Failed the practical on first A&P I test.

Anne36, LPN · Feb 10, 2011

I really feel for you. I dont know how I can offer advice without being in your class, but I did find it unfair to test on Microscopy. I can see giving us a picture and then asking us what it is, but looking under the microscope is much different. We didnt have any instruction in my Lab and were just told go look at the slides, (once) and then tested on it 4 weeks later.

I had an RN in my class (retaking anatomy for a higher degree) and he even said it was BS. Let me tell you what I did toward the end of Lab. I started taking pictures with my camera, put it right up to the eyepeice and took a picture. I also started videotaping my Lab which really helped because it has audio and I could work with a partner, pointing to structures and naming them.

redtailhawk · Feb 10, 2011

Okay, just to let you know... I bombed the first practical in A & P 1, recovered and finished the class with an A... I loved lecture, dreaded lab. However, after the tissues and such, the material becomes more familiar.

Hang in there, if you're obtaining a nice grade in lecture, you're golden. It will get better in lab...

redtailhawk · Feb 10, 2011

and bring in a digital camera, as suggested on the other post... it works!

KAYBDT6, BSN, RN · Feb 10, 2011

What school? Hope this website will help.

http://nhscience.lonestar.edu/biol/index.html

SkylarNola · Feb 10, 2011

Well I think a lot of the problem is that there are 25 "stations" (microscopes, models, slides, etc.) and there's 2 questions per station. But what happens is that we only get 30 seconds per station. And since we have to try and look at horribly smudged slides and think of answers quickly, by the time you get one of them, you're called to go to the next 2. My school loves the "sink or swim"approach. I guess that explains why the A&P I classes have an 88% fail/ 12% pass rate. I guess the only real solution is to study longer? I suppose we'll see if I'm dedicated enough to be in that 12%.

chicagoing, ADN, RN · Feb 10, 2011

Does your instructor allow you sufficient lab time to look through multiple slides of the tissues in question? I have a difficult time viewing slides in the lab, so I use Google to find photos of tissues viewed through a microscope that are posted on university websites so at least I can see what I'm trying to find.

I don't like "memorizing" what a tissue looks like without trying to understand what I am looking at. Perhaps your instructor can help you? Does he/she move about the room to take a look at what the students are looking at under the microscopes?

And wow...only 3 out of 25 students will pass the class? It seems as though this A&P department has some major problems.

mangopeach · Feb 10, 2011

If they have open lab, go there as much as you can. I went every chance I got and looked at the slides outside of classtime. Looking at slides online also helped me. Make sure you know the characteristics of the different tissues. I think that makes it much more easier to identify them. And to stress again, get used to the idea of going to open lab as much as you can. I did that all the way through A&P I and II. Every program is different, but I'm in my first semester of nursing school and I'm doing the same thing with learning the skills. We have 1 class that the instructor goes over the skill. Its up to you to go to open lab after that and practice.

m9791l · Oct 8, 2012

Hi,

I am in the same situation you are. I am doing fine in the lecture portion, but failed the lab midterm. Since it counts 40% of our lab final grade, I guess I will have to drop the course. Our lab midterms were on tissue slides (name the type of tissue, name the part of the tissue the pointer is on), and bones (name the bone or articulation the pointer is on), a mitosis model (had to name structures of the cell and the stage of mitosis). I studied really hard, but as I said, I failed the lab midterm. This is really discouraging. What in the world am I doing wrong?

allnurses Guide · Oct 8, 2012

Hi,
I am in the same situation you are. I am doing fine in the lecture portion, but failed the lab midterm. Since it counts 40% of our lab final grade, I guess I will have to drop the course. Our lab midterms were on tissue slides (name the type of tissue, name the part of the tissue the pointer is on), and bones (name the bone or articulation the pointer is on), a mitosis model (had to name structures of the cell and the stage of mitosis). I studied really hard, but as I said, I failed the lab midterm. This is really discouraging. What in the world am I doing wrong?

If you studied hard and knew the material what happened during the exam? Did you blank out? Get nervous? Get confused?

Krystalanne · Oct 9, 2012

The website from my school really helped me study. And I used YouTube videos too. I failed my AP1 midterm too. I thought I was going to have to drop the class, but I ended up acing every quiz, doing all of the extra credit provided, and got over 100% on my final. The muscles were so much easier for me. I completely failed the bones. You can pull that up, I know you can, because I did it.

Palm Beach State - BSC2085L Anatomy and Physiology Lab I

Stay focused!! And good luck!

If you need anything, or have any questions... or just want to vent.... :-)

oldeddieboy · Oct 9, 2012

when i took bio classes like this, i would sometimes stay in the lab for FIVE hrs 3 or 4 times before the test. i was the only person in there 90% of the time. i got A's whereas a lot of smart people got B's or Cs. looking in the book at pictures does nothing for me.