A&P 1 and 2 in 8 Weeks??

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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So, in order to avoid taking the TEAS test, I decided to take all of my prereqs before starting the nursing program at my local community college. My academic advisor recommended that I take both Anatomy classes this summer. This means that each class is only 4 weeks long (aka a quarter of what you normally have for a class). My question is: has anyone done this before and what are your tips for success? This seems extremely fast-paced and any advice/tips would be helpful.

Specializes in Med/Surg.
I don't have any tips, but I'm going to do the same thing this summer!! We can be study buddies together if you want!!!

Yes! We should be study buddies so we can help motivate each other. My class starts May 21st, when does yours? PM me!!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I think it's doable. Medical students have to learn vasta amount of detailed anatomy and physiology within smaller time frames. Why not? Go for it. Especially if you have a part time job only or help at home.

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Specializes in Community/Public Health.

I'm surprised a college is going to let you take the AP1 at the same time as AP2, because usually 1 is a prerequisite -- you need to learn stuff from there first in order to be successful in the second.

I took a 6 week A&P 1 summer course and it kind of sucked. My instructor cut a lot of things out that he didn't "think was important," and I feel like I missed out on a lot.

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I'm surprised a college is going to let you take the AP1 at the same time as AP2, because usually 1 is a prerequisite -- you need to learn stuff from there first in order to be successful in the second.

I took a 6 week A&P 1 summer course and it kind of sucked. My instructor cut a lot of things out that he didn't "think was important," and I feel like I missed out on a lot.

I ended up deciding against it but it's actually 4 weeks of A&PI and then 4 weeks of A&PII so the prerequisite requirement is filled.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Hey all! Just a little update.... I'm in my second week of class and I had to stay out sick today :( I miscounted the amount of weeks for each class, so they're each 5 weeks long with one lecture test per week and two lab quizzes per week. We also have 2 lab practicals per class. I took my first test last Thursday and scored a 98%!!!! It took a lot of studying though and even though I missed today's lecture, I'm hoping that I can still score an A on this test. However, it's not the end of the world if I don't because we have 5 tests and she drops our lowest one. The class is structured so that on MTWR we're in lecture from 12:30-2:25 and then lab on TR from 8a-12p. Soooo yeah that means over 6 hours in class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But y'all keep your fingers crossed for me on my second unit test tomorrow!

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I think it all depends on you. I took A&P 1 during a normal semester and got a B. Took A&P 2 in a 4 week summer class and got an A. I found that while it was a lot of information to take in there was no room to slack therefore I stayed on task. Good luck!

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Hey all! Just a little update.... I'm in my second week of class and I had to stay out sick today :( I miscounted the amount of weeks for each class, so they're each 5 weeks long with one lecture test per week and two lab quizzes per week. We also have 2 lab practicals per class. I took my first test last Thursday and scored a 98%!!!! It took a lot of studying though and even though I missed today's lecture, I'm hoping that I can still score an A on this test. However, it's not the end of the world if I don't because we have 5 tests and she drops our lowest one. The class is structured so that on MTWR we're in lecture from 12:30-2:25 and then lab on TR from 8a-12p. Soooo yeah that means over 6 hours in class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But y'all keep your fingers crossed for me on my second unit test tomorrow!

I'll keep my digits firmly crossed!

Read your textbook and you'll be fine - if you have access to the powerpoints, let those guide your reading. Now you've had one test already, you know the general format of the other tests.

After class is all over with, make sure you keep reading the book - refresh yourself on your material, even if you're just reading the summary parts. Don't lose what you're trying so hard to acquire! :) Good luck, and if you've got any questions about the material, feel free to PM me

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Thank you to everyone for your advice and encouragement on this thread. I finish A&P 1 this Thursday and I am basically guaranteed an A in the class. The only way I could get a B at this point is if I get below a 60 on my final exam, so I think I'm pretty set. Here's to praying for the same good outcome in A&P 2!!!

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Oh and to address the people that thought that the instructor would have to cut out a lot of stuff to make the classes fit into this short of a time frame, she actually uses the same exact material for her 16 week classes as she does for these 5 week classes. I asked her about this the other day and she said that the amount of time we get to spend in class does balance out with the regular 16 week semesters, since we go 4 days a week instead of only 2. She said that the only thing she cut out is some pathophysiology stuff having to do with neurotransmitters because we have a whole class on pathophysiology in our second semester of the nursing program, so she thinks it's a waste of time. She started cutting it out for her 16 week semesters, too, so it's not just our class. And now to address the people that thought that I wouldn't actually learn anything in this fast of a class, I honestly beg to differ now. Although only time will tell how prepared I am for my nursing classes, I am an extremely fast learner and actually have the highest grade in my class (a 96%). I believe that this style of class is tailor made for someone with my learning style, honestly. I wish I could take all of my prerequisites in this fast of pace.

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Grats on passing!

They may still cut things out - there is a difference in curriculum between the community college I work at and the private one I attend. Use this time to review and go deeper :D You'll have a much easier time in classes like Pathophysiology if you -really- know your A&P, like, get right down into the electron transport chain for instance.

1st/2nd messenger system is fun (you'll tackle this in A&P2) as is knowing things like action potential. What happens if we get too much sodium and no potassium? What happens if the channels are faulty?

One thing that blew my students mind was when I told them that "Osmotic pressure" referred to more than concentration of salt in water (the professor had only used sodium as an example, so that's what they thought D: ). Then suddenly, some things started to make a bit more sense haha

Your biggest hurdle now will be retaining what you have learned - this happens over time. Just be sure to review your material often; you don't have to go crazy in depth with it, maybe flick through some notes 1x a week and give yourself a refresher. Even as a tutor, I still have to go over my notes so that I can be sure that I'm presenting correct information to my students.

I think you'll enjoy A&P2!! Let us know how you do :)

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Thanks Wiggly! I have thoroughly been enjoying the class and I have been taking it upon myself to go deeper into the textbook than what I absolutely need to know for the tests. Not only does this benefit me on the tests because her questions seem so easy, but I'm hoping that this will help me out in my nursing classes because I will have a deeper understanding of the material than my peers. We had to buy this access code for McGraw Hill Connect that is good for 18 months, so that will take me well into my nursing classes. So I plan on continuing to do a few practice questions here and there or even re read chapters if I seem to really be missing chunks of information. Plus, I'm making a really nice colorful binder full of notes, organized by chapter. That way, I'll have that to refer to, even long after the access code expires.

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That's great!! I'm so glad you're enjoying the material and taking steps to retain the stuff you have learned so far :D

This site helped me with action potentials - for some reason, I had the hardest time learning this when we were covering it in class, but the diagrams showing when each channel opened/closed really made the penny drop for me:

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Here's another resource I loooooove~

Pat Bowne's PATHO

It's not just patho, but there are A&P bits on there with some awesome interactive powerpoints to go along with it.

I'll have a mull over my bookmarks and see what other stuff I can dig out that may help in the quest for knowledge.

Have an awesome day!

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