A&P II Notetaking Tips

CMA2013 · Jan 12, 2013

Personally I like to print out the power point notes and make my own little notes on the power points, rather than writing all the power points out. But printing does take a lot of ink and paper=$$. Although I haven't taken A&P yet, that's what I like to do for all of my classes that have power point notes.

pbco · Jan 13, 2013

I am currently in A&P II and I need some advice on taking notes for the class. I am taking the lecture class online and our professor usually gives us powerpoint notes and assigned us to read the chapters. For A&P I I would rewrite the powerpoint notes and add my own from the book. However, I am in a time crunch now because the professor also assigns chapter quizzes that must be completed by a certain date. I have four chapters to study in this first unit and all my quizzes are due by Jan 25th. I am still stuck in the first chapter! . I am wondering if I should still rewrite the notes from powerpoint or come up with a whole new system? Why would you suggest? I am trying to learn the information but I also have to think about my grade.[/quote']
I took back to back AP 1 & 2 last summer which was rough! Our textbook had an eBook equivalent, which came with the package, and took advantage of doing the online self study quizzes, anatomy labeling, and answering the questions on the summary part of the chapters. Rewriting notes didn't work for me, but quizzing myself everyday has certainly help retain all of that info.

zoe92 · Jan 13, 2013

I would really recommend the writing notes on powerpoints idea, but if you are not able to print them out, I would make one outline from the text, one outline from the powerpoints and then consolidating them into one set of notes. By outlining, you are seeing what the text is trying to portray and what your teacher wants you to know without wasting time. By consolidating you are bringing those ideas together so you can study all of the info. HTH.

vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN · Jan 13, 2013

For A&P 1, I rewrote the power points in my own words during class. The teacher explained and went over his power points during lecture. I never printed the power points, but typed and recorded almost his whole discussion as he said it. I never took the time to listen to the recorded lecture.

For lab, he gave us a super long list of the parts we needed to learn. I didn't have time to make flash cards, so I folded a sheet of paper in half and wrote the terms in one side and visualized the location and picture before looking at the other side of the paper where id written a description of the location of the part.

I did make flash cards for the super hard units (bones and muscles).

peachshan, BSN, RN · Jan 13, 2013

Thank you so much! I received an A in the class last semester doing it the old way. However, I realized that it was too time consuming.

Nurse2b7337 · Jan 13, 2013

I agree with another poster who stated converting Powerpoints to text. This way you have all the info,less pages of course and no pictures. The main goal is to have all the info outlined to take on the go!! If you are a visual learner you can always refer back to the pictures as you read the text. HTH !

Sent from my iPad using allnurses.com

jellybean321 · Jan 13, 2013

A lot of my instructors do powerpoints and I, too, like other posters suggested, print them in the "handout" form (3 slides per page) so that I can make my own notes on the right hand side of the paper. I just recently took Applied Clinical Math and this is what helped me tremendously.

When I was in A&P, I was also having a difficult time remembering all of the info and a member on this site suggested for me to google "active learning". I'm very glad I did because I now have a different and more efficient approach to studying. Teaching the materials to others also helps me to remember and retain information learned in class. You could teach it to your parents, boyfriend/husband, or even your cat.

And of course, the almighty index card. I can't tell you how many flash cards I've used. I keep them in my purse so if I'm waiting somewhere, I can just whip them out and study. I also had my boyfriend quiz me with the flashcards.

Good luck in A&P and in your future nursing classes! =)