AnKing v12 — Step 1 Coverage Audit

Coverage by area

Two different axes. Coverage is how much of the area the deck touches (comprehensive / solid / lightly covered). Depth is how hard it drills what it covers — cards per concept, a study-style signal, not a quality score. A small area can be fully covered yet lightly drilled, so the two columns move independently. Shapes rather than precise figures — the mapping is probabilistic.

Coming from another deck?

Most Step 1 decks overlap heavily — they cover the same exam — so switching rarely changes which concepts you see. What actually differs is how hard each deck drills a concept (depth) and, occasionally, how much ground it covers (area level). Both, per deck:

Depth is cards per concept (study style, not quality); coverage differences are reported at the area level — the card-to-concept mapping is reliable in aggregate but not precise enough to call out individual missing topics. Compare any two Step 1 decks →

Coverage by official USMLE system

The same coverage, re-grouped against the official NBME content outline (organ systems) rather than our study-resource areas. Every subtopic is mapped to its NBME system.

Omitted (too few mapped subtopics to characterize): Human Development.

Compare all Step 1 decks by system →

Where AnKing v12 runs lighter

Concepts our outline flags as lightly covered here — ranked by how heavily Step 1 tests them, so what's worth supplementing sits at the top. Lighter coverage isn't a defect; a focused deck deliberately spends its cards elsewhere.

• Social Determinants of HealthPublic Health Sciences
• Evidence-Based MedicinePublic Health Sciences
• high-yieldNSTEMI Risk Stratification and TimingCardiovascular
• Takotsubo (Stress) CardiomyopathyCardiovascular
• β-Blocker and Calcium Channel Blocker OverdoseGeneral Pharmacology
• Schizophreniform DisorderPsychiatry
• Illness Anxiety Disorder (Hypochondriasis)Psychiatry
• Fracture Healing StagesMusculoskeletal, Skin, and Connective Tissue
• Minoxidil (Topical and Systemic)Reproductive
• CostochondritisMusculoskeletal, Skin, and Connective Tissue
• Autoimmune HepatitisGastrointestinal
• Roflumilast (PDE4 Inhibitor)Respiratory
• Meconium Aspiration SyndromeRespiratory
• Inhalant Use DisorderPsychiatry
• Body Dysmorphic DisorderPsychiatry
• plus others lower on the priority list

AnKing's #HighYield tagging

AnKing classifies every reviewed card into one of five yield levels. Here's how the 27,498 Step 1 cards in the deck break down.

About 24.0% of cards are untagged — AnKing's yield system is applied to most but not all of the deck. "Untagged" doesn't mean low priority.

Where AnKing's #HighYield concentrates

Subtopics with the most cards tagged 1-HighYield or 2-RelativelyHighYield.

• 189 cardsHerpesvirus Family (HSV-1/2, VZV, EBV, CMV, HHV-6/7/8)Microbiology
• 117 cardsWater-Soluble Vitamins (B-complex and C)Biochemistry
• 116 cardsAntiarrhythmics (Class I-IV + Others)Cardiovascular
• 101 cardsViral Structure, Genome, and Replication (Survey)Microbiology
• 100 cardsVaccine Types and ContraindicationsImmunology
• 98 cardsInheritance PatternsBiochemistry
• 96 cardsOther Important RNA Viruses (Rabies, Rotavirus, Parvovirus, Norovirus, Zika, Dengue)Microbiology
• 94 cardsBrachial PlexusMusculoskeletal, Skin, and Connective Tissue
• 93 cardsCell Wall Synthesis InhibitorsMicrobiology
• 91 cardsAntiplatelets and AnticoagulantsCardiovascular

Subtopics with cards in the deck but no #HighYield-tagged cards

Topics covered in AnKing where none of the cards carry a 1-HighYield or 2-RelativelyHighYield tag. Filtering to #HighYield skips these.

• 99 cardsDevelopmental Milestones (Infant and Child)Psychiatry
• 68 cardsBurns and Rule of 9sMusculoskeletal, Skin, and Connective Tissue
• 30 cardsSkin Lesion TerminologyMusculoskeletal, Skin, and Connective Tissue
• 28 cardsParasomnias — Sleepwalking, Night Terrors, REM Behavior DisorderPsychiatry
• 22 cardsMeasurement and Information BiasPublic Health Sciences
• 19 cardsLichen PlanusMusculoskeletal, Skin, and Connective Tissue
• 18 cardsSuicide Risk Assessment and Risk FactorsPsychiatry
• 16 cardsAPGAR ScoreReproductive
• 15 cardsCOPD — Chronic ManagementRespiratory
• 14 cardsCRISPR and Gene Therapy ConceptsBiochemistry

What AnKing v12 users lapse on most

Subtopics with the highest median lapse rate across Step 1 students who uploaded their decks to Lacunos. These are the cards the cohort keeps forgetting — likely worth extra drilling whatever deck you use.

• 5.5 lapses / 14dHerpesvirus Family (HSV-1/2, VZV, EBV, CMV, HHV-6/7/8)Microbiology
• 3 lapses / 14dCranial Nerves — Functions and LesionsNeurology and Special Senses
• 3 lapses / 14dCell Wall Synthesis InhibitorsMicrobiology
• 3 lapses / 14dVasculitides (Large / Medium / Small Vessel)Cardiovascular
• 2.5 lapses / 14dAntiplatelets and AnticoagulantsCardiovascular
• 2.5 lapses / 14dAntiarrhythmics (Class I-IV + Others)Cardiovascular

That's the cohort. Your lapses cluster differently — find where →

How to pair AnKing v12 with other resources

Most students pair the AnKing Step 1 deck with First Aid as a reading anchor — AnKing's cards are largely tagged to First Aid chapters, so the two resources reinforce each other directly. Pathoma is the standard complement for General Pathology and organ-system pathology depth; even though AnKing covers General Pathology strongly, Pathoma's video explanations build the conceptual scaffolding that makes the cards stick faster. Sketchy covers Microbiology and Pharmacology through visual mnemonics, and because AnKing already runs deep in both of those areas, Sketchy functions as a memorization accelerant rather than a content supplement — many students use Sketchy-based Anki cards integrated into the AnKing deck itself via AnkiHub.

For the areas where AnKing runs lighter, targeted resources make a real difference. Boards & Beyond is the go-to supplement for Evidence-Based Medicine and Social Determinants of Health — two Public Health Sciences topics where AnKing's coverage is thinner and B&B's structured video lectures fill the content efficiently. For the lighter cardiovascular and psychiatry topics — NSTEMI Risk Stratification and Timing, Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy, Schizophreniform Disorder, and Illness Anxiety Disorder — a focused read of the relevant First Aid sections or UWorld question explanations is usually sufficient to close the gap. The lighter musculoskeletal entries like Fracture Healing Stages and Costochondritis are best handled through UWorld exposure rather than building out a parallel card set.

Frequently asked questions