How did you do in A&P?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I'm taking A&P 1 right now (just started 10 days ago) and it's HARD, but I'm busting my butt and I'm learning so much. I'm so engrossed in it and it is so interesting to me. I take A&P 2 next semester.

So, if you've already taken it, how did you do?

What concepts did you find the most difficult and what resources did you use to help you?

I read ahead and do the questions in each chapter, make flash cards, and study the book and my notes along with the interactive online quizzes that come with my book. I study 2-3 hours a day, and on days I have class it's about 3-4 hours. I'm spending extra time in lab next week and I'm in the process of making a study group. My first test is in 2 weeks over chemistry, integument, histology, and the directional terms and planes.

I got an 84 on my A&P test!

The other 2 girls in my study group got an 85 and an 87.

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Specializes in None yet..
Flash cards, highlight them draw pictures. Whatever makes them easy to remember, also if your school has it do before& after school tutoring before tests too. Making different terms easy to remember is relating them to everyday things, such as the upper arm bones. Easy way to remember them is say R U humorous, for radius, ulna and humerus. Weird but it works believe me, only way i got an A&B in both classes.

What she said! Pictures, stories and jokes really help. The A&P coloring book was fun but took too much time to do for every unit. When you study, talk out loud. Videos online and use as many 3D tools you can find - models and such. That seems to cement info in.

Seems to me you've got it. Regular, thorough study and accessing all the ways of learning were key for me. For one unit of A&P, our instructor had us log the time we spent studying for the exam. There was a DIRECT correlation between time spent and grade received - best linear progression I've ever seen with zero outliers. So keep on keeping on with your study schedule!

Continue to milk that lab time! I was amazed at the number of students who tore through labs and left. Lab is an independent learning unit, not just an add on. Prestudy and post study lab just like a lecture class. The instructor always stayed as long as any students did and those discussions with just a few of us were incredibly helpful. Also, if there are extra hearts or whatever in lab, see if you can take them home and work on them there. You don't have much control over results working with a lab partner; my sweet partner grabbed our sheep brain and sliced it into chaos before I could blink. And of course, I don't motor skills by watching someone else no matter how well they do.

Most important of all, know thyself. It's good to consider what's worked for others for ideas but most important to find out how you learn best and tailor your plan to you.

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Specializes in None yet..
I got an 84 on my A&P test!

The other 2 girls in my study group got an 85 and an 87.

EXCELLENT!

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I earned an 96% ironically in A&P 1 and 2. What helped me the most of actually tutoring my friends in the class and using a portable dry erase board. Does your school have tutoring? I would break the word up into pieces to make sure I had the spelling down, and I used associations to remember a lot of the material. I studied for at least 5 hours almost every day. Our professor was pretty difficult and tricky on the exams. The labs I earned all 100+% because I made a point to utilize the practice lab. We had some extra credit, which also improved our scores. Hopefully you do too. Pay attention to how your teacher tests, and if in doubt, ask questions before you turn in your test. Also, I made a point to ALWAYS circle my first instinctual answer, and if I wasn't sure, I tried to narrow it down. The coloring book also helped, as did dissections. I actually bought a lamb's heart to study for the lab exam. Ended up with the highest score in the class!

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Specializes in Critical Care/MICU.

Congrats!

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Just had my first test today on the first three chapters. Very pleased with the 94%. I'm definitely excited to keep learning, this is just all so interesting!

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I got over 100% in both A&P 1&2. Quizlet was what I used. Our professor actually made up the quizlet's for us for each test.

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Specializes in ED.

Taking A&P3 (BI-233 at my institution) fall term. I got A's in both other A&P courses. The best thing I did was start a study group. My group is about 5 people total, any more than that and you don't get a whole lot of studying done. The group has been an invaluable resource for me and I have made some incredible friends because of it.

I don't learn well from just reading textbooks, being able to talk through the material with others seems to help me remember things best.

As far as the hardest topic so far I would say the brain, neurons, and neurotransmitters really kicked my butt and it took me a long time to get my head around it. It didn't help that our professor used to work in the field of neurophysiology and didn't realize just how difficult she was making her test until after the results came in and most of us came very close to failing.

Good luck to you!

MM

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I have my first test next week on the first 4 chapters. So far I got a 80 and a 96 on the first two quizzes. Lab we don't get quizzes or assignments on we just have a midterm and a final. I am planning on making flashcards out of my histology drawings by making copies. I feel way ahead of my class, I come to class with my own notes (teacher gave out his notes 1st class but I'm a visual learner so I write my own as I read). As a matter of fact, I must go finish reading chapter 3 right now lol

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