The best Anki card type depends on what you are trying to remember. Cloze deletions are convenient, basic cards can ask direct questions, and image occlusion is useful when a visual feature is the object of learning. None automatically produces a good medical revision card.
Start with the intended task. Do you need to identify a structure, explain a mechanism, distinguish two concepts or recall one necessary detail? Then select the format that makes that task clear. Starting with the format instead can produce thousands of technically valid cards that ask the wrong questions.
Basic cards: useful when the question needs to stand alone
A basic card places a question on the front and an answer on the back. Its strength is control over the prompt. You can decide exactly which context the learner needs and what constitutes an adequate answer.
For example, "What does sensitivity describe in a diagnostic test?" asks for a definition that can be checked. "Explain diagnostic testing" is too broad. A stronger follow-up could ask the learner to distinguish sensitivity from positive predictive value, with the expected distinction specified on the answer side.
Basic cards also suit brief explanation prompts. Their weakness appears when the answer becomes a long essay with no clear marking rule. Before keeping a card, ask whether two careful students would agree about whether their response was correct.
Cloze deletions: efficient, but vulnerable to accidental hints
A cloze removes selected text from a statement. Anki's editing manual explains the syntax and how separate deletions can generate different cards. The format is useful when the surrounding sentence supplies genuinely necessary context.
The danger is that grammar, word length or repeated wording reveals the answer. A learner may become excellent at completing that sentence without recognising the underlying idea elsewhere. A card can therefore feel easy for reasons unrelated to useful retention.
Read the prompt as an examiner would. Could somebody infer the missing word without knowing the subject? Is the visible context doing nearly all the thinking? Would changing the sentence slightly make the answer disappear? These questions help identify cards that need rewriting.
Avoid turning every clause in a paragraph into a separate deletion. That can create a large review burden while repeatedly exposing the same answer. Select the information that actually needs retrieval and keep the explanatory paragraph available as supporting context.
Image occlusion: identify what the image is teaching
Image occlusion hides regions of an image so that you can retrieve the missing information. In supported Anki versions it is a built-in note type, not necessarily a separate add-on requirement. This matters when following older tutorials that assume an additional installation.
For anatomy, hiding a label can test whether you recognise a structure in that particular representation. It does not by itself establish that you can identify the structure from another orientation or on a different image. Varying the view is a separate learning decision.
Keep enough context to make the task meaningful. A tiny cropped fragment may become a visual riddle, while leaving every neighbouring label visible may make the answer obvious. The aim is recognition of the structure, not memorisation of where a box sits on a favourite diagram.
Use images you are permitted to use and retain their source. A convenient screenshot is not automatically available for redistribution in a public deck. Personal study and publishing a shared resource are different situations.
Match the format to the medical learning problem
For a terminology-heavy topic, basic cards may provide a clean starting point. For a well-understood relationship within a statement, a cloze can be efficient. For labelled anatomy, image occlusion may be the most natural tool. These are practical suggestions, not evidence that one format wins every comparison.
Clinical distinctions often deserve more context than a single missing word. Consider a card comparing two possible explanations for the same symptom. The useful question is which feature changes the interpretation, not merely which diagnosis is associated with a familiar keyword.
A short vignette can be placed in Anki. It is inaccurate to claim that the software can only hold isolated facts. The limitation is that a familiar vignette eventually becomes familiar material; performing well on it does not show that the same reasoning transfers to unseen cases.
Rewrite a weak card rather than multiplying it
Suppose a card asks for every cause of a broad laboratory abnormality. You repeatedly remember most of the list and forget a different item each time. Creating more deletions may increase the workload without clarifying the conceptual problem.
An alternative is to organise the causes into meaningful categories, explain why those categories arise and create a few prompts around important distinctions. Keep the comprehensive list as a reference rather than making exhaustive recitation the sole learning objective.
Anki's guidance on troublesome cards supports the principle of reconsidering material that repeatedly causes difficulty. The important question is not how to force the card through the scheduler, but what knowledge the learner needs and how best to retrieve it.
Add a transfer test outside the card
After reviewing a topic, close Anki and explain it in different words. Then attempt an unfamiliar question or interpret a new example. This separates familiarity with your own prompts from the ability to use the information elsewhere.
An appropriate iatroX question bank provides a different task from completing a known card. The Socratic Tutor can support discussion after your first attempt, particularly when the problem concerns why a plausible alternative is wrong.
Do not automatically convert every explanation back into a card. Preserve the small number of facts or distinctions that need repeated retrieval. Leave richer reasoning to cases, discussion and practical teaching. A mixed learning system works best when each activity has a reason to exist.
Our Anki guide for UK medical examinations applies these card-design choices to different assessment requirements.
Frequently asked questions
Are cloze cards better than basic cards for medicine?
Not universally. Cloze cards can be quick to create and review, while basic cards give more control over a standalone question. The better choice is the one that tests the intended knowledge without accidental hints or unclear marking.
Do I need an image-occlusion add-on?
Not necessarily. Current supported Anki versions include image occlusion. Check your installed version and the official manual before following an older tutorial that assumes an add-on is required.
Can I use clinical cases as Anki cards?
Yes. Keep the question and expected answer clear, and recognise that repeated cases become familiar. Use new questions and observed clinical practice to assess application beyond the exact examples in your deck.