Help! Not understanding A&P

[humboldt13]

Help! I am not understanding A&P. I felt confident about the first lecture over chapter 1 (just an overview of A&P) and part of chapter 2 (chemistry). But today he just dumped so much material I do not understandddd. Part of it was over the last half of the chemistry and we started on chapter 3 (cytology). A lot of the students in there seem to be getting it and have probably taken chem within the last couple of years or are fresh out of high school. We have only one more lecture before the first exam because of labor day. So next lecture we are going to continue lecture on chapter 3 and then start with chapter 4 (histology) and chapter 18 (cellular respiration). I record lectures in class and it has helped so far. But right now I am really not grasping half of this chem and the chapters over cells. Help! I really do not want to fail. Are there sites or books or any other tools that will help? I'm going to ask some friends too but I know many of them are busy with school as well. Are all of the systems going to be this difficult or will it only get tougher? Exam 2 will be over the integumentary, musculoskeletal, and cardiovascular systems.

[Ozzy84]

Never try to memorize stuff ... Learn it. Watch videos and try to understand how mechanism works.

[coleent33]

Anatomy seemed very overwhelming at first to most students, a lot of it stemmed from the stories we were told about the difficulty level. In anatomy you need to remember that there is just a lot of information but it is a basis of everything you need to know. I would suggest making a study schedule. Study Chapter One a Day or two, then Chapter three, then Chapter four. Don't forget to leave a few days before the test to study the material. If you find you are having to much trouble with that topic, find a study partner that knows the stuff or a lot of colleges have a tutoring center in their student buildings or library. Make use of them, they can really be helpful and you need to learn now to get help instead of just letting yourself fall behind. Also, the internet has many great resources. Khan Academy is free and amazing, google has more, your professor may have even more. Just make sure they are reliable.

If you truly apply yourself to it. You can do it. The first test is always the hardest because you don't know what its like. It does not get any easier though, once you start Anatomy 1...its all tougher from there. Hold your head high, take a deep breath, and just start studying. Practice and Repetition will be vital to learning this VERY important material.

Good Luck! xxxx

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Hi, educator here. I have found that visualization really helps understanding of complex concepts - whether it's atomic structures, cellular metabolism, cardiac function, blood circulation, etc. It provides a way to arrange things so that they make sense rather than simply trying to memorize a bunch of 'factoids'.

If you Google a bit, you can find a treasure trove of video resources. I really like blausen.com (medical illustration) because of the '3D-ish' appearance and attention to detail.

[Natasha A., CNA, LVN]

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[Natasha A., CNA, LVN]

Our Time to Learn | Early Childhood Educational Series

I will be starting Anatomy next week and I am a visual and hands-on learner. I have googled a few learning strategies that I hope will help. i keep reading about using ACTIVE LEARNING strategies. i did purchase a book called "Motivation and learning strategies for college success" and found some pretty good ways to write notes and get 90& of studying from in class lecures.

Play doo to make clay models

Create some delicious food models of human anatomy!

coloring in names and the bone/muscle ...labeling . get a blank structure model and label. *labeling games* purposegames.com

anatomy coloring books

[Guttercat, ASN, RN]

Learn it like you mean it.

There has already been a lot of great advice thus far, but I'll add that Khan is fantastic for chemistry material.

Most importantly...learn your own learning style! How and where do you concentrate best? Where can you go and what can you do to make sure you can sit down for 10 hours at a time and crap your pants with excitement over how cool this stuff is?

Remember, A/P (especially physiology) is not simply rote memorization. As others have said, you need to be able to use deductive reasoning. What worked for me was first determining where I was going with the material: What is the end goal? What are they trying to tell me? I found that skimming the chapters and highlighting first, then going over and over it with a highlighter, then stopping to review the "why's behind the what's" worked very, very well to get started.This allowed me to ask questions as I went along. Asking those questions, is what made me think. And thinking is the difference between an A and a C.

When you read, read for understanding and not knowledge. Dedicate time, a lot of it, to sitting down and understanding. The more you practice understanding, the more your brain will be your friend when attacking future chapters.

You CAN do this!!!

[Shinnichi, ADN, RN]

Everyone has mentioned a plethora of great options, but I just wanted to add in one more that helped me.

https://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse

Crash Course, specifically their Biology playlist as it has the body systems as well as some of the chemistry related to A&P. (They do also have a Chemistry playlist, but I haven't used it.)

[Ozzy84]

Maybe you may think it's too much, but I have to be honest :) my A&P summer class prof was so lazy and we did not learn in lecture a lot. But exams was super hard. So I found out Berkeley universities lectures on YouTube. There is an old lady skinny short :) very old she teach lecture .. More than an hour each one. Please try to watcher her lectures. That may help u a lot .. She has almost all A&P videos. Here one of example.

[itsmejuli]

You can bet on 10 hours of study time per week to get decent grades in science and nursing classes

[humboldt13]

I understand that nursing school will be much harder. I just meant if the systems will be harder than the chem and bio stuff at the beginning of A&P.

[ButterflyRN90, ASN, RN]

I understand that nursing school will be much harder. I just meant if the systems will be harder than the chem and bio stuff at the beginning of A&P.

Yes, it will. Instead of learning the anatomy, mostly the info in nursing school is what is wrong with that part of the body, how it got that way, how to prevent it, and how it can be dealt with. Pharmacology is a huge part since we nurses are administering the medication. The chemistry will also be there when it comes to fluid and electrolytes.

[humboldt13]

Thank you everybody. So much help! I have one week until the exam. Here goes.