Anki and Anki Remote support study habits and systems that make studying in dental school more manageable.
Dental school asks you to learn a lot of information in a relatively short amount of time. Between anatomy, pathology, pharmacology, microbiology, dental materials, labs, and eventually clinical work, it can be difficult to keep everything organized.
The students who manage that workload well aren't necessarily studying every waking hour. They usually have systems that make it easier to review consistently, identify what they don't know, and keep important information accessible over time.
Tools such as Anki and Anki Remote can support those systems, but the technology itself isn't the solution. What matters is how you build it into your overall study routine.
Here are seven habits that make studying in dental school more manageable.
1. Time-Block Your Week Around Your Actual Schedule
Dental school isn't just lectures and exams. Your schedule may include labs, practicals, clinical requirements, assignments, group work, and other commitments.
Instead of waiting until you have free time to study, schedule your most important study blocks in advance.
A simple weekly plan might include:
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Short Anki reviews each day
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Dedicated time for new lecture material
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Practice questions before major exams
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Longer review sessions for difficult subjects
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Time to catch up when your workload gets heavier
You don't need to plan every minute of the week.
The goal is to make studying a predictable part of your schedule rather than something you have to negotiate with yourself every day.
Build your schedule around your energy, too
Not every study block needs to be equally long.
You might use shorter sessions for Anki reviews and reserve longer periods for activities that require more concentration, such as working through practice questions or learning a difficult anatomy topic.
This makes it easier to match the right type of studying to the time you actually have available.
2. Use Spaced Repetition Consistently
Dental school involves a large amount of information that needs to be recalled long after the original lecture.
That's where spaced repetition can be useful.
Instead of repeatedly rereading the same notes, Anki gives you opportunities to actively retrieve information and review it again over time.
For example, you might use Anki to reinforce:
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Anatomical structures and relationships
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Cranial nerves
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Drug classes and mechanisms
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Pathology findings
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Microorganisms and disease associations
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Dental terminology
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Histology concepts
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Dental materials
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Important clinical facts
The goal isn't to complete the largest possible number of cards.
The goal is to keep important information accessible while maintaining a review workload you can realistically sustain.
3. Organize Your Flashcards by Course, Topic, and Priority
A large Anki collection can become difficult to manage if everything is mixed together.
Organizing cards by course or topic can make it easier to find the material you actually need.
For example, you might organize cards around:
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Anatomy
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Physiology
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Pathology
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Pharmacology
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Microbiology
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Dental materials
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Oral pathology
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Radiology
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INBDE preparation
You can also use tags to identify cards that deserve additional attention.
Useful tags might include:
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must-know -
missed -
clinical -
exam -
weak-area -
INBDE
You don't need a complicated organizational system.
The best system is one that lets you quickly answer a simple question:
What should I review right now?
Don't keep every card forever
As you progress through dental school, some cards will become less useful.
If a card is consistently too easy, irrelevant to your current goals, or poorly written, consider editing, suspending, or removing it.
A smaller collection of useful cards is often easier to maintain than an enormous collection filled with information you rarely need.
4. Make Studying Easier to Start
One of the most overlooked parts of studying is friction.
If every review session requires setting up your laptop, finding your materials, opening multiple resources, and constantly reaching for your keyboard or touchscreen, small inconveniences can add up.
The easier it is to start a short review session, the easier it can be to maintain the habit.
This is one area where an Anki Remote can be useful.
A physical controller lets you perform common Anki review actions without constantly reaching for your computer or tablet. For students who spend a significant amount of time reviewing cards, that can make repetitive sessions feel more convenient.
It can be particularly useful when:
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Reviewing cards on a laptop
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Studying between classes
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Doing a short review session before or after a lecture
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Working through a larger review queue
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Using Anki while keeping your attention on the screen
The goal isn't to turn every spare minute into another study session.
It's simply to reduce unnecessary friction around a study habit you're already trying to maintain.
See the StudyRemote Anki Remote
5. Learn From What You Get Wrong
Getting an Anki card wrong is useful information.
Instead of simply pressing "Again" and moving on, take a moment to understand why you missed it.
Ask yourself:
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Did I forget the fact?
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Did I misunderstand the concept?
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Was the card poorly written?
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Did I confuse it with something similar?
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Do I need a visual or example to understand it?
For difficult material, you might add a brief explanation, image, mnemonic, or clinical connection to the card.
You can also use tags or filtered reviews to revisit recurring weak areas.
This turns mistakes into feedback about your learning process.
6. Study Before the Lecture, Not Only After It
It's tempting to wait until after a lecture to start learning the material.
But even a brief preview can make an unfamiliar topic easier to follow.
You don't need to completely learn the lecture beforehand.
Instead, spend a few minutes getting familiar with:
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Key terminology
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Major structures
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Important disease names
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Drug classes
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Basic concepts
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Learning objectives
For example, reviewing 10–15 relevant Anki cards before a head-and-neck anatomy lecture can give you some context before you encounter the material in class.
Then the lecture becomes a second exposure rather than your first encounter with every term.
Afterward, you can use Anki to reinforce the information you actually need to retain.
7. Focus on Retention, Not Just Progress
It's easy to measure studying by numbers:
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How many cards did I finish?
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How many pages did I read?
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How many hours did I study?
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How far through the deck am I?
Those numbers can be useful, but they don't necessarily tell you what you learned.
A better question is:
What can I actually recall and apply?
If you're consistently forgetting a topic, spending additional time on it may be more valuable than rushing through another hundred easy cards.
You can use Anki's scheduling, tags, and filtered reviews to spend more time on material that needs reinforcement.
And remember that dental school isn't only about memorizing information.
You also need to practice applying it through:
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Practice questions
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Case-based problems
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Diagrams
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Clinical examples
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Lab work
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Practical exercises
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Discussion and explanation
Anki can help build the knowledge base, but other study methods help you use that knowledge.
How These Habits Work Together
The seven habits are most useful when they form one system rather than seven separate tasks.
A typical week might look like this:
Before class:
Preview key concepts and terminology.
During class:
Focus on understanding the material and identifying what matters.
After class:
Create or review high-value Anki cards.
Throughout the week:
Complete scheduled reviews and practice retrieval.
Before exams:
Combine Anki with practice questions and focused review.
After exams:
Keep important long-term information in your review system and remove material that no longer provides enough value.
This approach keeps Anki in its proper role: a tool for retention, not your entire dental-school study strategy.
What About Premade Anki Decks?
You don't necessarily have to create every card yourself.
Premade decks can save time, especially when you're dealing with a large curriculum. But it's important to make sure the cards actually match what you're expected to know.
When evaluating a dental Anki deck, consider:
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Does it cover the material you need?
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Are the cards clear and specific?
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Does it contain unnecessary information?
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Are the images useful?
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Can you suspend cards that don't apply to your course?
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Is the deck still maintained?
A combination of premade and self-made cards can work well.
You can start with a useful existing deck and then add cards for information that is specific to your courses or professors.
If you're looking for dental-specific options, see our guide to the best Anki decks for dental school and INBDE preparation.
How Anki Fits Into INBDE Preparation
The information you learn during dental school eventually becomes part of your broader board-exam preparation.
Keeping important concepts in a spaced-repetition system can make it easier to revisit them later, rather than having to relearn everything from scratch.
However, preparing for the INBDE requires more than memorizing flashcards.
As you get closer to the exam, combine Anki with:
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Practice questions
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Case-based questions
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Review resources
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Weak-area analysis
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Timed practice
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Clinical reasoning
Your Anki collection should support your preparation rather than become your entire INBDE strategy.
Don't Turn Good Habits Into Another Source of Stress
A study system is only useful if you can maintain it.
If your Anki workload becomes too large, your schedule becomes unrealistic, or you're spending more time organizing cards than learning, it's worth stepping back and simplifying.
That might mean:
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Reducing new cards
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Suspending low-value cards
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Shortening individual study sessions
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Prioritizing difficult material
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Removing unnecessary tags or organizational layers
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Giving yourself realistic recovery time
Consistency doesn't mean doing the same amount of work every single day.
It means having a system that you can return to when your schedule gets busy.
Dental School Anki Resources
If you're building an Anki-based study system for dental school, these resources can help:
How to Use Anki for Dental School: A Practical Study System
A step-by-step guide to using Anki for dental anatomy, pharmacology, pathology, and other information-heavy subjects.
Best Anki Decks for Dental School & INBDE
A look at dental-focused Anki decks and how to decide which ones fit your preparation.
How Many Anki Cards Should You Do Per Day?
A practical guide to choosing a sustainable daily workload without creating an overwhelming review backlog.
Final Takeaway
Dental school is demanding, but your study system doesn't need to make it harder.
Build a schedule you can maintain. Use spaced repetition for information that benefits from repeated recall. Keep your cards focused and organized. Learn from your mistakes. Preview difficult material before class. And measure your progress by what you can remember and apply—not just how many cards you completed.
Anki can be a valuable part of that system, especially when you use it alongside lectures, practice questions, clinical learning, and other active study methods.
The goal isn't to study constantly.
It's to build a system that helps you learn consistently, retain what matters, and keep moving forward through dental school.
