A&P II Help ..

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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What do you do when you study the notes, read the book, but still fail the test? My current A&P teacher is horrible. All of the students at my school try to avoid him. I did the first time, but I wasn't able to this time. He has also been on probation several times in the past for failing so many students.

I passed his first test, barely. So for the second test I decided to study with the notes he gave us along with the book. This time I did worse than I did the first time. It's like his questions come from left field, like...I'm confused. I'm not even sure how to study for his tests now. I'm starting to get so discouraged. I did so well in A&P I, yet I'm having so much trouble in A&P II.

Does anyone have any advice for me as far as dealing with a bad professor, along with any sites I can use to help me study? Or ANY type of study materials for that matter. Anything would be greatly appreciated.

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Specializes in Hospice, Palliative Care.

Good day:

Given withdraw is not an option, I would recommend speaking with the professor. Take your notes and the book along. Show him the notes you take, go over how you study, and ask what he recommends to change in order to do better on the tests. Also, have you reviewed the tests to go over what you got wrong and what was the correct answer along with the why?

Thank you.

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

For anatomy, I LOVED Netter's cards and books. It's a limited area where they can help, but they really helped me visualize structures in situ.

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I know that you are studying like crazy already, but the only thing you can really do is to make sure you know the material forwards and back. I like to find videos on youtube to help me study. Khanacademy is my facorite but there are TONS of material to help you learn. There are alot of videos that are made by teachers, and it is good to learn things form different teaching styles. you will pick up new things each time you watch a video. Also I would google some A&P practice quizzes. Here are a few that I found....

Anatomy and Physiology | Chapter Quiz

Anatomy and Physiology

http://www.wiley.com/college/apcentral/anatomydrill/

There are a lot more also!

I would just learn as much as you can. If you come to an answer on a test that you don't know the answer, you might be able to eliminate some answer choices if you know what they are...

GOOD LUCK!

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

I had a similar experience in A&P II. There was such a disconnect between our lectures, the book, and the test questions that we were all convinced he was using the test bank for a completely different textbook. In A&P I, all our test questions came directly from the lecture, so I was accustomed to taking good notes and only needing to study those. I started utilizing multiple resources and made sure I knew the material like the back of my hand. Even with horrible tests with ambiguous wording, I was able to make an A (in the summer no less!) - so can you!

Marion Diamond from UC Berkeley has excellent A&P lectures up on YouTube, and khanacademymedicine also has excellent ones. Those really helped me nail some of the more difficult concepts in physiology.

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Good day:

Given withdraw is not an option, I would recommend speaking with the professor. Take your notes and the book along. Show him the notes you take, go over how you study, and ask what he recommends to change in order to do better on the tests. Also, have you reviewed the tests to go over what you got wrong and what was the correct answer along with the why?

Thank you.

I currently have not reviewed the exams, but I have been trying to set up an appointment with him to see if we can go over those things, and I'm hoping he'll have a better study strategy that could help me as far as his tests go. I'm also thinking about attending a couple of tutoring sessions as well, along with study sessions with a study group. I NEVER study with others, but if someone else can explain something better than he can, I'll give it a try.

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For anatomy, I LOVED Netter's cards and books. It's a limited area where they can help, but they really helped me visualize structures in situ.

I'll be sure to look into those. Thanks!

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Specializes in Hospice, Palliative Care.

Good day:

Good job, ♫patiently_waiting❤, at working to get an appointment set up with your professor. If you can review the past exams to find out where you went wrong that will also help. Since professors are as human as their students, it is also possible in the review you might find areas that you had correct that were marked incorrect.

I've had mixed results so far with study groups. A good one works wonders where it is mainly organized, where everyone participates, and everyone learns. A bad one is a time sink that just wastes time.

Thank you.

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I know that you are studying like crazy already, but the only thing you can really do is to make sure you know the material forwards and back. I like to find videos on youtube to help me study. Khanacademy is my facorite but there are TONS of material to help you learn. There are alot of videos that are made by teachers, and it is good to learn things form different teaching styles. you will pick up new things each time you watch a video. Also I would google some A&P practice quizzes. Here are a few that I found....

Anatomy and PhysiologyÂ*|Â*Chapter Quiz

Anatomy and Physiology

http://www.wiley.com/college/apcentral/anatomydrill/

There are a lot more also!

I would just learn as much as you can. If you come to an answer on a test that you don't know the answer, you might be able to eliminate some answer choices if you know what they are...

GOOD LUCK!

Yes, visualization is key. I'm going to start looking at videos while reading my notes/book so maybe I'll be able to get a better understanding. I will be sure to check out those quizzes as well. Thanks!

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I had a similar experience in A&P II. There was such a disconnect between our lectures, the book, and the test questions that we were all convinced he was using the test bank for a completely different textbook. In A&P I, all our test questions came directly from the lecture, so I was accustomed to taking good notes and only needing to study those. I started utilizing multiple resources and made sure I knew the material like the back of my hand. Even with horrible tests with ambiguous wording, I was able to make an A (in the summer no less!) - so can you!

Marion Diamond from UC Berkeley has excellent A&P lectures up on YouTube, and khanacademymedicine also has excellent ones. Those really helped me nail some of the more difficult concepts in physiology.

Disconnect is not the word for this class ...it's just ridiculous. I actually feel stupid while taking his tests -_- There's no way one could study so much and still bomb a test. He words the tests funny, so it's hard to understand. I'm not sure how to feel.

For A&P I all of our questions came right from lecture as well. Our professor gave great notes, we had tons of homework to make sure we had a good understanding, several quizzes, and this professor was also nice enough to take the time out of her day so that the whole class could get together and have a review session with her (outside of our normal scheduled class time) a few days before the test. I got so accustomed to that, so now I'm really lost.

My "A" is gone. We only have 5 tests, no homework, no quizzes, no nothing. We have already taken two of them. 70 on the first one, 68 on the second. Unless I make up in the high 90s on the remaining 3, I won't see an A for that class. :/ I'm so confused with life right now. Lol. I'll check out those sources as well. Thanks!

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I really liked Marion Diamond's lectures on youtube as well. I doubt that there's any single resource out there quite as good as that one, and it's free!

I also had a difficult time and a difficult prof in A&P II. In my case, it was mostly a matter of learning that the prof was ONLY interested in us learning things exactly as he said them. So for me that meant taking careful notes and studying exactly what he said would be on the exam. Ir sounds like in your case your prof is a bit less helpful. The key is to figure out exactly what sorts of things he is looking for and study those until you know them inside out. If he likes you to label diagrams, be sure to know exactly what and where all the structures are. If only likes multiple choice questions, don't waste time studying the diagrams.

One thing I've found VERY helpful is to write things out. If you need to learn a chart of information, copy it out yourself. Then study it, then try to write it out again from memory. The more physically involved you are with the material, the better you'll learn it. Recite things out loud. Recite them while walking. Touch structures on your own body when possible.

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Hey! You are NOT alone. I am actually going through the exact same thing right now. I had an easy professor for A&P I and ended up with a B+ without doing a thing. This semester I have a professor who was teaching med school last year and is now attempting to teach undergrad. His tests are TERRIBLE. I study 10 hours a day for that class and still do awful on the tests. His class literally makes me feel stupid. I decided to go to all of his office hours and pray that I get on his favorites list, so maybe he will curve my grade at the end. I am really stressed because my school has a policy that you are not eligible for nursing school if you have any C- or below in any science course, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. But trust me you are not alone on this.

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