Gettting lost in the details

[OBplease]

This is kind of a vent of sorts but I would appreciate any helpful hints. I'm in AP2 right now and I'm finding that I'm getting lost in the details and having a hard time figuring out what I need to learn and what is just "extra". For instance, I'm in the cardiovascular system right now and I can read about and recall things like the the pathway through the heart but when I get down to ions and what chemicals set off what in a process, I get lost and I can't pick out the important information. Same thing happened with clotting. I know the main steps in hemostasis and what SOME of the factors do but I can't remember the action of every factor. Vascular chapter is next and I have a HUGE lab due, involving cardiac and vascular, worth a fifth of the total class points. I feel like I'm spending so much time trying to get some of the details of theses processes, I'll never get to the lab. Any ideas how to best read this and pick out exactly what I need to know? I have tried to go through the review at the back of the chapter but it doesn't seem to give enough details.

[Saysfaa]

Maybe it would help to read over the course objectives. They may or may not be attached to the syllabus (usually not). These are often detailed enough to use as the kinds of direction you are asking for.