A & P flashcards

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I have two questions regarding flash cards for A & P :

1. Which flash cards would be the best to purchase (Kaplan vs. Mosbys vs. Netter's)?

2. When making your own flash cards, what is the best way to make them? (Simple definitions, review questions - is it worth it to color code them?)

Any advice is greatly appreciated :)

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I bought one of those fancy sets (I think it was kaplan) and honestly, it was a waste of 30 bucks. I used them for bones and muscles and then never again. I highly suggest saving your money and either going on quizlet or making your own. On quizlet you can use the sets that other students have made. I think there is an app too, so you can access from your phone/tablet as well. The bonus of making your own (i just copied pictures out of my book) though it takes time, you learn the material by making them too!

As far as making review flashcards for tests, it's easier after you take your first test and know how your professor asks questions. I always try to emulate test questions and make a thick stack that has possible test questions.

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I bought one of those fancy sets (I think it was kaplan) and honestly, it was a waste of 30 bucks. I used them for bones and muscles and then never again. I highly suggest saving your money and either going on quizlet or making your own. On quizlet you can use the sets that other students have made. I think there is an app too, so you can access from your phone/tablet as well. The bonus of making your own (i just copied pictures out of my book) though it takes time, you learn the material by making them too!

As far as making review flashcards for tests, it's easier after you take your first test and know how your professor asks questions. I always try to emulate test questions and make a thick stack that has possible test questions.

Ok good to know! Thank you for your advice. That sounds like a pretty good idea for making flashcards w/ possible test questions. So are those the only kind you make? Or do you also make flashcards for definitions/concepts? For the possible test questions cards do you just put the question on one side and the answer on the other side (or is there additional information)? :)

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If you are thinking about making your own flash cards I highly recommend quizlet.com. It's free and once you enter all your terms and definition you can print them, study them, and it will even generate a test for you to take. They also have smartphone apps.

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I try to learn all the definitions while I'm reading (Here's my total study layout https://allnurses.com/pre-nursing-student/how-get-any-846733.html ) For concepts I try to make stories out of them in my own words. My getting the big picture of a concept, breaking it down into smaller parts, learning those, and then making it your own, using your own words, it generally sticks better!

Also, I wish someone had told me this, YOU DON'T NEED TO MAKE A NOTE CARD FOR EVERYTHING. Don't waste your time on things that you already know, only things you need to clarify. I have mild compulsions and feel like for a note card set to be complete it has to have EVERYTHING I learned. But I found it was just a waste of time to, for example, make flashcards for the anatomic directions since i already knew them :)

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As much as I love quizlet, I much prefer making my own flashcards. The more I hand write something, the more it sinks in and sticks.

I do mine in different colors.

Here how:

-Bold Terms (blue)

-Practice/review questions (Purple)

-Concepts (red)

-Etymology (orange)

-Obselete/slang (green)

-anything else important.. dates, people, etc (black)

Color coding them really helps me out, but everyone's different.

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I heart Quizlet. Also, I made my own. Much easier, and I could put things into my own words!

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Writing out my own flashcards helps me greatly too! I also re-word some of the terms so that I'lll understand them easier when reviewing. I bought the Netter's flashcards and haven't really used them. Most of my instructors so far have provided slides and images for us to use to learn for the tests so I memorized those instead of using alternate images.

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I got through A&P 1 & 2 without picking up a single flashcard. I utilized my book's diagrams and figures and studied them like crazy. The words come together once you understand exactly how something works. My anatomy teacher actually advised us to stay away from flashcards. Just find what works for you and stick to it.

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Specializes in Psychiatry.
I got through A&P 1 & 2 without picking up a single flashcard. I utilized my book's diagrams and figures and studied them like crazy. The words come together once you understand exactly how something works. My anatomy teacher actually advised us to stay away from flashcards. Just find what works for you and stick to it.

Same, I think they're a huge waste of time honestly. If they work for you, great. It is possible to make straight A's without them. I prefer to take notes and draw diagrams and tables, and supplement them with animations and videos on YouTube.

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I always preferred making my own. My A & P teacher would provide a study guide for the lecture portion. It was all of the power point notes put into question form, so I would write the question on one side & answer it on the other side.

Sometimes the study guides were really long, so I would only make flashcards for questions I did not know. For me, making the flashcards helped me study and learn the material better.

Color coding helped because I am a visual learner. So if I needed to know the definition, I would highlight the word. If it was some sort of list, like types of tissues, then I would highlight in a different color. I made a lot of mnemonics for my lists too.

Good luck!

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Same, I think they're a huge waste of time honestly. If they work for you, great. It is possible to make straight A's without them. I prefer to take notes and draw diagrams and tables, and supplement them with animations and videos on YouTube.

I definitely agree. My teacher even spent hours on end making her own diagrams for us. I still have them all. YouTube helped alot!! Some of the chapters I didn't even read because the diagrams in the book were so helpful. We're all different but flashcards are just busy work if you ask me. They just help you memorize. You cannot just memorize in anatomy.

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