As medical students, we are expected to absorb a vast amount of information and remain clinically competent, all while juggling our busy schedules that are filled with placements, exams, social events, and our personal lives. With the right digital tools, this chaos can become far more manageable, especially in the first year, helping us save both time and energy.

Try to use these tools by first understanding the concepts, then applying them through question banks, and finally reinforcing your learning by reviewing your notes or flashcards.

Here is a selection of essential apps, video channels, and platforms that we have curated together to help you stay organised, boost your clinical learning, and make day-to-day life on the wards a little smoother.

🌐Websites and Learning platforms

Aside from the well-known Passmedicine, Osmosis, Qesmed, Zero to Finals, and Geekymedics, here are some other high-value websites and learning platforms worth looking into.

  • AMBOSS is a fast, clinical library that can be helpful on the wards. Search for a condition and you’ll get crisp differentials, first-line investigations, red flags, and stepwise management, presented in clear tables and algorithms that minimise scrolling. Use it mainly for what and why, then confirm the pathways in NICE and BNF. There’s also a built-in Qbank that’s useful for consolidating. The website’s access is paid, though many UK universities offer licences or long student trials. There’s even an app version (iOS/Android), which is quick and works offline.

  • CAPSULE is a case-based learning platform that gives you scenarios in the form of a patient story and asks questions as you move through it. It feels more like practising as a junior doctor than ticking off MCQs, which makes it a strong complement to question banks. Most UK medical schools now provide CAPSULE free to their students and also have an app version.

  • BMJ OnExamination is one of the longest-running UK-aligned question banks and remains a popular choice for students seeking a different style of questions that are detailed and provide a mock exam feel. The detailed explanations are grounded in clinical guidelines and evidence, which makes them particularly valuable if you want to understand the reasoning behind the answer rather than just the fact itself. It’s especially useful once you’ve worked through your main quenstion bank (like Passmedicine or Quesmed), which is full of mock papers. Access is subscription-based with student discounts, and like most, there’s an app version.

  • In2Med is a student-run platform that offers free notes, concise lecture-style videos, and quick “cheat sheets” covering core topics in medicine, surgery, and clinical skills. It is not a complete replacement for textbooks or question banks. Still, it serves as a great supplement when you need a quick recap or a more relatable explanation before a tutorial or SBA session.

  • Life in the Fast Lane (LITFL) is one of the best free online resources for ECGs, featuring a library with hundreds of annotated ECGs accompanied by concise explanations and key differentials. Thus, it is great for practising interpretations, spotting new patterns, and quizzing yourself before OSCEs. Additionally, it features concise critical-care guides that can be used for revising emergency medicine.

  • ABG ninja is another free web tool with a quiz mode for random ABG cases, perfect for practising until interpretation becomes second nature. It is entirely browser-based and mobile-friendly, so you can bookmark it and pull it up quickly before OSCEs or while on placement.

  • Pastest is one of the most established UK medical question banks, known for its large, regularly updated collection of MCQs, SBAs, and EMQs that mirror real exam formats. It helps you learn through active testing and feedback, with detailed explanations linked to guidelines and textbooks. The analytics dashboard tracks weak areas and compares progress with peers, and its mobile app lets you download questions for offline practice.\

Other niche but handy free platforms include:

  • GPnotebook which serves as a quick clinical reference widely used in primary care, with concise summaries of conditions and management.

  • Haembase for haematology, whose notes, although complex, are detailed and provide clarity for consolidation.

  • DermNet NZ is another widely known website for dermatology images, cases, and helps with pattern recognition for OSCE revision.

🩻Radiology tools

  • Radiopaedia is the go-to free resource for medical imaging, featuring an extensive library of annotated cases and articles covering every system of the body, including articles on the subtle findings in X-rays and CT scans.

  • Radiology masterclass is another excellent UK-based free website that breaks down plain film interpretation into clear, stepwise guides, such as how to read it systematically or how to approach problems like fractures.

Anatomy tools

  • TeachMeAnatomy is a widely used platform that provides detailed yet concise anatomy notes, diagrams and relevant resources that are easy to recall. It features articles ranging from surface anatomy to relations, innervation, common injuries, flashcards, quizzes, and exam tips. The website has a free version and also an app with offline access.

  • Complete Anatomy is a detailed 3D atlas app that you can rotate, dissect layer by layer, and annotate. It is very helpful to visualise and understand how everything in the body is connected, as text can be very confusing. The web version, which was recently launched, is free.

📺Youtube channels

Here is a list of channels that stand out for being student-friendly, where the strong visual style makes tricky topics clearer and easier to remember.

  • Armando Hasundagan is a highly recommended channel for hand-drawn whiteboard tutorials that explain physiology, pathology, and pharmacology step by step, making complex pathways, such as clotting cascades or renal physiology, visually simple.

  • Medicosis Perfectionalis is a quirky and effective channel that uses hand-drawn slides with simple diagrams and mnemonics. The teaching is clear and structured, omitting unnecessary detail so you can quickly grasp the key points. The presenter makes the content very friendly and easy to follow.

  • Ninja Nerd posts videos and the explanations are highly detailed, simple, with diagrams and summarised points. Its content covers most of the MBBS topics, but has a very long running time as some are more than 1 hour long.

  • Dr Matt and Dr Mike is a run by two Australian doctors who teach anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology in a lively, conversational way. The energetic teaching style and humour keep even dense topics like cardiovascular physiology or renal regulation engaging, explaining how systems link together using clear diagrams and real-world examples on a whiteboard.

Other channel worth mentioning include is Byte Size Med, which breaks down topics into short, visual explainers with great animation – perfect for quick revision.

🗂️Flashcards and Note-taking software

  • Notion: Highly customisable for lecture notes, revision databases, and even tracking placements. Great for students who like structure and visual organisation. It is also available as an app.

  • OneNote: Free software with Microsoft accounts, and it is my personal favourite when it comes to handwritten notes or annotating images and files like PDFs or PPTs.

  • Anki: Considered to be the gold-standard revision tool among medical students. It uses a smart spaced repetition algorithm that shows you flashcards just before you’re likely to forget them, making it ideal for long-term retention of anatomy terms, drug side effects, and pathology details.

  • Quizlet: The quicker and simpler alternative to Anki, with a straightforward interface for creating and sharing flashcards. It has built-in games and test modes that feel lighter. It has many ready-made decks available, including those for UK finals and is good for bite-sized revision sessions.

Although handwritten notes may seem a bit old-school, many students find that physically writing things down helps solidify the content in their memory. It can also make revision easier, as the notes are written in their own handwriting and structured in a way that makes sense to them.

However, a drawback of handwritten notes is that they can be difficult to edit or expand later. A good middle ground is using a tablet and stylus – this allows you to handwrite your notes while still being able to reorganise, highlight, and make additions digitally.

⚖️How to choose without overloading?

Here’s the danger: with so many platforms shouting for your attention, you can end up dipping in and out of too many without getting the best out of any. These are a few tips to pick without chasing every new platform:

  • Check university access: Many UK universities offer free access to tools such as AMBOSS, Capsule, or TeachMeAnatomy, and all students have open access to the NICE CKS online. Always check what’s already available through your institution before paying out of pocket.

  • Match your style: If you absorb better via visual stories, focus on video tools like Osmosis or YouTube creators. If you are retention-driven, Anki and summary websites are more effective.

  • Test drive before subscribing: Most platforms offer free student trials or basic versions of their services, allowing you to try them before making a purchase.

  • Time matters: If a tool slows you down instead of speeding you up, it’s not doing its job. Perhaps there is a better resource that fits your schedule, or the one you’re using is overloaded with too much information to be practical.

💡Takeaway message

Digital tools won’t replace good teaching, pattern recognition, or time with patients, but they will make the complex parts simpler and the fuzzy parts clearer. Build your toolkit carefully, and these digital companions will see you through medical school and into your early career.

📚Resources:

Want more tools that make placement life easier? Check out our article here!

Thanks for reading. If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to share them below and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!