Can anyone give me advice on studying for Anatomy Class?

[NoSleepTil'...]

i just started anatomy and i'm so overwhelmed i feel like i'm just spinning my wheels when i study!

i'm still studying cell life and tissues i am trying to remember every little thing. i'm exhausted and a little discouraged. i just don't know exactly what i will be tested on so i am trying to do it all at once. i can't imagine that i will be tested on every little thing....or maybe i will....i don't know?!

can anyone suggest a direction or a focus point on how to study such a broad subject.

any advice would be really, really appreciated.

thank you thank you :bowingpur

[js408]

I couldn't agree with you more. You would think it is just memorization and regurgitation, but it's so hard to retain it sometimes. I just took a muscles exam today and couldn't even remember some of my origin and insertion points.

I thought of a pretty cool mnemonic for the quadriceps group though.

Q: What are the attachments for the quadriceps group?

A: "I Fart, Poop, and Tinkle."

Ilium, Femur, Patellar, and Tibia.

It's kind of lame...

Yah I've got some good ones also. There's a restaurant near me called Bucca's so now I remember that the Bucca is the cheek area because I ate so much spaghetti that my cheeks almost blew up. Ok that's not so good. How about sura = calf. Tom Cruise's daugter is named Suri and she's a calf so there you go. Then the mediastinum reminds me of Howard Stern because he's the king of all media. Not sure how that helps me remember what it is but it's funny.

[NoSleepTil'...]

thank you all soooo much. i too have tons of flashcards and it's only the second week:bugeyes:! i know handfuls of people who are nurses and have passed this course. so i can too....hee hee. :) i can do it, i can do it, i can do it.

thank you all for the posts

[CorazonDeOro]

You need to study every day and every minute that you're awake and not in class if you want an A. These are the serious classes that make or break a pre-nursing student. They're supposed to be hard. Time to step up to the challenge and work your ass off.

Yeah you might as well get in the groove of studying every waking second now, nursing school is going to require serious disipline and effort, and if you hate studying I am not sure an intense science curriculum is going to work for you. Anatomy may be difficult but there is a reason it is so important! I just started A&P and I work 40 hour a week and study 2 hours a day at least. Its all about sacrifice!

[js408]

Yeah you might as well get in the groove of studying every waking second now, nursing school is going to require serious disipline and effort, and if you hate studying I am not sure an intense science curriculum is going to work for you. Anatomy may be difficult but there is a reason it is so important! I just started A&P and I work 40 hour a week and study 2 hours a day at least. Its all about sacrifice!

Exactly. Nursing school is way way way harder than the hardest anatomy course so this is our time to practice and get used to an intense schedule. I work a 40 hour week also. I get home at 5:30pm and study until 9pm or 10pm. My weekends are 8-10 hours of studying per day. Even at this rigorous schedule, I feel like I'm only barely keeping up with the classes!

[Free Coffee]

I know flash cards are a great help for most people, but I could never make much use of them. In A&P 1 we covered the Skeletal, Muscular and Nervous systems- and the Brain. I went to Staples and bought a giant dry erase board. I'd draw the general shape of the bone (muscle, cell, whatever) and label it over and over and OVER. Even for the musculature I found that writing features, functions, origins and insertions big as all outside, right in front of my face was great for memorization. I'll grant you, A 5x4 dry erase board is not very portable- but for studying at home I'd really recommend it.

[ParamedicRN2B]

It helped me to draw things out like in a notebook and label things. This was really helpful when we got into second messengers, systems, skin layers, bones, etc. Flashcards help sometimes. Go to open labs if your course has them and get hands on. Find pictures on the internet of what you're studying and label them. The dry erase board is a good idea also. most people try to learn it all in a day or two and it's very hard to do that way. you don't have to live with a book in your face but look over it often and try to pick up a few things everytime you do, after a little bit you'll be amazed at what you know. My physiology teacher suggested trying to "teach" the material to somebody or something to test how well you know the material. That approach has worked at times as well. One of my GTA's suggested making copies of the material and hanging them on the wall and peek at them while you get ready to go, brush your teeth, and other things. Maybe these will help. Good luck in your class, I know what your going through.