A&P 1 Fall '06 Club!

romansten9 · Sep 17, 2006

Since people are talking about age I should mention that I'm 37. And like some of you I have kids. My daughter is 14 months and my other child will be born around Thanksgiving! Yeah, I know, they're pretty close together. (oh, and the reason I say I have kids is because both of my children are very much 100% human beings with heartbeats and are very physically ACTIVE!) I'm excited as you can tell. Anyway, I understand your challenges since I am taking A&P, chemistry, psych, working my job, running after my daughter, and will be putting everything on hold to enter the hospital for the delivery and then all those sleepless nights will follow at home with the new baby (when I should be studying and getting rest) Its going to be FUN!

romansten9 · Sep 17, 2006

here are a couple useful links I found. The first has mnemonics. (which I love)for example, for the 5 layers of the epidermis remember "come lets get sun burned" some are a bit x-rated, but I just ignore those!

http://www.medicalmnemonics.com/

the next one is an online "microscope" for histology. the really unique thing is that you can change the magnification like a real microscope. to zoom in.

http://www.path.uiowa.edu/virtualslidebox/nlm_histology/content_index_db.html

smattles1of2 · Sep 17, 2006

That microscope site is cool! Thanks!

I have 2 kids too...a 2.5 yr old and a 9 month old. I'm worried about putting them in daycare in January if I get accepted into the nursing program, but i'll worry about that later I guess. My oldest keeps getting sick from preschool so i'm worried i'll have to miss class alot.

Good luck with the new baby!

matsgrl · Sep 18, 2006

Oh wow, thanks romansten9!

bean_7182004 · Sep 18, 2006

Hi all,

Lian, I'm using the new marieb book as well. We just had a lecture on the chemestry chaperter today. It is a pain because the instructer said she only wants us to know the "important" parts but who the he-- knows what she is going to consider important. I mean are all 20 amino acids important or just that most amino acid names end in -ase. I just cant wait until we get to the next chapter and start on cells.

Shawna

MB37 · Sep 18, 2006

I have the Frederic Martini book, and my first exam is tomorrow. We have 4 exams and a final (each exam is lecture and lab together) and that's it for our grade. No assignments, quizzes, anything else. My prof missed class last week, so this test is only on the intro chapter and the chemistry chapter. So far, I feel good about the material, but this stuff is all review for me (chem and micro were prereqs). Once we get into memorizing names of bones and muscles is when I get worried. Oh, 27, married, no kids yet (unless the husband counts), and work FT, school PT this year. Good luck to all!

smattles1of2 · Sep 18, 2006

I'm using that book too. We have our first test on wed. We've already had two 20 point quizzes which were super easy. The test is on the first 3 chapters which is just memorizing. I had micro too already, so this is all review too.

Good luck on your test!

starzzmom · Sep 18, 2006

We are using the Marieb book and our instructor told us to skip the second chapter. I am in a Saturday only class and we are currently on chapter 6. It is some tough reading and we are averaging 1 - 2 chapters per week. Our first exam was last week and I spent an average of 2 hours per night the week prior going painstakingly through chapters 1,3, 4 and 5 making my own notes. I did get a 94 (phew), but am mad because what I missed was primarily out of the first chapter. I have re-read it 4 times so have read it the most and still got tripped up by the names of the parts of the bodies on the one diagram in it.....olecranial, occipital, whatever the heck the front of the elbow is supposed to be.

I feel like I really KNEW and UNDERSTOOD the material, but the test was not a fair representation of the material. This is a new instructor. He told us that his Tues/Thurs class only had 7 people who made a B or higher on the same test. 6 people made an A in our class, but that makes me question the construction of the test.

Grrrr.

What do you do but keep trying harder.

I have to make an A to have any hope of having the points to enter the program.

I never studied this hard when I was going after my first bachelor's degree...well, maybe in accounting, but this is hard!

(whine whine whine)

matsgrl · Sep 18, 2006

Starzzmom, can u switch to another instructor?

starzzmom · Sep 18, 2006

Starzzmom, can u switch to another instructor?

I work full time and have two kids under the age of 3...the Saturday class is too convenient to switch...I am just finding I have to basically teach myself and then have to figure out some crazy non-logic regarding test and quiz questions.

I do, however, think the instructor got a wake-up call because of all the poor grades. That has to reflect badly on his teaching. He does not teach, though. Like one of the above posters commented...this teacher hands out a rough outline and proceeds to lecture directly from the book. He does periodically state things that will probably be on the test so it is certainly worth showing up to class, but it is a far cry from classes I have had in the past where you were expected to read the material and the lecture would supplement and enhance the books material.

I am on track to make an A still...and I feel like I know the material. I should have made a 98 on the test, though. I would be ok with missing a question if I did not study that particular material covered by the question, but I object to missing 4 questions on a diagram that was a minor minor minor part of one chapter. Most of the diagrams are outlining the major theme of the chapter and are very helpful. The diagrams in the current chapter of the osteons and cross sections of bone tissue showing the perichondrium, compact bone, spongy bone, the lucanae..etc. I would EXPECT to have to know something like that. Grrr. To pick such an esoteric diagram and make it worth 13% of the test is maddening.

Cherish · Sep 18, 2006

Thanks for the histology website. I have a test on tissues next weekend so this will help ALOT!!! Especially since we are doing a lab practical for that test. Also that nmenonic (sp?) site is awesome had to add it to my favorites. I had a question for everyone anyone think of buying a palm pilot to help you out? I know of a few nursing students that have one and say its a god send. Wonder if I should buy it now or wait till later?

MB37 · Sep 18, 2006

I'd wait on a palm pilot until you get into school, then see if they require or recommend any one in particular. Then again, I'm not the most tech savvy person out there. Starzzmom, you're right, hopefully you professor will realize his job isn't to fail as many people as possible (or to pass as many, either) but to TEACH as many students as he can. I think the non-teaching prof is common for this class though. All of my lectures are online, so I can stop, rewind, etc. That would be great if they were worthwhile, but it appears that my prof has his grad students take notes on the chapters for him and type them up in powerpoint form. He then recorded himself reading the notes aloud to us. He even includes the misspellings and grammatical errors without correcting them, even one on the symbol for an element. He has yet to go into any detail on anything, or given even one non-book example. The fun part is comparing my book notes to my "lecture" notes and fixing the errors between what he told us and what the book says is right. Maybe chem and micro aren't his strong suits, and he'll get better once we get to real A&P, but I'm not too optimistic. Upshot is, I've heard he's easy. He told us exactly what to study for tomorrow's test, so it might just be true! On the other hand, I actually want to learn the material. Oh well. Three more years until my degree...three more years...