Having a pathetically hard time with A&P--Need advice

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Hi everyone,

I'm pre-nursing, and I'm taking A&P 1 at the moment and I am completely drowning in this class. My GPA is high, my study skills are normally great... but this class is killing me and I don't even know why I can't get into the swing of things. I already know that nursing school only gets harder and I believe I can do it, I'm just in a pathetic rut right now. I got a C on my first quiz and had a pop quiz on Thursday that I know I probably did even worse on and my confidence is destroyed.

What was your experience in A&P like? I have a 3 hour lecture and a 3 hour lab both once a week that involve our professor going over some topics, occasionally telling us we need to know something for a test, and our only assignments are Mastering A&P online, which I hate and don't find helpful in the least. Occasionally, he assigns us a video as well. If I'm going to learn this stuff, I need to be able to practice it more. Can anyone maybe suggest some kind of workbook, or really anything at all that helped you?

I really would love and could desperately use some tips, and also would love to know what your experience was like in class. Did you have more assignments than I'm having? Did you work with Mastering A&P? What was your lecture like?

Thank you so much in advance.

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Free Anatomy Quiz this helped me when we had quizzed on body parts. I strictly used the anatomy portion. Never looked over the physiology portion, maybe this could help. Good luck!
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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

Flash cards and review them every free second you have. Over and over and over.

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Thank you so much!

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What were your quizzes on? Did they cover the same things you covered in class? I know that some people in my class have struggled because they don't seem to notice the things that the teacher emphasizes, but she lectures and gives us lectures notes to complete and then tests us on those. It's all very straight-forward.

If you've been in class for six weeks or so now and only had two quizzes and shine homework from Mastering A&P, when are you scheduled to have your first exam? How much is your professor weighting each type of assignment? Can you make sure you know what to study for the exam and do better there to bring your grade up? I assume you've covered the basics of biochemistry as it pertains to the human body, tissues, and now perhaps focusing on one of the major body systems?

Showing your professor how you're studying and asking for feedback may help, too. Good luck.

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There are some good free A&P lectures on iTunesU.

I took A&P 1 during normal-length semester (16 weeks), 6 hour class on Saturdays. A&P 2 was summer semester, 9 week class, 3.5 hours Mon, Tue, Wed. Lectures and labs were mixed together in both courses. Lectures were just going over the main points of that body system. We were definitely expected to have read the entire chapter at least once before lecture. Are you doing that?

We had Mastering A&P for first semester, but it was never required. Both classes had a few homework sheets, but mostly the grades were based on 4 exams (some multiple-choice, some fill-in-blanks, some free-response, some drawing/diagrams), lab notebooks, one group presentation, and the 2 final exams (lab, lecture). Lab finals were probably the hardest part for me. First one was 25 stations, each with three things tagged on a model that you had to identify (75 total), second one was 10 histology slides that you had to pick five of and identify what they were, draw a representative diagram of the tissue/organ/gland with all the parts labeled, and then explain how that tissue/organ/gland functions in the body. I hate histology.

Does your school have tutoring sessions for A&P? Can you form a study group with your fellow students?

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I watch this professor with helping me with my A&P. I sure wished I knew about him in A&P 1. Sometimes watching someone else teach it can help. Not sure where you are at but here are some links.

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khanacademy.com has great videos on everything.

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Watching Youtube videos on things we went over in class really helped me. Going over my notes a little bit every day after class helped things click too. We did Mastering A&P in my class too. I didn't really care for it either, but those extra points we earned from our homework is what made the difference between getting an A vs. a B in the class. Just hang in there and remember why you chose this path in the first place. It'll get better! :)

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I printed off a bunch of diagrams of whatever system we're studying (right now the skeletal system) and every night I label them, read through my notes, and review terms in Quizlet. So far that's been enough for me, maybe 1 1/2 hours a day? Good luck!

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In A&P 1 I had an instructor that was a doctor in India. What helped me with her was her accent weird enough. The way she said certain words just stuck in my head because it did not sound exactly like how someone from Texas would say it. Writing what the teacher is saying helps me a lot. I find it sticks more than printing out the power points and just making small notes. I also saw a lot of people recording the lectures. Good luck I hope it gets better for you.

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For Anatomy I would draw and redraw pictures and label them, flashcards never really worked for me. I feel drawing the structures helped me remember them better and labeling them over and over helped me to remember the names better than just breezing through flashcards. for physiology I would watch as many videos as I could on youtube until I felt confident I knew the processes well enough to explain them to my classmates. Also I think getting together with a study group and just asking questions and talking about the more difficult concepts really helps gain a better understanding. Good Luck, keep working hard! :)

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