Advanced prep for A&P and Micro

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I'm taking both of these classes this Spring and while I'm waiting for them to begin at the end of January, I'd like to get a little jump on things. I haven't purchased my textbooks yet and likely won't until after the holidays.

Any ideas on what can get me the most bang for my "buck" meaning time spent? I will definitely have my house in order and be organized but I'd like to begin reading/studying. I may check to see if the library has the textbooks or similar ones that I can check out and start reading. I'm hoping Santa brings me some Anatomy flash cards for Christmas so I can start looking at those.

But any help I can get from others who have been there would be appreciated.

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Specializes in Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.

Start learning bones and muscles. You will have to learn these, and this was the hardest part for me. Get the A&P for dummies book for $15 and start working through it and get some basic knowledge. It will help when you start getting into detail in class.

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I'm taking A&P next semester also. I've already downloaded some apps for the Human Anatomy on my phone so I can play around with that. I also bought myself flash cards and one of those anatomy coloring book to get a jump start on that class next semester. Best of luck to you!

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Begin with anatomical terminology. You will have to know how to describe the location of all parts of the body in relation to one another. For example, lateral & medial, superficial & deep, ventral & dorsal, etc.

Learn all the organs and their locations. We were expected to already know this on the first day.

From there, you can start to study histology. Epithelial tissue, Connective Tissue, Muscle Tissue, and Nervous Tissue.

After that, bones. And by bones this means all 206 and the different aspects of each bone. Bones are much more in depth than you would imagine, and I was required to know almost every part of every bone. Knowing this very well comes in handy when you reach your study on muscles, because you will need to know muscle origin and insertion.

Then, study the muscles. Every one.

Cranial nerves, CNS, and PNS come next.

This is a basic breakdown of the anatomy lab that I had, which was much more intense than my lecture. With lecture, you will go in depth on the physiological aspects of all of these parts. For example, how a muscle contracts.

Lab is pure memorization, and if you can get a head start I would definitely do it!! It will pay off in the long run.

As for microbiology, I am taking that in the Spring as well. I am very excited for that class!

Good Luck!!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

I second what Samsilva said. If at all possible, try to get your hands on any A&P text book and start reading it in the order SamSilva said the topics will be taught.

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I am starting A and P in the Spring as well. I got the flashcards and the anatomy coloring book as well. Plan on getting the text book as soon as possible. Good luck this next semester:)

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Everything samsilva said. Is there any way you can email the teachers and ask for a copy of their syllabi? I think that would help because you would know what chapters/concepts to cover on your own.

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I havent received my books yet...but I found... this website Get Body Smart It has all the systems listed and you click on each part and it separates everything out to learn functions. It seems to be a great tool to really learn this material.

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Everything samsilva said. Is there any way you can email the teachers and ask for a copy of their syllabi? I think that would help because you would know what chapters/concepts to cover on your own.

Good idea! I'll do this. Thanks.

I uploaded a Micro Made Easy book on my Kindle and am reading that before bed at night. I'm less worried about Micro than I am about A&P. My specialty as an undergrad was microbial genetics and I worked in the micro lab at school. I was the one who chose the "mystery microbe" for the final project for the students. Hopefully it will all come back to me.

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I havent received my books yet...but I found... this website Get Body Smart It has all the systems listed and you click on each part and it separates everything out to learn functions. It seems to be a great tool to really learn this material.

Excellent resource! Thanks!!

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