Best MCAT Anki Deck for Physics (2026): AnKing vs MileDown vs JackSparrow

If you are looking for the best MCAT Anki deck for physics, my first choice for most students today would be AnKing, especially if you already plan to use one comprehensive deck for the rest of the MCAT. It gives you the efficiency of the MileDown foundation, much better organization and ongoing community updates, and enough physics coverage that I would not automatically add another massive science deck on top of it. If your main problem is simply forgetting equations, however, I would keep your primary deck and add a small dedicated MCAT physics equations deck rather than switching your entire Anki system.

The answer changes if physics is one of your weakest subjects. In that situation, JackSparrow becomes much more attractive because its longer cards force you to reconstruct concepts rather than recognize one missing word in a cloze deletion. Aidan V2 is another option when you have a long study timeline and want unusually extensive coverage, while MileDown remains one of my favorite choices when efficiency matters and you already understand most of the physics. I personally used MileDown as my main MCAT Anki deck and also spent some time with JackSparrow, so I have experienced the tradeoff between those two approaches rather than only comparing their card counts.

If you are still choosing a deck for your entire exam, start with my Best MCAT Anki Decks Compared guide. This article is much narrower: I want to figure out what actually works for MCAT physics, because learning equations, remembering units, understanding fluid relationships, and solving a timed passage are very different problems.

What Is the Best MCAT Anki Deck for Physics?

For most students, I would choose AnKing as the best overall MCAT Anki deck for physics, with one important qualification: I would not expect AnKing, or any other flashcard deck, to turn physics into a purely memorization-based subject. The current AnKing MCAT deck is built from material originating in MileDown and other major community decks, and its official AnkiHub documentation says it incorporates equations, units, and constants while providing extensive tagging and continuing community updates. The deck is also tagged around common MCAT resources, which makes it easier to study physics selectively instead of blindly working through every card in the collection.

You can read my guide to the latest AnKing MCAT deck if you want to understand the current version before committing to it. AnkiHub describes the deck as being built from MileDown, Abdullah, Coffin, and Mr. Pankow material, and the project continues to receive active updates rather than existing as a static file uploaded years ago.

I would choose MileDown instead if you want something simpler, already have a decent physics foundation, or are working with a shorter study timeline. I would choose JackSparrow instead if you consistently discover that you recognize equations but cannot explain the concepts behind them. I would consider Aidan V2 if you have several months, enjoy cloze cards, and are much more worried about missing content than about the number of daily reviews you will create.

None of those choices require you to abandon practice questions. Physics is one of the subjects where I would become suspicious of my study plan if my Anki statistics looked amazing but I still struggled to decide which equation to use when reading an unfamiliar passage.

Why MCAT Physics Is Different From Memorizing Biology or Psych/Soc

The AAMC describes the Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems section as requiring students to combine their knowledge of chemical and physical concepts with scientific inquiry and reasoning skills. According to the current AAMC Chemical and Physical Foundations overview, introductory physics accounts for approximately 25% of the C/P section, although the AAMC explicitly warns that these percentages vary among test forms. Since C/P contains 59 questions, 25% would correspond to roughly 15 physics questions on a form that followed the published distribution exactly, but you should not expect every exam to contain precisely that number.

That physics content is not limited to recalling formulas. The AAMC Foundational Concept 4 outline connects physical principles with biological systems, and the official topic list includes motion, forces, work, energy, equilibrium, fluids, circuits, electrochemistry, light, sound, atomic phenomena, and related quantitative relationships. A good physics deck can make those relationships much easier to retrieve, but the exam can still require you to identify what matters in a passage, interpret a graph, manipulate units, combine equations, or apply a familiar principle in an unfamiliar biological setting.

This is why I would not judge the best MCAT physics Anki deck by card count alone. I care much more about whether the deck helps you remember the information that needs to become automatic while leaving enough time for the kind of application that flashcards cannot reproduce.

Is AnKing Good for MCAT Physics?

Yes, and it is probably the physics deck I would recommend most often if someone asked me to choose one complete MCAT Anki system today. The advantage is not that AnKing contains some secret set of physics facts that every other deck missed; its bigger advantage is that it combines an established MileDown foundation with a much more actively maintained ecosystem, extensive tagging, and the ability to connect your reviews with the resources you are already using.

The official AnKing documentation says the MCAT deck is built on MileDown and incorporates later updates from Abdullah, Coffin, and Mr. Pankow. The AnkiHub version is also actively maintained, with accepted corrections and tag updates continuing in 2026. That matters more to me than simply choosing an older deck because the creator happened to earn an impressive score years ago.

Physics cards can also be isolated through the deck’s tags, so you do not need to study the entire collection just because mechanics or fluids are currently giving you trouble. That makes AnKing particularly useful once you begin doing question-bank blocks and realize that your weakness is concentrated in a handful of topics rather than all of C/P.

I would still pair it with actual physics problems early. If you can immediately produce Bernoulli’s equation from an Anki card but cannot recognize when a passage is testing pressure, velocity, or continuity, your remaining problem is not spaced repetition.

Is MileDown Good for MCAT Physics?

MileDown is absolutely still useful for MCAT physics, and I would not switch away from it simply because newer decks exist. My own MCAT preparation relied primarily on MileDown, and one reason I liked it was that I could actually maintain the reviews while still having time for question banks, passages, full-length exams, and everything else that goes into MCAT studying.

My complete MileDown MCAT Anki deck guide goes deeper into the deck, but physics is one of the areas where its concision can be either a strength or a weakness. If you already understand mechanics, fluids, electrostatics, circuits, waves, optics, and the underlying relationships, MileDown can efficiently keep important information available in memory. If you are trying to learn those concepts from scratch, a short cloze card may provide enough context that you recognize the answer without proving that you really understand it.

MileDown also has an Essential Equations component, which remains useful for formula review. In Reddit discussions about physics equations, students repeatedly mention MileDown’s equation cards as a manageable way to keep formulas accessible, and some report that they supplemented those cards only when practice exposed a missing relationship.

I would therefore be comfortable using MileDown for physics if your practice performance supports that decision. There is no prize for switching to a 6,000- or 12,000-card deck when the 2,900-card deck you already know is giving you enough content support.

Is JackSparrow Good for MCAT Physics?

JackSparrow is one of the strongest choices when your problem is understanding and recalling physics concepts, rather than simply memorizing equations. The updated deck contains a large Chemistry/Physics component and much of the science material is organized alongside Kaplan chapters, which makes it straightforward to read a physics chapter and then unsuspend the corresponding cards.

I used some JackSparrow during my own preparation and liked the additional depth, but the cards were substantially more strenuous than MileDown. That is why I would be more inclined to recommend JackSparrow to someone who has several months available and genuinely needs deeper content review rather than someone who is six weeks away from test day and panicking because another Reddit user called JackSparrow more comprehensive.

You can see the full comparison in my JackSparrow MCAT Anki deck guide. The updated deck contains about 6,301 cards overall, with the creator reporting roughly 1,825 cards across Chemistry and Physics, so committing to JackSparrow is meaningfully different from adding a 100-card formula deck to your current schedule.

For a student who repeatedly says, “I know I have seen this before, but I cannot explain why it works,” I like the traditional recall style. For a student who already understands physics and just needs equations and relationships to stay fresh, I think much of that extra workload becomes unnecessary.

What Is the Best MCAT Anki Deck for Physics Equations?

If your specific weakness is physics equations, I would use a focused equation deck rather than changing your entire comprehensive deck. AspiringMD already has a complete MCAT Physics Equations Anki Deck guide covering the dedicated community deck that repeatedly appears in MCAT discussions.

This type of deck is useful because formulas are only part of what you need to remember. A good equation card should help you recall what each variable means, recognize relevant units, understand proportional relationships, and connect alternate ways of expressing the same quantity. Knowing that $P=IV$, for example, becomes far more useful when you can also manipulate the relationship quickly and connect it with Ohm’s law rather than treating each rearrangement as an entirely separate formula.

The dedicated physics-equation deck also appears repeatedly in Reddit discussions from students specifically searching for formula review. One 2025 thread recommended a deck that tests equations in terms of both variables and SI units, while commenters have also flagged a known beta-decay error in one circulating version. That last point is worth remembering whenever you download a community-created deck: popularity does not eliminate the need to verify questionable cards.

I would use an equations deck as a supplement, not as the entirety of your physics preparation. It can make recall faster, but it cannot teach you why the pressure changes in a fluid system or how to reason through a passage when the exam never directly tells you which formula it expects.

AnKing vs. MileDown for MCAT Physics

I would lean toward AnKing if you are starting from scratch today and want one modern all-purpose deck, while I would be perfectly comfortable staying with MileDown if you already have significant progress in it. Because AnKing grew from the MileDown lineage, changing from one to the other is not the same thing as moving between two completely unrelated resources.

AnKing’s biggest advantages are its active maintenance, broader organization, community corrections, and tagging. MileDown’s biggest advantage is simplicity. There is value in opening Anki and immediately understanding what you are supposed to do rather than spending your first week of MCAT preparation learning a sophisticated tagging system you never actually use.

For physics specifically, I do not think the difference between these decks matters nearly as much as the difference between doing and not doing practice questions. If both decks allow you to retrieve the relevant equation and concept, then your performance on passages should decide whether you need additional cards.

MileDown vs. JackSparrow for MCAT Physics

This comparison comes down to efficiency versus depth. MileDown gives you concise prompts that are easier to finish every day, while JackSparrow more frequently asks you to recall larger pieces of information without as many cues.

The same distinction appears in Student Doctor Network discussions. In an SDN thread specifically asking about General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Physics, a responder described JackSparrow as far more comprehensive and harder to complete while saying MileDown could still get the job done, emphasizing that card preference matters. Another SDN user describing their MCAT timeline reported using JackSparrow for C/P and B/B alongside corresponding Kaplan chapters rather than studying the deck completely independently.

That matches my own experience with the two decks. I preferred MileDown’s practicality during most of my preparation, but I could immediately see why someone with weaker content knowledge would appreciate JackSparrow’s additional depth.

Is Aidan V2 Good for MCAT Physics?

Aidan V2 is worth considering if you want much more extensive coverage and have enough time to deal with it responsibly. The updated V2 deck contains 12,016 cards overall, making it dramatically larger than MileDown and still substantially larger than JackSparrow or AnKing.

I discuss the deck in detail in my Aidan V2 MCAT Anki Deck guide. Its C/P material can be useful for students who worry that a smaller high-yield deck is leaving too many gaps, but I would be careful about assuming that more physics cards automatically mean better physics preparation.

The revised Aidan V2 creator has also emphasized the importance of practice for C/P, which I think is the right way to approach such a large resource. If the deck helps you recognize equations, relationships, definitions, and conceptual distinctions more quickly, it is doing useful work. If you are spending so long trying to mature every possible physics card that you are delaying actual physics questions, the additional comprehensiveness has stopped helping.

Is Captain Hook Good for MCAT Physics?

Captain Hook is particularly interesting if you like what JackSparrow is trying to accomplish but dislike the length and formatting of some JackSparrow cards. The deck builds substantially on JackSparrow-derived science content while reorganizing and shortening many answers, and it includes equation material as part of a larger comprehensive collection.

I wrote a full Captain Hook MCAT Anki deck review because it occupies a useful middle position. When I studied for the MCAT, I liked how manageable MileDown was and liked the extra depth of JackSparrow, but I did not necessarily want every JackSparrow review to feel like recalling a paragraph. Captain Hook attempts to solve almost exactly that problem.

For physics, I would consider Captain Hook when MileDown feels too thin but JackSparrow’s card style makes you dread opening Anki. The deck is still large, so choosing it does not eliminate the need to be selective about which cards deserve your time.

Is Anki Actually Good for MCAT Physics?

Yes, but only for the parts of physics that are well suited to repeated recall. I think Anki is excellent for equations, constants, units, proportional relationships, definitions, sign conventions, conceptual comparisons, and facts that you continually forget after content review.

It is less impressive at teaching you how to solve a new physics problem under time pressure. The AAMC’s own MCAT Sample Question Guide explains that natural-science questions require students to apply foundational concepts and scientific reasoning, including the interpretation of passages, tables, charts, and graphs. A flashcard can make the underlying relationship accessible in memory, but it does not recreate that entire cognitive task.

I would think of your study process as understanding the concept, recalling it efficiently, and then applying it. Your textbook, course, videos, or class can help with understanding; Anki can make recall more automatic; UWorld and official AAMC material can test whether you can actually use the information.

Can You Learn MCAT Physics With Anki Alone?

I would not recommend it if physics is genuinely weak. Flashcards can make familiar information stick, but learning an unfamiliar subject through disconnected prompts can give you the uncomfortable experience of knowing many individual facts without seeing how they fit together.

Imagine learning fluids exclusively from cards about density, hydrostatic pressure, continuity, Bernoulli’s equation, viscosity, and Poiseuille flow. You may eventually remember each definition, but a good content explanation shows how those relationships interact and why changing one part of a system affects another.

The AAMC itself recommends assessing your knowledge gaps, reviewing the official content outline, and practicing application rather than relying on a single memorization resource. Its MCAT study-plan guidance specifically tells students to build preparation around both the content they need to learn and the concepts they need to practice applying.

Should You Memorize Every MCAT Physics Equation?

You should know the important equations well enough that equation recall does not repeatedly become the reason you miss otherwise manageable questions. I would not interpret that as an instruction to memorize every obscure rearrangement you can find on the internet as a separate formula, because many relationships can be manipulated or connected once you understand the underlying quantities.

This is another place where Reddit discussions are useful. Some students recommend repeatedly writing an equation sheet from memory in addition to using Anki, while others emphasize understanding SI units and how equations relate rather than treating each expression independently. I like combining those approaches: make the core equation automatic, understand what the variables and units represent, and then practice manipulating the relationship in questions.

If equation recall is currently costing you points, your goal should be to remove that unnecessary burden from working memory. You want enough mental space left to understand what the passage is actually asking.

Should You Make Your Own MCAT Physics Anki Cards?

I would not spend several weeks recreating an entire physics deck when excellent premade resources already exist. I would absolutely make some of your own cards, especially after question-bank and full-length mistakes.

The most useful personal physics cards often come from very specific recurring errors. Maybe you repeatedly reverse a proportional relationship, forget that a particular unit can be written in another form, confuse converging and diverging lenses, use the wrong sign convention, or remember an equation without remembering the conditions in which it applies. Those are exactly the weaknesses a personal card can target better than a generic 6,000-card collection.

This approach also protects you from accumulating unnecessary cards. Instead of downloading another entire deck every time you miss a question, search your existing deck first, improve the relevant card if necessary, and create a new one only when you have identified a gap your current system does not address.

How I Would Use Anki to Study MCAT Physics

If I were beginning MCAT preparation again, I would choose one primary comprehensive deck before doing anything else. AnKing would probably be my default choice today, although I would have no problem using MileDown again if I wanted a lighter review burden or JackSparrow if physics content were a major weakness.

I would then work through physics content by topic rather than activating every card at once. After reviewing mechanics, for example, I would unsuspend the corresponding cards and begin practice questions while those ideas were still fresh. I would do the same with fluids, electrostatics, circuits, waves, sound, light, and the remaining AAMC physics topics.

As question-bank work increased, my Anki deck would gradually become more personal. Content misses would send me back to an existing card or lead me to make a concise new one, while reasoning misses would stay in my error log rather than automatically becoming another flashcard.

I would also keep a focused equation review available. If my primary deck were already giving me enough equation exposure, I would not duplicate everything. If formulas continued disappearing from memory, I would add the dedicated physics equation deck and use it for exactly that weakness.

As the exam approached, I would stop measuring success by the percentage of a premade deck I had completed. I would care much more about whether I could retrieve the physics I needed while answering AAMC-style questions efficiently and accurately.

What Reddit and r/Premed Say About the Best MCAT Physics Anki Deck

For this article, I searched Reddit discussions across r/MCAT, r/AnkiMCAT, and r/premed rather than basing this section on one highly upvoted post. Most of the detailed deck discussions actually occur in r/MCAT and r/AnkiMCAT; r/premed discussions are much thinner, and r/premed itself frequently redirects detailed MCAT-preparation questions toward the dedicated MCAT community.

Across the discussions I reviewed, MileDown and AnKing repeatedly appear when students want efficient C/P coverage, while JackSparrow appears more often when students want deeper science review. One section-specific discussion had users recommending JackSparrow for B/B but MileDown for C/P, while another described AnKing as an improved or expanded MileDown option. That is not controlled evidence that one deck raises scores more than another, but it does show how students tend to use the resources in practice.

Physics-equation discussions are even more consistent. Students repeatedly search for a small formula-focused deck even when they are already using a comprehensive resource, and several threads recommend either MileDown’s equation cards or a dedicated deck containing equations, variable descriptions, and SI units.

I also found an important counterpoint that I think belongs in this article. Some high scorers report using little or no Anki at all, which is a useful reminder that Anki is a method rather than a prerequisite for doing well on the MCAT. The purpose of these community discussions is to help you choose an efficient tool, not to convince you that downloading a particular file is necessary for a high score.

What Student Doctor Network Says About MCAT Physics Anki Decks

I separately searched Student Doctor Network because I did not want the community section to become a Reddit-only summary. The most directly relevant SDN thread I found asked whether MileDown or JackSparrow was preferable specifically for General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Physics.

The response there described the choice as personal preference, with JackSparrow offering substantially more comprehensive material and MileDown providing a more manageable experience that can still accomplish the job. That is remarkably similar to the tradeoff that comes through in Reddit discussions and to what I experienced when using parts of both decks myself.

Another SDN discussion described using JackSparrow for C/P and B/B alongside the corresponding Kaplan chapters, with cards being unsuspended after the relevant chapter was reviewed. I like that workflow because it treats Anki as reinforcement after learning rather than asking a premade deck to teach an entire subject without context.

What Medical School Admissions Officers Say About MCAT Physics Anki

I specifically searched for comments from medical school admissions officers and former admissions committee members about using Anki for MCAT physics. I could not find a credible admissions officer publicly recommending AnKing, MileDown, JackSparrow, or another physics deck, and I do not think it would improve this article to stretch unrelated admissions comments into a deck endorsement.

What admissions-side sources do emphasize is the MCAT performance itself. The AAMC explains that medical schools use MCAT scores as one component of assessing academic readiness, and an AAMC article on application review quotes an admissions officer explaining that doing well on the MCAT can demonstrate an applicant’s ability to handle medical-school coursework. AAMC: How Medical Schools Review Applications

That means nobody reviewing your application cares whether you memorized fluids with MileDown, JackSparrow, a notebook, or a stack of handwritten flashcards. The useful lesson from an admissions perspective is to choose the preparation method that helps you demonstrate the knowledge and reasoning the MCAT is intended to measure rather than choosing a deck because its creator or a Reddit commenter earned an impressive score.

I also found a Reddit contributor who stated that they served on their medical school’s admissions committee and warned students against assuming that a high-scoring person’s Anki deck is a ticket to reproducing that person’s section score. Because that person’s admissions role is self-reported rather than independently verified, I would treat the comment as community perspective rather than authoritative admissions policy. The underlying study advice is still sensible: strong foundational knowledge and reasoning matter in addition to memorized cards.

Do You Need a Separate Anki Deck for MCAT Physics?

Probably not if your current comprehensive deck is working. Adding a second complete MCAT deck usually creates duplication without solving a clearly defined problem.

I would add a separate physics deck when you can identify exactly what it contributes. A small equation deck makes sense when formula recall is weak. Selected JackSparrow cards may make sense when MileDown feels too shallow on a specific topic. A larger switch toward JackSparrow or Aidan might make sense when your practice repeatedly exposes broad content gaps and you still have enough study time to address them.

If you cannot explain what the additional deck is fixing, I would leave it alone. Downloading more resources can feel productive while quietly taking time away from the practice that would tell you whether you needed those resources in the first place.

Is the MCAT Physics Equations Deck Better Than MileDown?

They solve different problems. MileDown is a comprehensive MCAT review deck that contains physics and equation material as part of a much larger system, while a dedicated physics-equations deck concentrates almost entirely on formulas, variables, and units.

If you already use MileDown and rarely forget formulas, I would not add another equation deck simply because it exists. If equations continue to cause misses despite your general MileDown reviews, the small focused deck is a reasonable supplement because it targets that weakness without forcing you to replace your entire study system.

The same logic applies if you use AnKing, JackSparrow, Captain Hook, or Aidan. The supplemental deck should have a job.

What Is the Best MCAT Anki Deck if Physics Is Your Weakest Subject?

If physics is truly your weakest subject because you never developed a strong conceptual foundation, I would lean toward JackSparrow among the established decks. The traditional recall format gives you fewer clues than a concise cloze card and makes it harder to hide behind familiarity.

I would still use a real content source alongside it. Read the corresponding physics chapter or watch a high-quality explanation, work the JackSparrow cards after understanding the material, and begin physics questions before you feel perfectly prepared.

If your physics weakness is mostly equations rather than concepts, I would make a very different choice. I would keep a manageable primary deck such as AnKing or MileDown, add the focused physics-equation deck, and spend the saved time solving problems.

What Is the Best MCAT Physics Anki Deck if You Have One Month?

With only one month remaining, I would prioritize MileDown or your existing AnKing cards plus targeted equation review rather than beginning JackSparrow or Aidan V2 from scratch. The closer you get to test day, the opportunity cost of thousands of new cards becomes much larger.

At that point, AAMC questions, full-length exams, review of your mistakes, and targeted weak-area practice should increasingly control your schedule. A focused deck can still keep formulas and concepts fresh, but trying to complete a huge premade collection because you discovered it four weeks before the MCAT is unlikely to be the best use of your remaining study hours.

What Is the Best MCAT Physics Anki Deck if You Have Three to Six Months?

With several months available, you have much more flexibility. AnKing is my default all-around choice, while JackSparrow becomes increasingly reasonable if physics and the other sciences need substantial content work.

Aidan V2 can also make sense on a long timeline for someone who genuinely prefers very broad cloze-based coverage. I would still resist the temptation to choose it solely because 12,000 cards sounds more complete than 6,000 cards.

The longer timeline should give you more room for questions, not merely permission to collect more flashcards. If your physics performance improves rapidly with a smaller deck and consistent practice, there is no need to make the process harder.

My Recommendation for the Best MCAT Anki Deck for Physics

If I were starting MCAT preparation today and wanted one deck for the whole exam, I would use AnKing and study its physics material alongside content review and practice questions. Its MileDown foundation, current organization, continuing updates, and ability to target relevant cards make it the most balanced option for how I would want to study now.

If I already had hundreds of mature MileDown cards, I would probably stay with MileDown rather than restart merely because AnKing is newer. If physics concepts were a major weakness and I had plenty of time, I would seriously consider JackSparrow. If my concepts were fine but equations kept disappearing from memory, I would add the dedicated MCAT Physics Equations Anki deck and leave the rest of my system alone.

That is also consistent with how I look back on my own studying. MileDown worked well for me because it was manageable, while the portions of JackSparrow I used showed me the value of deeper recall. I would rather help you choose the amount of Anki depth you actually need than tell every student to download the largest possible deck.

More MCAT Anki Guides on AspiringMD

If you are comparing physics decks because you have not yet chosen your main MCAT Anki system, read my complete MCAT guide and the Best MCAT Anki Decks comparison first. Those pages place the physics decision within the rest of your MCAT plan rather than treating one subject in isolation.

For individual decks discussed in this article, I have complete guides to the MileDown MCAT Anki deck, JackSparrow MCAT Anki deck, original AnKing MCAT deck overview, latest AnKing MCAT deck, Aidan V2 MCAT deck, Captain Hook MCAT deck, and the focused MCAT Physics Equations Anki Deck. Reading the individual guides is especially useful if two decks sound similar on paper but use very different card styles.

Whatever you choose, I would rather see you become excellent at using one deck than spend the next two weeks trying five of them. Physics improves when equations and concepts become easy to retrieve and you repeatedly practice turning that knowledge into answers, so keep Anki in the role where it is strongest and give yourself enough time to actually solve physics problems.