Best MCAT Anki Deck for Biology (2026): Captain Hook vs. JackSparrow, AnKing & MileDown

Post By

Ryan Brownlee

– Founder of AspiringMD

A current medical student compares the 2026 Captain Hook, JackSparrow, AnKing, MileDown and Aidan V2 decks using firsthand experience, AAMC guidance, Reddit and SDN.

If you are looking for the best MCAT Anki deck for Biology, my first choice for a student who specifically needs more help with Biology and Biochemistry would be Captain Hook. It preserves much of the detailed science coverage that makes JackSparrow so useful for B/B, but the cards have been reformatted and cleaned up in ways that can make the workload easier to sustain. If you prefer answering broader free-recall questions and have plenty of time, JackSparrow is still an excellent Biology deck, while AnKing would be my choice for someone who already has a reasonably good Biology foundation and wants one modern primary deck for the entire MCAT.

I would not tell every student to switch to Captain Hook simply because I am placing it first for Biology. I personally used MileDown as my main MCAT Anki deck and also spent time with JackSparrow, and that experience made me much less interested in finding the deck with the greatest possible number of cards. MileDown worked well for me partly because I could consistently keep up with it while still leaving room for practice questions, passages, and full-length exams, whereas I liked the additional depth of JackSparrow but found some of its cards substantially more strenuous to review.

If you are still deciding on a deck for the entire exam rather than Biology alone, I would start with my Best MCAT Anki Decks comparison. You can also use my complete MCAT guide for premeds if you are trying to figure out where Anki should fit alongside content review, question banks, CARS, full-length exams, and the official AAMC resources.

What Is the Best Anki Deck for MCAT Biology in 2026?

For a student whose main problem is weak Biology or Biochemistry content, I would currently lean toward Captain Hook, with JackSparrow very close behind. Captain Hook is based heavily on JackSparrow’s detailed science material, but it reorganizes many of the longer answers into a cleaner format. That is appealing for Biology because this section includes many topics where I want you to understand relationships and mechanisms, physiology, enzyme regulation, genetics, metabolism, endocrine signaling, membrane transport, not merely recognize a word that was hidden inside a sentence.

For a student who already understands those concepts and mostly needs to stop forgetting them, I would move AnKing or MileDown much higher. A concise cloze card can be extremely efficient when you already understand what the card means, and there is little value in spending four minutes reconstructing a long explanation every time Anki shows you a concept you have understood since introductory Biology.

I think of the major options this way:

The important difference is that I am not ranking these based only on how many facts they contain. Biology is a subject where your existing foundation and your ability to explain mechanisms should determine how much flashcard depth you actually need.

What Does the MCAT Biology Section Actually Test?

Before choosing a Biology Anki deck, it helps to clarify what “MCAT Biology” actually means. The section is officially called Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems, or B/B, and the AAMC estimates that approximately 65% of its questions draw from introductory Biology, 25% from first-semester Biochemistry, 5% from General Chemistry, and 5% from Organic Chemistry. The section contains 59 questions in 95 minutes, with a combination of passage-based and discrete questions. See the AAMC’s official B/B section overview

That 65% Biology figure is one reason a strong Biology Anki deck can be valuable, but it also explains why I would not isolate Biology so aggressively that you neglect Biochemistry. Proteins, amino acids, enzymes, metabolism, molecular biology, genetics, cell biology, physiology, nervous and endocrine signaling, reproduction, and homeostasis overlap constantly within B/B. The official AAMC MCAT content outline is the resource I would trust when deciding whether something actually belongs in your preparation rather than assuming that every obscure fact appearing in a 12,000-card community deck deserves equal attention.

The other part that often gets lost in discussions about Anki is that B/B is not a 59-question recall test. The AAMC says scientific inquiry and reasoning are built directly into the section, and its own sample material requires students to interpret experimental information and apply biological knowledge within unfamiliar passages. Its published distribution places roughly 45% of B/B questions in Skill 2, scientific reasoning and problem solving, which is another reason I would never allow Anki to consume all of the time you need for passages and questions.

Why I Like Captain Hook for MCAT Biology

The Captain Hook MCAT Anki deck is particularly interesting for Biology because it tries to solve the biggest problem I personally had with JackSparrow. JackSparrow gave me more detail than MileDown, which I liked, but some cards could become long enough that the review itself felt strenuous. Captain Hook keeps a JackSparrow-based science foundation while reorganizing many answers, highlighting important information, adding supplemental explanations and video links, and making the expected answer easier to identify.

Captain Hook V2 contains approximately 7,002 cards across the entire MCAT collection, including a large science component covering B/B and C/P. That is still a serious deck, and I would not describe it as a shortcut. Its advantage is not that it magically gives you JackSparrow’s depth with MileDown’s workload; rather, it can make detailed recall easier to maintain without discarding much of the science content that attracted students to JackSparrow in the first place.

If Biology is one of the subjects dragging down your practice scores, I like having cards that make you explain enough of a process to expose whether you genuinely understand it. Being able to fill in “insulin” because the surrounding sentence makes the answer obvious is different from being able to explain what happens to blood glucose, glucose uptake, glycogen synthesis, and opposing hormonal signals after insulin rises. Captain Hook and JackSparrow tend to push farther toward the second type of recall than the original MileDown deck does.

Is JackSparrow the Best Anki Deck for MCAT Biology?

I still think JackSparrow is one of the best MCAT Anki decks for Biology, especially if you have several months and feel that your Biology foundation needs genuine rebuilding. The updated collection contains roughly 6,301 cards overall, with approximately 2,266 Biology/Biochemistry cards according to the creator’s published breakdown, and much of its science content is organized around Kaplan chapters. That makes it convenient to learn a Biology chapter and then immediately unsuspend the associated cards rather than studying unrelated topics at random.

I liked JackSparrow’s depth when I used it because the traditional question-and-answer format can reveal whether you actually know something without giving you as many contextual clues. I also learned why some students abandon it. Asking yourself to reconstruct a pathway, mechanism, or multi-part physiological process takes considerably longer than answering a short cloze card, and those seconds multiply quickly when you have hundreds of reviews waiting.

That is why I would choose JackSparrow for Biology when the additional depth solves a problem you actually have. If you repeatedly miss B/B questions because you do not understand the underlying science, that depth can be useful. If you miss questions because you misread experiments, struggle with graphs, rush through passages, or make reasoning errors despite knowing the content, another thousand flashcards may not address the reason you are losing points.

I have a much more detailed comparison in MileDown vs. JackSparrow for the MCAT if those are the two decks you are currently deciding between.

Is AnKing Good for MCAT Biology?

The current AnKing MCAT deck is probably the option I would recommend most often to someone who asks for one primary MCAT deck, rather than one Biology-specific deck. It builds on established community material, uses detailed tagging, benefits from continuing maintenance, and provides ways to connect cards with the content resources and questions you are already using.

For Biology, I especially like AnKing for a student who learned the prerequisite material reasonably well but needs spaced repetition to keep hundreds of small relationships accessible. If you already understand action potentials, enzyme inhibition, DNA replication, renal physiology, metabolism, genetics, and the major organ systems, concise cards can help keep that information retrievable without forcing every review to become another mini-lecture.

I did not use today’s AnKing MCAT deck during my original preparation, so I do not want to imply firsthand experience that I do not have. My own experience is primarily with MileDown and some JackSparrow. My recommendation of AnKing comes from comparing the current deck, how it is maintained and organized, how its workload fits into a realistic MCAT schedule, and where I think it makes sense relative to the decks I personally used.

Is MileDown Good for MCAT Biology?

Yes. I would be very comfortable using MileDown for MCAT Biology if you already have a reasonable content foundation or if your timeline makes a larger deck impractical. MileDown was the primary Anki deck I used during my own MCAT preparation, and one of its biggest advantages was that I could keep up with the cards without allowing Anki to take over the rest of my studying.

MileDown is built largely around concise cloze deletions, so reviews tend to move much faster than the longer free-recall style used by JackSparrow. For Biology, that works extremely well for facts, relationships, terminology, hormones, enzymes, amino acids, equations, pathways, structures, and other information you understand but do not want to forget.

Its weakness is closely related to its strength. A short prompt may let you recognize an answer without being able to independently explain the broader process. If your practice questions repeatedly show that you can identify individual Biology facts but cannot connect them into a physiological or biochemical mechanism, I would not necessarily abandon MileDown; I would first supplement the weak areas with deeper cards, content review, and practice passages.

I wrote an entire separate guide on whether MileDown is enough for the MCAT and what it can miss. That question becomes particularly relevant in B/B because students often wonder whether a concise deck can provide enough detail for a section that covers so much science.

Is Aidan V2 the Best Biology Anki Deck for Maximum Coverage?

If your priority is maximum content coverage, Aidan V2 deserves serious consideration. The 2026 V2 collection contains 12,016 cards across the MCAT and was revised to address reported errors, remove material the V2 creator considered unnecessarily far outside MCAT scope, and update parts of the original collection. It remains dramatically larger than MileDown, JackSparrow, AnKing, or Captain Hook.

The reason I do not automatically place Aidan V2 first for Biology is that comprehensiveness has a cost. Every additional card creates not only one initial review but future scheduled reviews, and a 12,000-card collection can quietly turn Anki into a major portion of every study day. If those extra cards are helping you fix genuine Biology weaknesses, the investment may be worthwhile; if they are preventing you from doing passages, they can become a very expensive way to feel productive.

I prefer thinking of Aidan V2 as both a possible primary deck for a student with a long timeline and an enormous searchable reserve for targeted supplementation. If your practice results expose a persistent weakness in metabolism, molecular biology, renal physiology, genetics, or another B/B topic, you can use detailed Aidan cards for that area without deciding that identifying one weakness obligates you to mature all 12,016 cards.

Captain Hook vs. JackSparrow for Biology

I would choose Captain Hook when you like the idea of JackSparrow’s depth but find the original presentation difficult to review consistently. I would choose JackSparrow when you actively prefer traditional free recall, do not mind longer answers, and want to challenge yourself to explain biological mechanisms with fewer clues.

The difference is therefore not simply “new deck versus old deck.” Captain Hook is heavily derived from JackSparrow, and there is enough overlap that I would not try to complete both collections in full. Try a small sample from each, pay attention to how long the reviews take and how much you can explain without looking at the answer, and then commit to the format that you can realistically maintain for several months.

JackSparrow vs. MileDown for Biology

For Biology specifically, JackSparrow gives you considerably more depth, while MileDown gives you considerably more efficiency. A student who has forgotten much of prerequisite Biology may benefit from the extra explanations and broader recall demanded by JackSparrow, whereas a student who performed well in Biology classes and mainly needs reinforcement may get more value per hour from MileDown.

My own studying is part of why I do not frame this as “JackSparrow is better because it contains more.” I used MileDown much more extensively because its workload fit into my study plan, even though I could see the appeal of JackSparrow’s additional detail. The useful comparison is not how impressive the deck looks when you download it; it is what the deck lets you retain while still having enough time to practice using that information.

Is MileDown Enough for MCAT Biology?

MileDown can absolutely be enough as your primary Biology deck, but I would not interpret “enough” as “contains every fact you could possibly encounter.” No reasonable premade deck can guarantee that, and trying to eliminate every possible content gap can push you toward increasingly enormous decks without solving passage interpretation or reasoning problems.

If you use MileDown, I would let practice questions determine when you need supplementation. When you miss a B/B question because you genuinely did not know a biological concept, learn the concept and either edit an existing MileDown card or make a targeted new one. When the problem was interpreting an experiment, identifying the control, understanding a graph, or reasoning through an unfamiliar scenario, record that as a reasoning problem rather than convincing yourself that another 500 flashcards would have prevented it.

This is also why I am comfortable recommending a concise deck despite the existence of much larger alternatives. The broader medical-education evidence supports spaced repetition as an effective learning method, but it does not show that the largest community-created deck is automatically the best one. A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis involving more than 21,000 learners found an overall benefit from spaced repetition compared with standard study approaches, while the authors also noted that questions remain about the optimal design and delivery of spaced-repetition interventions. Read the 2026 systematic review on PubMed

Best MCAT Anki Deck if Biology Is Your Weakest Subject

If Biology is genuinely your weakest MCAT science subject, I would lean toward Captain Hook or JackSparrow instead of choosing MileDown solely because it is faster. A weak foundation often benefits from cards that force you to retrieve more of a mechanism at once, particularly for physiology, molecular biology, genetics, cellular processes, and the relationships among organ systems.

I would still pair that deeper deck with an actual teaching resource. Anki is very good at making previously learned information easier to retrieve, but it is a frustrating way to encounter a complicated process for the first time. Learn why the nephron creates concentration gradients, why a hormone produces its downstream effects, or how an experimental manipulation changes gene expression before repeatedly testing yourself on isolated pieces of the explanation.

Once your foundation improves, I would increasingly allow practice performance to determine what stays active. You do not have to prove that you finished every obscure Biology card before you are allowed to move into questions.

Best MCAT Biology Anki Deck for a 3-Month Study Plan

With approximately three months, I would usually choose AnKing, MileDown, or a selective Captain Hook approach rather than deciding that you must complete every card in JackSparrow or Aidan V2. Three months is long enough to benefit substantially from spaced repetition, but it is short enough that an aggressive card load can collide with the period when you need to increase practice questions and full-length exams.

I worked through the timeline math much more carefully in my Best MCAT Anki Deck for 3 Months guide. For Biology, I would use your first practice data to decide whether you need a comprehensive deck or whether a concise primary deck plus targeted deeper B/B supplementation gives you a better workload.

Best MCAT Biology Anki Deck for a 6-Month Study Plan

Six months makes Captain Hook, JackSparrow, and AnKing substantially easier to justify because you can introduce cards gradually instead of racing through thousands during the same weeks you should be taking full-length exams. If Biology is weak, I would be much more comfortable choosing Captain Hook or JackSparrow with six months than I would with six weeks.

For most students who want one primary deck across the entire MCAT, I still like AnKing over six months because the workload, organization, and coverage form a useful middle ground. My Best MCAT Anki Deck for 6 Months guide compares the major decks using actual card-per-day estimates and explains why “six months” can still mean very different things depending on whether you are studying full time or fitting the MCAT around school and work.

Should You Use More Than One MCAT Biology Anki Deck?

I would usually use one primary deck and selectively borrow from another, rather than trying to complete two comprehensive Biology decks simultaneously. MileDown, AnKing, Captain Hook, JackSparrow, and Aidan overlap substantially because they all have to cover the same AAMC science foundation.

A reasonable example would be using AnKing or MileDown as your main collection, then adding selected Captain Hook, JackSparrow, or Aidan cards when practice reveals that a particular B/B topic needs more depth. The opposite can also work: if you use JackSparrow as your primary resource but one card becomes unnecessarily long, rewrite or split that card instead of downloading an entirely new comprehensive deck.

The same logic applies to making your own cards. I would not spend weeks rebuilding Biology from scratch when good premade material already exists, but I strongly like personal cards for mistakes that reveal your specific knowledge gaps. My guide on whether you should make your own MCAT Anki cards or use a premade deck goes through that tradeoff in much more detail.

How Should You Use Anki for MCAT Biology?

I would organize Biology studying around a simple progression: understand the concept, retrieve the concept, and then apply the concept. Anki is primarily serving the middle part of that process. You learn a topic through your main content resource, unsuspend or add the relevant cards, maintain those reviews, and begin answering questions that force you to use the information in unfamiliar situations.

When a question goes wrong, spend more time identifying why than worrying about whether you got it wrong. A content miss should send you back toward content and Anki. A passage-interpretation miss should send you toward more passage review. A graph or experimental-design miss should make you practice that reasoning skill, while a careless reading error needs a different solution again.

I used a similar approach during my own MCAT preparation, and it became much more helpful than treating every wrong answer as evidence that I needed more content. Biology is broad enough that you can always find another detail to memorize, so you need a system that prevents content review from becoming endless.

How Many Biology Anki Cards Should You Do Per Day?

There is no useful universal number because 50 MileDown cloze cards and 50 JackSparrow cards can require very different amounts of time. Your new-card target also needs to account for the reviews those cards will create later, because a plan that feels easy during the first week can become overwhelming after several weeks of accumulated reviews.

I would calculate backward from your timeline, but then lower the number if keeping up with Anki begins to interfere with questions. With a large deck, selectively unsuspending Biology cards as you cover each topic is usually more sustainable than activating an entire subject and allowing Anki to decide that hundreds of unfamiliar cards are suddenly due.

The goal is not to maximize cards per day. I would much rather see you maintain a smaller number consistently for months while completing and carefully reviewing B/B passages than reach an impressive new-card number for ten days and then accumulate a backlog you dread opening.

What I Found Searching Reddit, r/premed, r/MCAT, and r/AnkiMCAT

For this article, I specifically searched Reddit, r/premed, r/MCAT, and r/AnkiMCAT for discussions about Biology/Biochemistry decks rather than relying on one highly upvoted recommendation. One interesting detail is that r/premed itself has historically directed dedicated Anki discussion toward r/AnkiMCAT and MCAT-resource discussion toward r/MCAT, so the most useful deck-specific conversations naturally came from those communities rather than r/premed itself.

The most consistent theme was that JackSparrow has a strong reputation for B/B when students want depth, while MileDown and AnKing are favored by students who want a faster, more manageable system. In one 2024 discussion, students specifically recommended JackSparrow for B/B and C/P when time allowed but AnKing when someone needed to move faster; another discussion about Biochemistry emphasized that JackSparrow was more comprehensive but substantially more time-consuming, while students still reported being able to succeed with MileDown. These are individual experiences rather than controlled comparisons, but the consistency of the tradeoff across discussions is useful.

The 2026 discussions add Captain Hook to that older MileDown-versus-JackSparrow debate. Recent r/MCAT users have described Captain Hook as a more manageable JackSparrow-derived option for B/B and C/P, while others still prefer AnKing when they want a single organized deck or MileDown when their Biology foundation is already good. There is also increasing interest in Aidan V2 among students who want very deep coverage, although the enormous workload remains the obvious concern.

I would not turn any of those Reddit opinions into a promise that one deck produces a particular score. What I take from the discussions is much more practical: students repeatedly encounter the same depth-versus-time tradeoff. That lines up with my own experience using MileDown and JackSparrow, which is why I would rather help you choose the appropriate amount of detail than tell you that the internet has discovered one universally superior deck.

What I Found Searching Student Doctor Network

I also searched Student Doctor Network specifically for MCAT Anki and Biology/Biochemistry discussions. The SDN conversations were remarkably similar to Reddit: MileDown and JackSparrow repeatedly appear as established options, and users disagree largely because they want different amounts of depth rather than because one deck obviously fails to teach Biology.

A 2024 SDN thread asking for deck recommendations included MileDown and JackSparrow among the commonly recommended resources, with one experienced poster specifically identifying MileDown or JackSparrow for B/B. Another SDN discussion included a high-performing student who tried JackSparrow for B/B but ultimately preferred another learning resource and emphasized UWorld and full-length reasoning instead. That is useful because it pushes against the idea that you should force yourself to use a popular deck when its card style clearly does not work for you.

An older MileDown discussion provides another lesson I think still applies. Students who used MileDown successfully often supplemented unclear or weak topics with outside explanations and practice questions instead of expecting the deck to teach everything by itself. That is much closer to how I would use a Biology Anki deck today than downloading one collection and treating its cards as a complete MCAT curriculum.

What Former Admissions Committee Members Say About MCAT Preparation

For this article, I also searched for credible comments from medical school admissions officers and former admissions committee members specifically about Anki or choosing a Biology deck. I did not find a credible admissions source arguing that applicants should use Captain Hook, JackSparrow, MileDown, AnKing, Aidan, or any other particular community deck, and I do not want to manufacture an “admissions perspective” where one does not exist.

What former admissions committee members do discuss is MCAT readiness, performance, timing, and how the score fits into an application. In a July 2026 MCAT preparation guide, physician and former medical school admissions committee member Dr. Mario Tomei emphasizes balancing application timing with being sufficiently prepared to earn a competitive MCAT score rather than treating the calendar as the only consideration. A separate 2026 Jack Westin article based on perspectives from three former admissions committee members describes the MCAT as one data point considered within a broader admissions evaluation rather than an isolated measure of the applicant.

For someone choosing a Biology Anki deck, I think the practical implication is straightforward: there is no admissions value in using the hardest-looking deck. The relevant outcome is whether your preparation helps you demonstrate mastery on the MCAT without forcing you into an avoidable retake or an unrealistic test date. Choose Captain Hook because its Biology depth helps you learn Biology, not because completing 7,000 cards is somehow more impressive to an admissions committee.

Why Anki Cannot Replace MCAT Biology Passage Practice

The official AAMC material is the strongest reason I would never study B/B through flashcards alone. The AAMC’s own sample Biology/Biochemistry passage asks students to combine scientific information from a passage with knowledge about metabolism and membrane transport. That is fundamentally different from seeing a familiar card and recalling a stored answer. Review an official AAMC B/B passage example

A student can know every definition in a passage and still miss a question because they misunderstand the experiment, invert a relationship, overlook the control group, misread a graph, or fail to connect two pieces of information. Those errors require practice with questions and careful review of your reasoning process.

This is why I become concerned when someone tells me they are doing several hours of Anki every day but have barely started passages. The flashcards may be making their factual foundation stronger, but the MCAT rewards the ability to use that foundation. Once Anki is consuming so much time that you cannot practice application, the supposedly more comprehensive study plan can become less complete.

Is Anki More Useful for Biology Than CARS?

Yes, because Biology contains a large body of factual and conceptual information that spaced repetition can reinforce. CARS does not have an equivalent body of amino acids, hormones, pathways, organ-system relationships, genetics concepts, and molecular mechanisms for you to memorize.

If you are wondering whether you should simply carry your Biology Anki strategy into the verbal section, I wrote a separate article on the Best MCAT Anki Deck for CARS and what actually helps instead. That difference is another reason I like building an MCAT plan around what each section actually requires rather than forcing one study method onto the entire exam.

How I Would Study MCAT Biology With Anki Today

If I were starting again and Biology were a meaningful weakness, I would probably begin by sampling Captain Hook and JackSparrow rather than immediately downloading every large deck. I would choose the format that made me explain mechanisms without making daily reviews so exhausting that I started skipping them, and I would unsuspend material alongside whatever content source I was using.

If my Biology foundation were already strong, I would lean toward AnKing or MileDown instead. MileDown worked well for me precisely because it was manageable, and I would rather use a concise deck consistently while completing a large volume of thoughtful passage practice than spend the majority of my study hours maintaining a giant queue of flashcards.

As practice questions accumulated, I would make the system increasingly personal. If I repeatedly forgot a mechanism, I would add or modify a card. If I repeatedly misinterpreted experimental passages, I would stop pretending the problem was memorization and spend more time reviewing how I approached those passages. By the final portion of preparation, my study plan would be driven much more heavily by AAMC material and full-length performance than by whether I had reached 100% completion on a premade deck.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Best MCAT Anki Deck for Biology

What is the best MCAT Anki deck for Biology?

My first choice specifically for a student who needs deeper Biology/Biochemistry review is Captain Hook because it combines a detailed JackSparrow-derived science foundation with a cleaner presentation. JackSparrow is still an excellent choice if you prefer traditional free recall, while AnKing would be my recommendation for many students who want one modern primary deck for the entire MCAT.

Is JackSparrow better than MileDown for Biology?

JackSparrow is more detailed and generally demands broader recall, so I prefer it when Biology is a significant weakness and you have enough time. MileDown is much more efficient, and I would favor it when you already understand most Biology concepts or need to protect more of your schedule for questions and full-length exams.

Is MileDown enough for a high B/B score?

MileDown can provide a strong content-reinforcement foundation, but no deck can guarantee a particular B/B score. Your final performance also depends on Biochemistry knowledge, passage interpretation, experimental reasoning, data analysis, timing, and your ability to apply familiar concepts in unfamiliar contexts.

Is AnKing good for MCAT Biology and Biochemistry?

Yes. AnKing is particularly appealing when you want an organized, maintained primary deck covering the broader MCAT rather than building a separate system for every subject. I would place it above the largest decks for many students simply because its workload can be easier to integrate with the rest of MCAT preparation.

Is Aidan V2 better than JackSparrow for Biology?

Aidan V2 offers an enormous amount of coverage and relies more heavily on smaller cloze-style prompts, while JackSparrow uses more traditional recall and often asks you to explain larger ideas. I would choose based on the card style you learn from and the amount of time you have rather than assuming Aidan automatically wins because it contains more cards.

Should I use a separate Biology and Biochemistry Anki deck?

Usually not. Biology and Biochemistry are integrated within the B/B section, and the major comprehensive MCAT decks already cover both. I would separate them only when you have a specific reason, such as a strong Biology foundation but an unusually weak Biochemistry background.

Should I finish my Biology Anki deck before starting UWorld or other practice?

I would not wait. Start questions while you are still working through content so the questions can expose what your deck is and is not helping you retain. Waiting until you feel that you have memorized everything can delay the part of MCAT studying that teaches you how the exam actually asks you to use the information.

Should I make my own MCAT Biology flashcards?

I would make them selectively. Premade cards save an enormous amount of time, while personal cards are especially valuable for concepts you repeatedly miss, explanations that make more sense in your own wording, and gaps exposed by practice questions. You do not need to choose between a completely premade deck and creating thousands of cards yourself.

My Final Recommendation: Which MCAT Biology Anki Deck Should You Use?

If Biology/Biochemistry is genuinely weak, I would start by trying Captain Hook, particularly if you want more depth than MileDown without committing to the original JackSparrow card style. If you enjoy broader free recall and have several months, JackSparrow remains one of the strongest Biology-focused choices. If your foundation is already good and you want one modern deck for your entire MCAT, I would favor AnKing, while MileDown remains an excellent efficiency-first option and the one I personally used most.

I would reserve Aidan V2 for students who deliberately want much greater depth and have enough time to manage it without crowding out their questions. There is nothing inherently superior about finishing 12,000 cards compared with finishing 3,000 if the student with the smaller deck is spending the extra time learning from passages, full-length exams, and their own mistakes.

The larger lesson I took from using MileDown and JackSparrow myself, reviewing the newer 2026 decks, searching Reddit and SDN for this article, and comparing those experiences with what the AAMC actually says B/B tests is that the best MCAT Anki deck for Biology is the one that gives you enough content depth to fix your weaknesses while remaining manageable enough that you can still practice applying the science. I would rather have you know why you chose your deck, use it consistently, and adjust it based on your practice results than spend another week searching for a supposedly perfect collection of flashcards that does not exist.