3 Best Histology Anki Decks: Learn Histology Fast (2021)

Histology can get a little crazy. Working out what it is you’re looking at when every slide seemingly looks the same, can get quite maddening!

That’s where Anki flashcards come in. Helping you memorize the whole subject and still have plenty of time left over to Netflix and chill.

As someone who’s taken and passed the course, I know that’s appealing.

So I’ve put this together to help. Listing the 3 best histology Anki decks I think can help.

Note: I’ve also listed Anki plugins (you can download these for free via search in the app), file sizes, and the years of upload too. Making it easier for you to find exactly what you need.

The Best Histology Anki Decks

The 3 decks we’ll be looking at are:

  1. Navi’s Histology
  2. BringBackRabaska’s Lange Basic Histology Deck
  3. Complete Phase 1 Histology Deck

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Navi’s Histology

Deck Type: Histology| Cards: 1316| Year of Upload: 2020 | Required Plugins: Image Occlusion, Hierarchical Tags 2 |Size: 347.5 Mb.

Considered the gold standard histology deck among the online Anki community, Navi’s decks are based on the high-quality Netter’s Histology Flashcard deck.

At 1316 cards it’s about mid-range in terms of workload (compared to the other decks on this list).

The cards in this deck are exceptionally well put together. Each has a comment and clinical section you can expand after review to help give a little more context.

Here’s how a typical card looks…

Master this deck and take your histology grade to a whole new level.

Download the Navi deck here

BringBackRabaska’s Lange Basic Histology Deck

Deck Type: Histology | Cards: 1094| Year of Upload: 2020 | Required Plugins: Image Occlusion, Hierarchical Tags 2 |Size: 32.5 Mb.

This deck is based on the excellent Lange Basic Histology set of flashcards and differentiates itself from Navi’s deck by having fewer tags per card and more detailed comments.

Deck creator u/bringBackRabaska admits it might not be as high yield for Step 1 as the Anking deck but can still serve as a great foundation for an independent histology course.

Here’s a sample image from the deck. You’ll see it’s strong on labels and you’ll need the image occlusion plugin to really make great use of it.

At just 32.5 Mb in size, though it’s a quick download and something definitely worth a look.

Download BringBackRabaska’s deck here.

Complete Phase 1 Histology Deck

Deck Type: Histology | Cards: 2189| Year of Upload: 2020 | Required Plugins: Image Occlusion, Hierarchical Tags 2 |Size: 106 Mb

Here’s a deck that’s not talked about a lot in the community but one that I still think is worth a look.

With a combination of both image-based cards and simple one-fact question format cards, it’s a nice mix.

There are also illustration-based cards and microscopic slide cards.

At 2189 it’s a super-comprehensive deck and should definitely be enough to help you pass class exams.

Personally, I think it could be better than Navi’s too. The way it’s tagged is much neater and means you can jump to whichever section you want to review at the drop of a hat.

You can get an idea of that system from the labels on the left side of this screenshot…

The creator says it’s based on cardio, respiratory, GI, musculoskeletal, and cell histology. Basically a complete system guide.

Download the Complete Phase 1 Histo deck here.

Additional Information On Histology Anki Decks

Two other great resources for histology I can also recommend, although they’re not strictly dedicated to histo, are Duke’s pathoma and zanki.

You’ll have to separate the histo-related cards out of course (and that can be both time-consuming and annoying).

  1. Duke’s Pathoma
  2. Zanki/Anking

Recommended Histology Flashcard Resource

If you’d prefer to keep your flashcards analog and aren’t a fan of digital, then I’ve got you covered.

Netters’ Histology Flashcards are the best set for your needs. The illustrations are top-notch, the facts are on point and you don’t need any electronic hardware or software to make them work for you.

Recommended Histology Textbook Resource

To supplement your flashcard-based learning it pays to have a good histology textbook on hand to better contextualize your learning.

My favorite resource (that I used to ace histo) was Junqueira’s Basic Histology: Text and Atlas.

This has really succinct and easy to understand explanations and great photos and images (a lot of which professors sometimes put into their histo exams).

Related Histology Flashcard Questions

Top Tips For Using Anki Histology Flashcard Decks

  • Do your reviews everyday (leaving plenty of time before final exams are mid-terms)
  • Supplement your knowledge with plenty of test questions (Webpath, U Michigan and Blue Histology are awesome resources)
  • Have a reliable and recommended histology textbook on hand to help fill any knowledge gaps
  • Keep a close eye out for repeated patterns, cell features and stained objects to help work out what it is you’re looking at

Why Use An Anki Histology Deck?

  • They’re free
  • Helps you save time putting together flashcards of your own
  • You can rely on the hard work of dedicated med students who’ve gone before you
  • Saves stress from having to work out what’s high yield enough to memorize

Where to Find More Anki Histology Decks

The best place to find more excellent user-generated histology decks is the r/medicalschoolanki community. If something gets moved up to the sidebar then you know it’s been vetted and is of good quality.

Related Anki Questions

Related Anki Questions

If you’re not familiar with Anki, I recommend checking out The Anking YouTube channel.

This offers many useful tutorials and tips for Anki users. It’s primarily designed for med students but the content is just as good for students in other fields.

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Here’s a good primer (as well as a good intro on what they offer) below…

How Do I Add Plugins To Anki?

You can plugins, such as the hierarchical tags and image occlusion ones mentioned in some of the decks above, by going to tools > add-ons > get add-ons

Alternatively, press ctrl + shift + A on your keyboard.

From there, go to “browse add-ons” and copy the code of the plugin you want into the field here.

The code for image occlusion is 1374772155. For hierarchical tags, it’s 594329229.

It’s that easy.

Why Do I Have To Go To Reddit To Download?

Reddit is where these decks are uploaded and shared. The original users deserve accreditation and the opportunity to be thanked for their hard work.

The files for these decks are hosted in these threads created by the deck’s creator.

Final Thoughts: Best Anki Decks For Histology

Histology, to students who’ve never studied it before, can be very confusing. Flashcards, like those available in the recommendations above, can be a huge help though.

Just keep going and make sure you keep up your reviews.

Do that and I’m 100% confident you’ll be able to tell what’s under any microscope!

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Image Credit: @cdc at Unsplash