a & p hard? opinions

mistydave · Feb 11, 2007

or I guess what i am actually asking, is there something particular I need to pay attention to? Or just study everything and study it hard? Is it mostly memorization? Looking for those that have already been through a & p.

Jules A, MSN · Feb 11, 2007

Hi,

I didn't think it was hard but I did study a lot and stayed on top of what we were doing because it was a large amount of material. Good luck, Jules

xt1 · Feb 11, 2007

Anatomy and Physiology is not hard. Just buy your anatomy and physiology book and start reading thoroughly so that you understand how everything works. Memorizing stuff is a bad way to learn something because you'll have forgotten it before you get to the middle of the book. But if you take the time to understand how it all fits together and get a mental image of the process in your head you'll never forget it. That's the reason I always hated flash cards. I say if you want to do this for a career you should want to understand everything about it.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Feb 11, 2007

i had already taken an anatomy and physiology course in high school. so, i had already been exposed to what the course encompassed. there is a lot to learn. it is known that learning is best done when you break it up into short study sessions over a long period of time. this is why people who repeat a class generally do better in it--because they are being exposed to it for a second time. i think that it also helps to have supplemental books that present the same information in another way, or a simpler way also help when you have difficulty understanding concepts. it helps the brain cogitate and assimilate the information. if you can find some old used anatomy texts i would get them. never hurts to have these second opinions around. flashcards will help with memorizing the names, places and functions of bones and muscles. for some difficult concepts you just have to stick your head in the book, read them slowly and think on them over and over until they finally sink into your brain. there is a "sticky" thread for anatomy that has anatomy website links on it on the pre-nursing student forum. here is a link to that forum: https://allnurses.com/forums/f198/

The Bell Jar · Feb 11, 2007

Flashcards will help.I thought that A&P sure made more sense and was 'easier' when you got to the body systems etc.

No,A&P was a lot easier for me than Fundamentals.

onduty23 · Feb 11, 2007

my school we took a &p before we got into nursing school

MB37 · Feb 11, 2007

I don't know why flash cards wold hurt, but I would make them and not buy them. Some things you do need to memorize - origin/insertion, vocabulary, exact locations of structures - but of course I agree that you should concentrate more on actually learning functions and relationships. Try several different study methods and see what works for you. Also, try to keep up on the reading. Read before class, and even if you don't understand it all yet you'll be familiar with the vocabulary and basic concepts, and know which parts were most confusing. A&P isn't that HARD of a class, it's just very very time-consuming. People struggle often because they fall behind and get frustrated that they can't catch up.

smk1, LPN · Feb 11, 2007

Hi everyone, starting nursing school in April and I am just so excited. I hear the hardest thing for most nursing students is A&P. This will be in my first set of classes. One girl who attends my school and is a semester in front of me said the whole class failed the first test. Well......my thoughts are....if I start studying now, I have 2 months to get thei a & P thing down before classes actually start. I went to the library and rented 6 books. Any thoughts?

I didn't think 1st quarter was very hard or had a lot of in depth A&P focus. Nursing school can be far more subjective than A&P and there is a lot of prioritization which can be tricky because the priorities will differ depending upon the situation. As far as later on the A&P gets more in depth and it would benefit you to be familiar with Acid-Base buffer systems, Renin-angiotensin pathway, Cardiac anatomy and physiology, Intracellular fluid composition and Extracellular fluid composition and how they relate to each other, Major endocrine system organs, their functions and chemical secretions, Neuro anatomy and knowing which areas of the brain control certain processes, Cranial nerve fucntions, The female reproductive cycle and the hormones that control the processes. Obviously everything is important, but these are some topics for which we have been expected to have a deeper knowledge base. You can always review, but it is nice to be able to just skim review materials instead of having to "learn" it all again. THere really isn't a lot of time for that. You need to be able to read and move on. I think the best thing that you can do for yourself is to get organized, get a schedule set up for your time, because first quarter was all about time managment, it was very busy. If you have a poor memory, this is something to work on improving also. You really don't have a lot of time to "study", again you may need to just read and be able to retain that info (even nitpicky details) and be able to apply it in months and quarters to come (and years for when you area nurse!). So the best gift that you can give yourself is time and a good memory and work on critical thinking skills. You also may want to practice your basic math skills if you are rusty. Multiplication and division of decimals, dimensional analysis and basic algebra review (nothing to tricky here), also find out if you are allowed to use calculators for testing in your program. If not, then you need to know how to do this by hand.

smk1, LPN · Feb 11, 2007

I re-read your post and it sounds like you wll be taking everything together. If this is so then you wil be even more busy. Time management will be key. Personally I can't imagine starting nursing school without the A&P classes, psych and other base information to lean upon.

flyakite80 · Feb 11, 2007

In my school, they do Anatomy and Physiology seperately. Anatomy was alot of memorization of body systems and parts, whereas Physiology was much more about understanding the way the parts all work together. I struggled with Physiology especially at the cellular level. It was so hard to grasp certain concepts that you can't see with the naked eye! I did come out of it with the same grade I got in Anatomy, but I feel like I worked twice as hard just to comprehend it all.

shoegalRN, RN · Feb 12, 2007

A & P was also separately at my school prior to attending the nursing program. I am so glad I did it that way too. Anatomy was alot of memorization (such as the bones, parts on the bone, the orgins and insertions, the muscle systems including all the muscle groups). Phys was application. It is understanding the chemical breakdown of how the body works. I am so glad I took it this way because it is helping me out a ton in Pathophysiology.

It's doable, but you have to really stay on top of it.