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For IMGs with an exam date, not a year to maintain 30,000 cards.
By Dr. Marish Asudani · Published
For Step 1, 2 decks are S tier: the FA Foundation Anki for First Aid, and the NBME Booster Anki for every NBME form from 20 to 34 plus the Free 120. NBME Images Anki, the Step 2 CK NBME Booster and Tzanki are A. The Sketchy Micro Pepper deck is B. AnKing is C: about 30,000 cards to maintain.
Read this firstFor Step 1 there are only 2 Anki decks I personally recommend. I built both, after going through every other Step 1 deck out there. Not 30,000-card monsters you maintain forever: lean, page-anchored, built for your exam date.
Every deck name below opens the deck. Here is how to read the tiers:
Every Step 1 and Step 2 CK deck worth naming. Tap any name to open it.
Why 2 decks? Before every NBME I did 2 things: a full revision of my notes, which was my First Aid book, and a full-cycle revision of every NBME I'd already taken. The first became the FA Foundation Anki. The second became the NBME Booster Anki. These are the best Step 1 decks there are, and that's why I built them.
2,499 cards across 17 system decks, a page-by-page aggregation of First Aid, with the page number on every card. At about 400 a day, a full First Aid pass in 5 to 6 days.
Open the FA Foundation AnkiFirst Aid, page by page, as cards, with the page number on every card. Free 3-day trial, no card needed.
Open the deck →4,493 cards from NBME 20 to 34 and the Free 120, sorted into 18 system decks. The NBME retires forms, not logic. Run it system by system, and before each new form, revise the forms you've already taken.
Revise every NBME you've takenThe NBME Booster Anki: 4,493 cards, NBME 20 to 34 and the Free 120, by system. Opens straight into the deck.
Open the Booster →Want a day-by-day schedule that tells you exactly what to study next? The Vault builds it around your exam date.
Build my schedule on usmlevault.com/schedule →
The NBME Booster Anki — both decks, Step 1 and Step 2 CK.
How to run both decks — Foundation versus Booster.
NBME Images Anki — the final week.
Anki, rebuilt — Timed mode and First Aid on every card.