Anatomy & Physiology 2 Exam 2 Any Possible Tips for Heart and Blood Vessels)

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Hi guys so the reason I'm writing this is because I'm currently freaking out, I recently had a test on the endocrine system, while I thought I did okay I can for sure say I didn't think I got 100% plus once the grades weren't posted when my professor said they were going to be listed and then emailed us saying scantron machines are broken and we need to wait, I started freaking out which lead me to ask one of the questions I was contemplating choice to find out I should of gone with my second choice and even though my answer was right it wasn't the answer she wanted so now I'm currently making myself sick because what if I choose more answers like that? Nursing is something I truly want and I want to do well from here forward.

For the next test, it is on the heart and blood vessels, my studying technique is fine however if anybody has any additional info on this area or practice questions/review sheets or whatever, I'm literally all ears. I don't know if I even did poorly but if i did I don't want to continue to do poorly. I already dropped the class over the summer when my professor said I was failing the tests but wouldn't show me my actual tests so I dropped before it effecting my gpa...this is why dropping is not an option but I can tell you for certain that I DO understand the material better now.

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To give you an idea on how I'm doing in my other nursing related classes, I have A's so I know it's not my study method and I also know nursing is for me because if it wasn't I don't think i would be doing this well so again any info you got is good info right now

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Specializes in Postpartum, PICU.

First off, try to take a deep breath!! If you're an A student I think you will be fine! Because now you know its not YOU, it's the way you approach the material. Nursing questions can be very tricky but you always want to think about which one makes the most sense. This is something that will come with time, I promise. A&P can be very challenging since it's a lot of information. I don't have any specific study sheets or anything but I do suggest going on Youtube. YouTube was my best friend during nursing school. There are tons of videos that make anatomy and physiology easy to understand and you can learn some great mnemonics to help you remember stuff! Also, try taking handwritten notes (if you don't already do so). Color coding/drawing stuff will probably help you understand & remember things better! At least it did for me. Everyone always has a weak spot but you just have to keep trying and trying. Nursing is hard but it's worth it :)

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I'm currently in A&P 2 also and my next lecture exam is over the heart and blood vessels! So far I have an A in the class... I will share with you my study techniques but I know each person is different. In lecture I don't take a lot of notes unless the instructor says this you need to know or this will be on the exam. If he says that I write it down with stars next to it. My instructors lecture 100% from powerpoints they make. I make flash cards over each PowerPoint slide. I review the PowerPoint or the flash cards covering the topic we are currently on every single day (takes about an hour). The day or two before the exam I go over al the powerpoints and/or flash cards that will be on that exam. That's it! The more you write it down and the more times you expose the information to your brain the more it makes sense. I also try to pair letters within words to remind myself which is like a word trick/game that works well for me but is hard to explain. The only example I can think of now is Artery and Away. The As remind me that arteries carry blood away from the heart. Hope that helps! Good luck

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Thanks guys! I already use your study tips to a degree the only thing I haven't done is YouTube videos because I've tried a couple of times and basically it didn't turn out so well but illvretry that!

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I LOVED the heart and blood vessels unit, I find it absolutely fascinating. Is it both conceptual as well as practical? Do the obvious - ask your professor questions, look at animations online, and study as much as possible. The concepts are a little more tricky than some of the other sections of A&P, but I found that a lot of the things we learned could be easily related back to the things you see on medical dramas, which made it easy to remember.

For the practical part, it's all just memorization. There are a lot of self-assessments online that you can use. My school's library actually had the models we used in class that you could check out for a couple of hours, which was also helpful.

This may seem totally obvious, but I think the best way to learn both together is to be able to follow the blood flow from one specific chamber, through the entire body, and back into that same chamber. Start broadly and then narrow down. Then ask yourself specifics - eg, if a drop of blood starts in the left atrium, name everything it passes through until it reaches the inferior vena cava. If you practice it enough, you will learn the sequence very easily. There are also a few quizlet pages that have questions like this if I recall correctly.

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Practical is the easier part for me (I'm sure for most people it is) I just want as much practice test questions and all I don't want to make it some sort of consideration that I could do bad because I plan to review like no other....I use every supplements I can so far too like going to the library to look at the models, Pearson etc

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I agree with memorizing the flow of blood from the very beginning, through all chambers, lungs, body, etc and back. That won't only help you understand this test better, but it will come in handy in nursing school where you are learning about heart failure and where the fluid would be backing up into and therefore causing problems. Good luck!

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I am with everyone else here who's said that the heart and vessels is an interesting unit - this one is where I got most of my ah-ha! moments when I took pathophysiology because it really started tying everything together.

As the previous poster said - learn the flow of blood through the heart and lungs now; it really will serve you well later on. Try to relax, review often, and always go with your gut on tests unless you get that magic ah-ha! moment.

There's not much else that I can say that others haven't said already - youtube vids are amazing supplements to your slides; they were a godsend for me when I was going through A&P and got hung up on certain concepts.

Rock on etc. I think you'll be fine!

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

For the circulatory system make sure you can talk through in your head, or draw if you are a visual person, the roadmap of the system start as the blood enters the heart: RA through TV into RV through PV into the PA to the lungs to the PV back to the LA through the MV into the LV through the AV into the AscA into the....

You can start simple (AscA to arteries to capillaries to veins to IVC/SVC to RA) and then add on the major branches.

EDIT: Some professors love to ask the classic trick question of "what is the only artery to carry deoxygenated blood" or the "only vein to carry oxygenated blood" so don't miss that one!

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Specializes in NICU.

Give me the whole fetal and adult cardiac circulation.

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I found a cool tip on a RN website about the valves. When the blood Is coming in from the veins, it goes through the valves. First tricuspid, than bicuspid.. because you have to try it before you buy it... silly lol, but true.

also remember the superior vena cava and the other veins are bringing in DEoxygenated blood to the heart. Arteries are taking away oxygenated blood from the heart and giving organs and tissues the oxygenated blood fang they need to survive.

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