Over the past 8 years since Picmonic entered the market as the very first visual picture-mnemonic learning tool for medical students, students have told us in our quarterly feedback surveys what helps them the most about the study resources they use. Some students view Picmonic as more effective and affordable (“I prefer Picmonic. I don’t use sketchy…it is too long and more expensive.”) and some students use both resources, together. We’ll share what students have told us over the years.
Reason #1: More Content
Picmonic has 1,000 more topics than SketchyMedical, such as Biochemistry, Physiology, Genetics, Embryology, Behavioral and Psychiatry. If students are using Sketchy Medical, they’ll find that eventually they’ll hit a topic that Sketchy doesn’t cover.
Bottom line: The Picmonic medical library contains over 1,400 video-quiz lessons covering over 15,000 facts, and offers the most comprehensive coverage of First Aid of any visual learning tool. Compare SketchyMedical and Picmonic.
Reason #2: More Efficient
Picmonic is more efficient for review before an exam or to create effective scaffolding for learning a topic the first time. With concise, hi-yield topic coverage, students save precious study time.
Bottom line: Don’t have time to rewatch 20 minute videos for exam prep? Struggling to remember important facts about a topic? Picmonic’s concise videos will give you an effective way to review the information and provide low stakes recall quizzes and spaced rep quizzes to help you remember long term.
Reason #3: More Effective
Picmonic’s visual learning app is research-proven to increase retention 331%, and boost test scores 50%. Students will often use Picmonic if they are struggling to learn the topic with Sketchy.
Bottom line: If there is a topic you are struggling to remember, Picmonic’s concise effective videos will give you an efficient way to prep for exams and provide low stakes recall quizzes and spaced rep quizzes to help you remember long term.
Reason #4: More Straightforward
Picmonics are simpler and less overwhelming than Sketches. If students know a topic, they’ll often skip the topic in SketchyMedical, and go straight to Picmonic for review.
Bottom line: On average a Picmonic will cover 8-10 high yield facts that are hard to remember and frequently tested, but doesn’t overload a single Picmonic to abide by theories of working memory.
Reason #5: More Quizzes
Bottom line: Picmonic’s med study app has a more robust library covering over 16,000 multiple choice quiz questions, to practice low-stakes recall and improve retention of hi-yield facts.
Reason #6: Longer Retention
SketchyMedical does not offer Spaced Repetition based quizzes, so after students have learned a topic with Picmonic and reviewed it with Picmonic, they can use Picmonic’s Daily Quiz with spaced repetition to remember what they have studied longer.
Bottom line: Picmonic’s intelligent spaced repetition Daily Quiz will help track everything you learn, and prompt you to review the right information at the right time so that you retain what you’ve learned long term.
Reason #7: More Customization
Sometimes taking notes or adding facts can help increase learning retention. With Picmonic, students can customize their content and add their own information and characters, notes, images, videos and more to satisfy their personal learning needs.
Bottom line: Edit, modify or add facts/characters to a sketch using Picmonic’s robust customization features, if additional details you’d like to memorize are missing from the sketch. You can even see the relevant additional facts & characters your peers are adding to each topic, and adopt for yourself only the ones you struggle to remember.
Reason #8: More Features
Picmonic for Medicine is always adding new features based on requests from students like you, so we can provide the best visual study resource for med students.
Here are a few features that SketchyMedical does not have:
- If there’s a topic you can’t find, create your own Picmonics using the simple drag and drop authoring tools, then use them alongside the 1600+ topics that are already in the Picmonic for Medicine library.
- Related Facts View real-life imagery. Textbook quality images and content integrated alongside characters, to better prepare you for what you’ll see on a test.
- Mobile apps Study & exam prep on the go. Review Playlists even when you don’t have internet access, or listen to continuous audio in gym mode.
- Community submissions- since picmonic takes community submissions and allows students to make their own Picmonics (that can be viewed by all!), the information is sure to stay on the cutting edge.
- Picmonic has playlists that follow First Aid and Pathoma 1:1- allowing seamless integration of multiple med education study resources.
Students share hundreds of study tips with fellow students every year, many which have been shared on med school study & resource blog. Whether you want tips for the entire med school journey from 1st-4th year (blog article), how to study in med school (video), or free med study resources to help you prep for or pass USMLE STEP or COMLEX, Picmonic’s med school study app has you covered.
For additional information, visit:
- https://www.picmonic.com/pages/picmonic-for-nursing-vs-sketchynursing/
- https://www.medstudenttips.com/picmonic-for-medicine-vs-sketchymedical.html
- https://www.picmonic.com/pillars/why-picmonic