Generate USMLE Step 1 & Step 2 Flashcards from First Aid, Pathoma, and Your Class Notes
Upload First Aid, Pathoma, Sketchy notes, or your medical school lectures and our AI USMLE flashcard generator builds personalized question-and-answer cards from the material — ready for spaced-repetition review and exportable to Anki on paid plans.
Free to start · No credit card · Spaced repetition built in
Built from your own study material
How it works
From First Aid to flashcards in minutes
Three steps from your Step prep stack to a personalized deck that fills the gaps AnKing doesn't.
- 01
Upload First Aid, Pathoma, or lectures
Drop in PDFs from First Aid, Pathoma, Sketchy, BootCamp, or your medical school's lectures. Scholarly reads the actual material — no copy-pasting.
- 02
AI writes a personalized deck
The generator produces question-and-answer cards for active recall, adds source citations when it can resolve them, and schedules the deck for spaced repetition.
- 03
Drill in your browser or in Anki
Study in Scholarly's browser app with built-in spaced repetition, or export to Anki and merge with AnKing. Your choice, no lock-in.
Features
Built for the way medical students actually study
Source-grounded recall cards, spaced repetition, and optional Anki export — generated from your own material.
Recall cards from First Aid
Generate focused question-and-answer cards from First Aid pages and Pathoma chapters, then edit or remove anything that does not fit your study plan.
Cards from text and diagrams
Upload lecture slides, scanned notes, or labeled diagrams as sources. Scholarly uses the visible content to write standard recall questions.
Anki export, no lock-in
Paid plans can export a deck as a standard .apkg file. The exported notes use Anki's basic question-and-answer format; Scholarly tags and review history are not included.
Spaced repetition built in
Every card gets its own SM-2 style schedule, with an ease factor and interval that stretch as you get it right. Prefer FSRS? Export to Anki and its scheduler takes over.
Step 1, Step 2, and MCAT
Works for USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 prep, COMLEX, MCAT, and shelf exams. Use the same tool from MS1 through dedicated.
Source links when available
Cards generated from PDFs, videos, and recordings can include a link back to the supporting page or timestamp when the source can be resolved.
Sample output
Sample cards generated from First Aid
Two question-and-answer examples plus the source context Scholarly can attach to a generated card.
Pharmacology · Beta blockers
Recall prompt
Which selective β1 blockers are commonly tested and preferred in patients with asthma or COPD?
FA p. 251 · "Beta-1 selective antagonists"
Source context
Uses visible diagram content and keeps a source reference when available.
Basic Q/A
Front
Which beta blocker is used for thyroid storm and why?
Back
Propranolol — non-selective, also inhibits peripheral T4 → T3 conversion.
FA p. 252 · "High-yield clinical correlations"
Why it matters
AnKing is necessary. It's not sufficient.
AnKing v12 has roughly 35,000 cards. It's the spine of Step prep for a reason — it covers the high-yield material and most students who finish it do well on boards. We're not here to replace it. We're here to fill the gap between AnKing and your specific rotation, your specific professor, and the chapters you happen to be weakest on.
The honest truth: AnKing is a generic deck. It doesn't know which lectures your school assigns extra weight to, what your shelf exam is going to emphasize, or which First Aid pages you've already mastered. It can't make you a 30-card deck on a specific Pathoma chapter you struggled with last week. That's what Scholarly does.
Upload First Aid, Pathoma, Sketchy, BootCamp.com notes, or your own lecture PDFs, and Scholarly's AI USMLE flashcard generator writes a personalized question-and-answer deck from the content. Every card gets its own spaced-repetition schedule (an SM-2 style algorithm), and paid plans can export the deck to Anki if you want to review it with FSRS.
The other thing AnKing can't do: real-time. Hit a topic you don't understand mid-rotation, drop the relevant chapter in, and have a focused deck on your phone before your next case presentation. Pair this with a practice exam from the same material for a complete study loop.
Honest comparison
Scholarly vs. AnKing — an honest comparison
AnKing is the gold standard. Scholarly is the supplement. Most successful Step students will use both.
Where it shines: ~35,000 community-vetted cards covering the full Step 1 and Step 2 high-yield content. The literal standard for Step prep flashcards.
Cards are tagged by resource (First Aid, Pathoma, Sketchy, BootCamp) and by USMLE-RX/UWorld question, so you can dynamically subdeck off your QBank performance.
Generic by design — it doesn't know your school's emphasis, your specific lectures, or which chapters you've already mastered.
Onboarding is heavy: add-ons, tagging conventions, and FSRS configuration take real effort before you're studying.
Where it shines: personalized cards from your material — First Aid pages you're weak on, your school's lecture decks, that one Pathoma chapter you keep getting wrong.
Personalized question-and-answer cards from a single upload, with spaced-repetition scheduling built in.
Export to Anki when you want — merge with AnKing or keep your supplementary deck separate.
Best used alongside AnKing: AnKing for breadth, Scholarly for your school's specifics and your personal weak topics.
FAQ
AI USMLE flashcards — frequently asked questions
Can I export Scholarly's USMLE flashcards to Anki?
Yes, on paid plans. A deck exports as a standard .apkg file containing basic question-and-answer notes that can be imported into Anki on desktop or mobile. Scholarly tags, citations, and review history are not included in the export.
How are the cards generated?
The generator writes question-and-answer cards from the material you upload. It targets concrete facts, mechanisms, side effects, and clinical associations, but you should review and edit the generated deck before relying on it for exam prep.
Can it use diagrams and slides?
Yes. You can use lecture slides, scanned notes, and diagrams as source material for standard question-and-answer cards. Scholarly does not currently create masked image-occlusion regions or review image-occlusion cards natively.
Can I import AnKing into Scholarly?
Scholarly can import supported basic and cloze notes from an .apkg file, including AnKing decks, and converts them into its question-and-answer card format. Anki tags, media layouts, scheduling, and review history are not preserved.
Does it cover MCAT as well as USMLE?
Yes. The same generator works for MCAT prep — upload Kaplan, TBR, or UWorld passage explanations and it produces personalized cards. Most premed users use Scholarly for MCAT content review and switch to USMLE prep once they start medical school.
Is FSRS supported?
Not for reviewing inside Scholarly. Our built-in scheduler is SM-2 style, with a per-card ease factor and interval. If you specifically want FSRS, export the deck to Anki, where FSRS has been the default since 2024 and will schedule these cards like any others.
Is there a free tier?
Yes. The free plan includes limited AI creation so you can try the workflow. Paid plans add higher generation and upload limits and include Anki export.
Is this an AnKing replacement?
No, and we won't pretend it is. AnKing is the gold standard for Step prep and most students should still use it as their core deck. Scholarly is the supplement — for your school's specific lectures, your weak chapters, and the topics AnKing's generic coverage doesn't emphasize the way your professor does.
Keep exploring
More ways to study with Scholarly
Pair your USMLE flashcards with the rest of the Scholarly platform.
AI Flashcard Maker
Generate question-and-answer cards from your own study material.
PDF to Flashcards
Turn any PDF into a spaced-repetition deck.
AI Practice Exam Generator
Mock USMLE-style exams from your study material.
AI Lecture Summarizer
Structured summaries of First Aid and lecture material.
AI Podcast from PDF
Listen to First Aid chapters on the way to the hospital.
All AI Study Tools
Every Scholarly study tool in one place.
Pricing
Build your supplement deck this week
Upload First Aid, Pathoma, or your lectures and get personalized USMLE cards. Free to start.
Free
See what it does with one of your own sources.
- 3 AI Chat messages per day
- 1 free AI creation total
- 1 free file upload total (8MB)
- 5 quiz questions per day
- 1 exam attempt per day
- 15 voice minutes per day
- 32-page PDF to flashcards
- 500 autocomplete words per day
Use it to generate flashcards, improve a deck, or create a podcast, video lecture, slides, infographic, mind map, study guide, worksheet, spreadsheet, story book, timeline, SOP, flowchart, lesson plan, or outline — or run Deep Research or turn a recording into AI Meeting Notes.
Premium
Steady weekly output from the material you already have.
$30/month
Everything in Free, plus:
- 10 AI creations per week
- Unlimited AI chat & autocomplete
- Unlimited file uploads (up to 300MB)
- Unlimited study sessions
- Unlimited exams & quizzes
- 1000-page PDF to flashcards
- Export to Anki
- Priority support
Laureate
For work where being right matters more than the price.
billed monthly · cancel anytime
Everything in Premium, plus:
- Any Frontier model — Claude Opus 5, Gemini 3.1 Pro, Grok 4.6
- 75 AI creations per week
- 20 Frontier creations per week
- 20 Frontier Chat messages per week
- Unlimited uploads up to 1 GB, plus 3,000-page PDFs
- 12 hours of voice mode per day
- Priority support and early access to new Frontier models
Pricing shown in USD. Local currency may be available for Premium in app.
Compare plans
AI chat
Premium and Laureate include unlimited AI chat. Frontier Boost on makes Auto (Laureate) use Claude Opus 5; off uses GPT 5.6 Luna.
- Free
- 3/day
- Premium
- Unlimited
- Laureate
- Unlimited
Chat Frontier Boosts
Premium includes recommended access to Grok 4.6, Gemini 3.1 Pro, and Claude Sonnet 5. Laureate adds the remaining Frontier catalog plus 20 Frontier creations and 20 Frontier Chat responses each week; Auto uses Claude Opus 5 while boosts remain and GPT 5.6 Luna afterward.
- Free
- —
- Premium
- —
- Laureate
- 20/week
AI creations
AI creations are used for AI Flashcards, deck edits, AI Podcasts, AI Video Lectures, AI Slides, worksheets, AI Infographics, mind maps, study guides, spreadsheets, story books, timelines, SOPs, flowcharts, lesson plans, outlines, AI Meeting Notes, and Deep Research reports.
- Free
- 1 total
- Premium
- 10/week
- Laureate
- 75/week
Creation Frontier Boosts
Frontier Boost on makes Auto (Laureate) use Claude Opus 5; off uses GPT 5.6 Luna. Laureate includes 20 boosts within its 75 weekly creations. Flashcards never spend a boost.
- Free
- —
- Premium
- —
- Laureate
- 20/week · included
Video lectures
- Free
- Uses AI creations
- Premium
- Included in 10/week
- Laureate
- Included in 75/week
File uploads
- Free
- 1 total (8MB)
- Premium
- Unlimited (300MB)
- Laureate
- Unlimited (1 GB each)
PDF to flashcards
- Free
- 32 pages
- Premium
- 1000 pages
- Laureate
- 3000 pages
Practice questions
- Free
- 5/day
- Premium
- Unlimited
- Laureate
- Unlimited
Practice exams
- Free
- 1/day
- Premium
- Unlimited
- Laureate
- Unlimited
Voice mode
- Free
- 15 min/day
- Premium
- 2 hr/day
- Laureate
- 12 hr/day
Autocomplete
- Free
- 500 words/day
- Premium
- Unlimited
- Laureate
- Unlimited
Export to Anki
- Free
- —
- Premium
- Included
- Laureate
- Included
Support
- Free
- Standard
- Premium
- Priority
- Laureate
- Priority
What customers say
Scholarly has enhanced the quality of notes and questions I administer to my tutees. Insightful, to the point.
TD Georgas
Tutor
I have very good experience with Scholarly it summarize me scientific text in hovel academic level with citation. I use this for any therapeutic area . It is great and useful tool.
Diana
Scholarly user
Scholarly has been a valuable tool for my studies. The AI-generated flashcards and intuitive features make organizing and retaining information much easier.
Briana
Scholarly user
This app is great for studying for big test. Drop your PDF's in the system and it'll do the trick. You can organize it specifically for your needs.
Kelvin
Scholarly user
Your questions, answered
Is Scholarly free to use?
Yes! The free plan includes core study tools with clear limits: 3 AI Chat messages per day, one free AI creation total, 1 free file upload total, quizzes, practice exams, and manual flashcard creation. Upgrade to Premium for 10 AI creations per week and unlimited uploads.
What uses my free AI creations?
Generating flashcards, improving a flashcard deck, making a podcast, creating a video lecture or infographic, building slides, a spreadsheet, or a story book, making a mind map, study guide, or worksheet, having an AI Agent create a timeline, SOP, flowchart, lesson plan, or outline, running Deep Research, or processing a recording uses your free AI creation. It is a lifetime free credit and does not reset. AI Chat messages, quizzes, and exams still have separate daily limits; free file uploads are also lifetime credits.
Can I cancel anytime?
Absolutely. There are no contracts or commitments. You can cancel your subscription at any time from your account settings, and you'll keep access until the end of your billing period.
What payment methods do you accept?
We accept all major credit and debit cards through Stripe. Pricing is displayed in USD by default, but local currency is available in the app.
Can I use Scholarly with a class or school?
Yes. For a school or organization-wide rollout, contact us at hello@scholarly.so and we'll help you find the right setup.
What happens when I hit a free plan limit?
You'll see a prompt to upgrade. Your existing work is never lost — limits only apply to new actions. Free AI creations and the free upload are lifetime credits and do not reset. Premium includes 10 AI creations per week and unlimited uploads.