the NBMEs in 6 days → · Stuck at 62 to 65%: the 3 moves →
▶ USMLE Vault videos My playlist of USMLE Vault videos.
Both decks are on usmlevault.com/anki.
2,499 Foundation cards, 4,493 Booster cards, First Aid on every card, Timed mode.
Open FA Foundation Anki → Open NBME Booster Anki →
usmlevault.com · free for your first 3 days
Read next
How to use my Anki decks the right way — Foundation vs Booster.
The NBME Booster — why forms 20 to 34 are the syllabus.
Anki, rebuilt — Timed mode and First Aid on every card.
The NBME Images Anki — the final-week deck.
2 PDFs = a 10-point jump
USMLE Vault · 2 Decks = a 30-Point Jump · Created 2026-10-22
USMLE Vault
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## Source

USMLE Vault — https://usmlevault.com
Author: Dr. Marish Asudani

Updated: 2026-10-22