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Every Medusa feature and where to find it, then answers to the questions we get most often. Can’t find what you need? Email team@medusaprep.com.
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Where everything is

Where do I find Medusa in Anki?
Once you’ve installed Medusa and restarted Anki, there’s an Medusa menu just before Tools. On Windows and Linux it’s in the menu bar at the top of the Anki window. On a Mac, Anki’s menus aren’t inside the Anki window. They’re in the menu bar at the very top of the screen, and they only show while Anki is the app in front, so click the Anki window first. Medusa also adds Search Cards and, once you’re signed in, MedusaGPT to the row of links at the top of the Anki window, after Sync. Everything else is where you study: highlighted terms on your cards while you review, Medusa filters at the top of Browse’s sidebar, and Medusa items when you right-click a card or a tag. Medusa → Help lists where each feature is, and links back to this page. On a Mac, Ctrl in the shortcuts on this page is Cmd: Ctrl+Shift+F is Cmd+Shift+F.
What can Medusa do?

In Anki

  • Term explanations (while you review). Hover a highlighted medical term for a quick preview, or click it for the full explanation. How to use it
  • Lessons (Medusa → Lessons…). A lesson for each video, under the same tags as in Browse. How to use it
  • MedusaGPT (Anki's top bar, or Ctrl+Shift+T while you review. Also in Browse and Search my cards.). Ask about the card on screen, in a panel beside it. How to use it
  • Quiz mode, How am I doing?, Make cards (The MedusaGPT panel's ⋯ menu). Answer a card for a grade, see what to study, write new cards, and change cards on a topic. How to use it
  • Search Cards (Anki's top bar, or Medusa → Search my cards…). Find your cards from a topic, a question or a description. How to use it
  • Find cards for a document (Medusa menu). The cards that match your lecture slides or notes, and the facts none of them test. How to use it
  • Find cards for missed questions (Medusa menu). The cards that teach the UWorld or other questions you got wrong. How to use it
  • Swap my cards for AnKing (Medusa menu). Swap your own cards for the AnKing cards that test the same facts. How to use it
  • Medusa filters (the top of Browse's sidebar). Show only a video's high-yield, or Step 1 and 2, cards. How to use it
  • Dashboard (Medusa menu). Your retention by topic, your most-missed cards, practice questions and your account.
  • Look up a term and Suggest a term (Medusa menu). Search the explanations, or ask for a term to be added. While you review, select text and press Ctrl+Shift+M to suggest it.
  • MCAT deck updates (on their own, or Medusa → Check for MCAT deck updates). New and corrected cards for the free MCAT deck, changed in place, with your reviews and your own edits kept. How to use it
  • Suggest a change to a card (the back of any card in the free MCAT deck, or the MCAT Deck page). Send a fix or a picture for that card. A person reviews every suggestion, and approved ones reach your deck with its next update. How to use it

On medusaprep.com

  • MedusaGPT. Ask the tutor anything, in a chat or on a whiteboard.
  • QBank. Reviewed USMLE-style Step 1 and Step 2 CK questions, in tutor or timed mode, or a set on a lecture you upload.
  • Analytics. How your practice questions are going: your weak spots and your past sessions.
  • MCAT (QBank and Analytics, once you choose Premed at sign-up or in Account settings). A question bank, full-length exams, a free question of the day, a free MCAT deck, flashcards from your notes and your numbers by section, category and skill.
  • Review Mistakes (your account menu). The practice questions you missed, with their explanations.
  • Generate. Turn PDFs, slides or notes into Anki cards.
  • My Lessons and Card Match (your account menu). Your lessons and your document matches from the add-on, on the web.
  • NASCARD (a separate add-on). Race your friends through your Anki reviews. How to use it

Installing the add-on

Where do I paste the Medusa install code?
In Anki desktop, open Tools → Add-ons → Get Add-ons… Paste the code, click OK, then restart Anki when prompted. Full walkthrough on the Download page.
I installed the add-on but nothing appears in the menu
On a Mac, look in the menu bar at the very top of the screen, not inside the Anki window: that’s where Anki’s menus, and the Medusa menu, are. If it isn’t there, fully quit Anki (Cmd+Q on macOS, not just close the window) and reopen. Add-ons register their menu items at launch. If it still doesn’t appear, check Tools → Add-ons — Medusa should be in the list. If it’s marked disabled, click it and choose Toggle Enabled.
Does Medusa work with AnkiDroid or AnkiMobile?
Anki add-ons run on the desktop apps only. AnkiDroid (Android) and AnkiMobile (iOS) don’t support Python add-ons. Cards you review on desktop are still synced to mobile — the highlights and explanations stay attached to the cards, but the click-to-look-up popup is desktop-only.
Apple Silicon Mac: nothing happens after restart
Make sure you’re on the official Qt6 build of Anki 2.1.50 or later. The legacy Qt5 build isn’t supported. Download the latest Anki from apps.ankiweb.net.

Account & login

How do I sign in to the add-on?
In Anki, open the Medusa menu (on a Mac, in the menu bar at the top of the screen) and choose Sign in…. Sign in with your Medusa email and password, or with Google. Term popups work without signing in. Lessons, card search, card matching and MedusaGPT need an account, and so do unlimited term lookups on a paid plan. NASCARD uses the same account: NASCARD → Log In….
I didn't get the verification email
Check the spam folder first. From the dashboard you can resend the verification email. If it still doesn’t arrive within a few minutes, email team@medusaprep.com and we’ll verify the account manually.
How do I delete my account?
On the dashboard, open Account → Delete account. You’ll be asked to confirm with your password. Deletion is immediate and permanent — all quiz history, generated decks, and feedback tied to the account are removed.

Billing & credits

Why am I out of credits?
Subscription plans include a monthly credit budget that resets on the first of each month: Basic 500, Standard 1,500, Pro 3,500. Generating a deck or running a quiz draws from this budget. If you run out before the reset, you can top up with a one-time pack from the dashboard, or upgrade to a higher tier on the pricing page. If you pay by Pix, a higher plan starts at your next renewal, so a top-up is how to get credits today.
How do I cancel my subscription?
In Account settings, click Manage billing. That opens the Stripe customer portal where you can cancel, switch plans, or update your card. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period — you keep access until then.
Do you offer a free trial?
There’s no time-limited trial — instead, the Free tier is permanent: 15 term lookups per day with text explanations and organ-system tags. Upgrade only when you need unlimited lookups or credits.
What's pay-per-deck pricing?
If you don’t want a subscription, you can pay per generated deck instead — typically $2 to $15 depending on document size. Upload a PDF/DOCX/PPTX on the Generate page and the cost is shown before checkout.
I was charged but my credits didn't appear
Stripe webhooks sometimes take 30–60 seconds to settle. Refresh the dashboard. If credits still don’t show after a few minutes, email team@medusaprep.com with the email used at checkout — we’ll reconcile manually.

Practice questions & MCAT

How does the QBank work, for the USMLE and the MCAT?
The QBank is a bank of reviewed questions you practice on medusaprep.com. There are two banks: USMLE (Step 1 and Step 2 CK) and MCAT. The MCAT bank has passage sets for all four sections, plus standalone questions in the three science sections. In either bank you choose how many questions you want and a mode. Tutor shows the answer and the explanation after each question. Timed holds them until you end the block, and on the MCAT bank it runs the clock at the real exam’s pace. A question costs a few credits, the same in both banks, and you see the total before you start. One MCAT passage set is free on any account: Try a free passage on the MCAT practice page. MCAT passage sets come whole, so a block can hold a few fewer questions than you asked for. Once a question’s answer shows, Ask about this question opens MedusaGPT on it, and Go over my misses on a finished block goes through the ones you got wrong. Timed blocks and full-length exams open to the tutor only when you’ve finished them. Your results go to Analytics for the USMLE and to MCAT analytics for the MCAT. If a question looks wrong, choose Report a problem under its explanation. It leaves the bank until we have looked at it. In the USMLE bank, the From a document tab makes a set from a lecture’s slides or notes, with no need for Anki: reviewed questions come first when one tests the same point, and the rest are written for your lecture. Once you’ve answered, Show in my lecture opens the pages that teach the question beside it. The questions are in English and follow US guidelines, and the first set also pays to read the lecture, so you see that in the total too. The MCAT library’s checks are on the Content & Sources page.
How do the MCAT full-length exams work?
A full-length is 230 questions in four timed sections (Chem/Phys, CARS, Bio/Biochem and Psych/Soc), with the real exam’s section times and breaks. It costs 1,367 credits, charged in full when you start it, so it fits a Standard or Pro month but not a Basic one: on Basic, buy a top-up pack first. A section’s clock starts only when you press Begin. You can suspend at any point and finish over several days, and the clocks stop while you are away. If you change your mind before the first section begins, you can cancel and the credits come back. The report gives percent correct by section, content category and skill. It doesn’t estimate a scaled score. The passages in the exams never appear in the question bank.

Using the add-on

How do the term explanations work?
While you review, Medusa highlights the medical terms on your cards. Hover a highlighted term for a quick preview, and click it for the full explanation. In Medusa → Settings… you can change how terms are highlighted, or make popups open only when you click. The Free plan includes 15 term lookups a day, and paid plans are unlimited once you sign in. In the popup, Don’t highlight stops a term being highlighted again, Report flags a wrong or unclear explanation, and Ask about this asks MedusaGPT about the term on that card.
How do I find the lesson for a video I've watched?
In Anki, open the Medusa menu and choose Lessons…. Your lessons sit under the same tags as in Anki’s Browse window, for example #AK_Step1_v12 › #Bootcamp › Dermatology › 01_General_Principles › 01_Skin_Structure_and_Function. Type the video’s name in the search box to jump to it. If you don’t have its lesson yet, the video’s tag shows under All tags: select it and choose Get lesson…. Medusa shows you the price before anything is charged. In Browse, you can also right-click a tag in the sidebar and choose Medusa lesson for this tag, or select cards and right-click → Generate Medusa lesson. Your lessons are also on the My Lessons page.
How do I ask MedusaGPT about a card?
While you review, click MedusaGPT in Anki’s top bar, or press Ctrl+Shift+T, to open a panel beside the card. Type a question, or press a button: Hint on the front of the card, and Why?, Mechanism, How is this tested?, Mnemonic, Explain simply, Is this card right?, Save to my card and Related cards on the back. Nothing is sent until you ask. Right-clicking the card and choosing Ask MedusaGPT about this card opens the panel too. If you select a word or phrase on the card first, the question about it is already in the box, ready to send with Enter. When it suggests a change to a card, you see the change first, and nothing changes until you press Apply. Edit → Undo puts it back, and so does Recent changes, at the bottom of the panel’s ⋯ menu. You can open the same panel on a card you’ve found: in Browse, right-click the card or press MedusaGPT at the end of the search bar (Ctrl+Shift+K), and in Search my cards press Ask MedusaGPT. It follows the card you pick, and a line at the top says which card it’s on. To ask on the website instead, in a chat or on a whiteboard, press Whiteboard at the top of the panel once you’ve asked about the card, select several cards in Browse or Search my cards and use the same buttons, or open MedusaGPT here. How many questions you can ask a day depends on your plan: see Pricing.
What's in the MedusaGPT panel's ⋯ menu?
Quiz mode: on a card’s front, type your answer instead of a question. The tutor says whether you had it and suggests a grade, and after you flip the card you press the grade yourself, in the panel or with Anki’s own buttons. How am I doing? reads your last 30 days, worked out on your computer (your retention against your target, your weakest and strongest categories, your most-missed cards and what’s due), and says what to study next. The numbers go with that question only, and aren’t kept. Make cards from this writes new cards from what the tutor just explained: tick the ones you want, pick a deck, and press Add. You can also ask the tutor, on a card’s back, to unsuspend, suspend, bury, flag, tag, move or reschedule cards, or to make a filtered deck, for this card, a topic, or a category from your stats. It shows how many cards the change touches, with Show in Browse, and nothing changes until you press Apply. Edit → Undo reverses it, and Recent changes, at the bottom of the ⋯ menu, can revert it later. The same list is in Medusa → Settings… → Anki & Browse, as Recent Medusa edits.
How do I see only a video's high-yield cards in Browse?
Open Anki’s Browse window. At the top of the sidebar, Medusa filters holds your filter groups. Tick a group, or some of its pieces, then click a video’s tag: Browse shows only that video’s cards that match. Ticked pieces in a group match any of them; two ticked groups both apply. Decks with AnKing’s tags start with one group, High yield, or Step 1 and 2. To make your own, right-click the section and choose New filter group…; a piece can match yield levels, No yield, Step tags or any Anki search. To tick several videos at once, turn on Show check boxes beside the tags in Browse in Medusa Settings. Ctrl+tick (Cmd+tick on a Mac) adds a tag with AND instead of OR.
How do I search my cards in plain words?
In Anki, click Search Cards in the top bar, or open the Medusa menu and choose Search my cards… (Ctrl+Shift+F). Type a topic, a question, a patient, a description or a half-remembered fact. Results appear as you type, straight from your computer. Press Enter for a smart search: it works out what you mean, even a misspelling, and ranks your cards into best matches, related cards and more results. Click a result to see the card on the right, as it looks in review. It searches every deck, or one you pick. In Anki’s Browse window, start a search with ? (for example ?drug that turns urine orange) to get the same ranking there. Smart searches are free every day and never use credits: 20 a day on Free, 100 a day on Basic, and unlimited on Standard and Pro. See Pricing.
How do I swap my own cards for AnKing's?
In Anki, open the Medusa menu and choose Swap my cards for AnKing…, or select your own cards in Browse, right-click and choose Medusa: find AnKing versions. Pick your deck and the deck to look in (AnKing, or any other deck), then Find matches. Each of your cards lands in one of three groups: AnKing has all of it, AnKing has part of it, or Not in AnKing. Under each card are the AnKing cards that test the same facts; click any card to see it as it looks in review. Tick what you want and press Swap: it suspends the ticked cards of yours and unsuspends the ticked AnKing cards, in one step that Edit → Undo reverses, and tags both sides. Nothing is deleted. Swap starts with a card of yours ticked only when AnKing has all of it, with just the fewest AnKing cards that cover it, the ones you already study first, and only when that adds at most three cards (Cards each swap may add, under the deck pickers; at 1 or 0 a swap never adds to your reviews); the window says how many cards the swaps save. The yield and Step boxes limit which suspended AnKing cards it may add. A card with several facts is often only partly in AnKing, so those start unticked: keep it, or trim it to what AnKing lacks. It never uses credits: 100 cards a day on Free, 2,000 cards a day on Basic, and unlimited on Standard and Pro.
How do I find the cards for a lecture or other document?
In Anki, open the Medusa menu and choose Find cards for a document… Pick a PDF, PowerPoint (.pptx), Word (.docx), text or Markdown file, choose which decks to search (all of them by default) and confirm the price. About half a minute later you see your matching cards in two tiers, most relevant and related, grouped by the document’s topics. Tick the cards you want (the most relevant start ticked) and open them in Browse, tag them, build a filtered deck or unsuspend them. Below, Medusa lists the facts from the document that none of your cards test, and can make cards for the ones you tick, in a new deck, for a price you see first. Click a card to see it as it looks in review. It costs about 10 to 25 credits a document, and nothing is charged for a step that fails. Your matches are saved on the Card Match page. A scanned PDF with no text in it can’t be read; export it again with its text first.
How do I find the cards for questions I got wrong?
In Anki, open the Medusa menu and choose Find cards for missed questions…. On By question ID, pick the bank (UWorld Step 1, Step 2 CK or Step 3, UWorld COMLEX Level 1 or 2, or UWorld MCAT) and paste the question IDs. Medusa finds the cards through the question tags in the AnKing deck, for free, and nothing leaves your computer. For questions from anywhere else (NBME, UWSA, school exams), paste their text on By question text: Medusa shows you the price and asks before anything is charged. Either way, the cards open in the same window as Find cards for a document, where you can preview them, open them in Browse, tag them, unsuspend them or build a filtered deck.
I study for the MCAT. What does the add-on do for me?
On medusaprep.com, choose Premed in your account settings. The add-on then explains about 2,000 MCAT terms (chemistry, physics, biology, biochemistry, and psychology and sociology) on top of the medical ones. It underlines each term once per card, and everyday words like work or light show only on cards in their subject. The Dashboard reads the tags of the Medusa MCAT deck, AnKing MCAT, Khan Academy, Kaplan, MileDown and Aidan by MCAT content category, and its Practice buttons open MCAT questions. Medusa filters adds an MCAT Core group for the Medusa MCAT deck, Lessons work on its topics, and Find cards for a document tags the cards it makes with their MCAT category. Nothing changes for an account set to medical student. The add-on also keeps the Medusa MCAT deck up to date on desktop Anki: new and corrected cards arrive in place, with your reviews, your own edits and My Notes kept, and reach your phone when you sync with AnkiWeb. If you study only on a phone, download the new version from the MCAT Deck page. Downloading a new version replaces your edits and My Notes on any card that changed. To keep them, update through Anki on a computer with the add-on.
Which Anki decks are supported?
For the USMLE, the pre-loaded vocabulary covers all the major Step 1 & Step 2 decks: AnKing, Lightyear, B&B, Pathoma, Sketchy. For the MCAT, an account set to Premed (in Account settings; the add-on follows it) gets an MCAT term dictionary instead, for the decks MCAT students use: the Medusa MCAT deck, AnKing MCAT (with its Khan Academy and Kaplan cards), MileDown and Aidan’s MCAT deck. Any card containing one of the indexed terms gets the click-to-look-up highlight. Cards without matches are untouched. On those MCAT decks the dashboard also sorts your reviews by MCAT content category, and its Practice buttons open the MCAT question bank.
Can I ignore terms I already know?
Yes. Click any highlighted term to open the popup, then click Don’t highlight. The term won’t be highlighted again on any card.
How do I report a wrong or unclear explanation?
Open the term popup and click Report. Add a short note about what’s wrong. Reports go to a moderation queue and the explanation gets updated on the next sync.

NASCARD multiplayer

Do I need to pay for NASCARD?
NASCARD is included free with any paid Medusa subscription (Basic, Standard, or Pro). Without a subscription, NASCARD is $2.99 one-time and lifetime.
Where do I install NASCARD?
Same as Medusa — Tools → Add-ons → Get Add-ons with code 1433519218. Full instructions on the Download page.