Getting a head start on A&P

AlishiaRN77 · Oct 18, 2008

I'm not sure what book you'll be using but most of the time you can go to the website of the book and look up stuff on there to guide you through.

There are many websites online that you can go through. Google - Anatomy and Physiology.

Another thing that I did was I started memorizing bones/muscles. Although you probably won't get to them until the 3rd or 4th chapter its good to start early.

Good luck to you with the class. You're going to love it as long as you keep up with the reading!

BellasMommyOBRN · Oct 18, 2008

my suggestion would be to simply look through the book and get a feel for what you will be learning. students that i tutor often struggle with the basic biochemistry portion due to the lack of chemistry or if they haven't been to school in awhile.

also, find a study pattern that will work for you asap!

you seem like you have the right attitude entering the course and that your ready for the challenge. my guess is that you'll do great!

:yeah:

Snowii · Oct 18, 2008

Bones/Muscles and Nervous system stuff.

kalley · Oct 18, 2008

I definitely agree on learning the bones/muscles and all parts of them. The biochem stuff can be a little confusing too. That is as far as we are so I can't really give you much more info than that.

As far as figuring the best way to study now, I think that would be hard. I find that the way that I study is totally dependent on the teacher and what they are looking for. For example, my prof. tests straight from the book multiple choice questions. You have to know the information, but you do have an opportunity to see the questions before hand, eventhough you don't know which one he will be choosing. You still have to know the information to get an A and more than half my class is failing. Other teachers at my school ask more short answer questions and I know that I would study totally different for that type of testing, KWIM. Good luck when you do start. It is a lot of information, but is very interesting.

polka-dot, RN · Oct 18, 2008

Review the chemistry section, plus the general stuff about regional terms and body orientation. I wouldn't necessarily jump into the muscles just yet...there are more than 600 muscles in the body and it is unlikely that you will need to know all of them. For instance, my instructor gave us a list of 60 that we had to know. Doesn't sound like a lot until you add in the origins, insertions and actions for each. Ugh!

Generally, those first few chapters of the book would be a great basis upon which to build future knowledge. I wouldn't get into too much detail for each system, because again...the book is likely going to go into more detail than your instructor. However, if you read the first few chapters (up to the Integumentary System) and then also read an overview book such as one of the Dummies guides or something like that, then that would be extremely helpful.

Another great book is called "Get ready for A&P"...you can find it used for about $10 on amazon.com. It basically gets your basic skills up to speed such as math, terminology, chem, etc... I used it before my A&P class and it helped a lot...here is a link.

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Ready-Lori-K-Garrett/dp/0321493265/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224348652&sr=8-1

Good luck to you! A&P is a great class!

sunray12 · Oct 18, 2008

While its great to be able to get a head start, without a syllabus you won't know where to focus your study in a way that will help you get good grades once you start taking the course. So I suggest finding a syllabus and work using that. If you don't have access to the syllabus for the course that you're signed up for yet then there are lots of course websites out there with similar information.

Sand_Dollar, BSN · Oct 18, 2008

Thanks everyone!

The text we will be using is Anatomy & Physiology by Kenneth S. Saladin. The syllabus is online and we will only be covering only the first 10 chapters (whew!)

I think I'm going to get the book Polka-dot recommended as well as "Chem for Bio students". I'm going to have them both read before classes start in Jan.

I already found a publisher site from a different book and put in their flashcards into quizlet. There were 100+ terms for the first chapter and I thought - Oh Cr@p! That's what lead me to post here, I know you all have great ideas on where to get a head start on things. I really appreciate the great advice!!

kalley · Oct 19, 2008

We also use the Saladin book. It is really full of information and always doesn't portray it in the best way (I don't think). But the book website has some invaluable study aids. There are matching games, crossword puzzles, labeling exercises, practice quizes, and animations. I make sure I go through all of them before every test and feel prepared enough that if I got a test from any of the teachers at my school I could at least pull a B. My teacher pulls all of the test questions from the practice tests so I am able to easily get an A. I also do all of the questions at the end of each chapter.

You are lucky you are only going through the first 10 chapters. Our midterm is on chapters 1-9 and then we will be skipping around the book for the second half of the semester. Best of luck.

ETA: The Saladin book website is www.mhhe.com/saladin4

Sand_Dollar, BSN · Oct 19, 2008

Kalley,

Thanks so much for the site! I have a Bio book that's linked through the same Aris site and I was trying to find a link to the Saladin one. That's awesome. Now to put those flashcards into quizlet and start getting those terms down. I like the practice tests, hopefully my prof will do the same and take them from there.

Thanks again!

NewGoalRN · Oct 19, 2008

I am currently taking ap1 and I have an a average. What helped me tremendously was reading throught he first 2 chapters and doing the first chapter exercises for the lab.

Things that are worth your while knowing or reviewing before hand are:

suffixes/prefixes : eg, tacy-fast, brady-slow, itis- inflammation, derrmis- sking, etc

Quandrants/sections of the body i.e hypogastric, lumbar,

names of the body parts i.e cranial-skull, popiteal- hollow in the back of kneen, brachia- arm, carpal- wrist,

Homeostatus, parts of a cell, neurons, electrons, protrons, etc.

I wouldn't go pass the Integumentary system, ie vetebrae, skeletal syste, thoracic, lumbar, cervice, etc, Cranial/facial bones, skin and it's layers etc.

I wouldn't do much more than this because as theo thers have said, ap texts tend to be very involved and most teachers don't go into all of that detail.