Human anatomy & physiology part 1?

lecole01 · Jul 17, 2017

Reading the book and taking notes from it was the only way I studied for A&P I &II and I got an A and a B for parts 1& 2.

Oh wow, congratulations! I will see how that works out for me though and I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Beldar_the_Cenobite, CNA · Jul 17, 2017

I got an A- in A&P so I'll provide what helped me. At the beginning of the semester, my teacher said,"I know you all want to be nurses, so the best way to learn this class is to print out your power points in color because the brain loves colors". Do that if your teacher uses and tests off power points. There are some teachers who test off the book. Muscles was VERY hard for me and everyone else that tried to take it. Once you get to that part, block everything out of your mind. It was the lowest exam score I had. Then the brain exam was like really easy and I scored really high on that as well. Muscles seemed easy and I thought I did well but boy was I wrong. Don't underestimate the muscles section. If you're taking good teachers for lab and lecture, that REALLY helps. I recorded my lectures and saw a tutor on campus and if you do everything I said, providing your school has what my school had that i listed, you should be fine and have a desire to learn and take down notes. Write in colors too. I started getting the hang of that when my teacher would write in color when she had to draw something on the board like "This is what happens when an action potential reaches threshold" and she'd draw in different colors. She was awesome.

sunny2 · Jul 17, 2017

It really depends on your teacher and my teacher's test were based solely on his powerpoint and lecture and I didn't need to read the book in order to do good on the test.

1. Recording his lecture

2. Making flashcards based on the powerpoint

3. Drawing out the material, making picture, using different colors to make sense of the material to learn the different parts and layers

4. Watching youtube videos was helpful for the lab practical because I didn't have the equipment at home

The most important thing is to study a little everyday instead of cramming everything into one weekend before the test. This is impossible to do with a anatomy and physiology class because there is so much material to memorize!

lecole01 · Jul 17, 2017

Thank you for your response! I hope that my teacher is just as awesome as yours! & I am glad that you brought it to my attention about recording the lectures because that would be very beneficial for me.

lecole01 · Jul 17, 2017

The teacher that I will be taking tests and quizzes are based off of her power points as well! Not to mention, I do learn best with flascards & I will be sure to record the lectures. Thank you for the tips. I really appreciate it.

Beldar_the_Cenobite, CNA · Jul 17, 2017

It really depends on your teacher and my teacher's test were based solely on his powerpoint and lecture and I didn't need to read the book in order to do good on the test.
1. Recording his lecture
2. Making flashcards based on the powerpoint
3. Drawing out the material, making picture, using different colors to make sense of the material to learn the different parts and layers
4. Watching youtube videos was helpful for the lab practical because I didn't have the equipment at home
The most important thing is to study a little everyday instead of cramming everyone into one weekend before the test. This is impossible to do with a anatomy and physiology class because there is so much material to memorize!

This! My tutor who tutored me had other students from different classes she was going one at a time with and she knew the teachers testing style based off the students needs in the past and she knew the teacher I took so she would say "Ok, we'll go over this, I know you don't need this because your teacher doesn't require you to learn it".

Also, when you record lectures, make sure that your recording capability in whatever device you use has high quality recording. I had an Ipod Touch that I used for a chem class that had a staidum style class room and I sat in the lower mid section. WHen I used it to record, the quality was so bad that I could hear popping, and it sounded like it was recording the lecture all the way from the back, even though I placed the recorder near my teachers podium where she'd lecture.

I recommend a stand alone, dedicated recorder.

This is what I use...

Amazon.com: Olympus VN-722PC Voice Recorders, 4 GB Built-In-Memory: Electronics

I paid $50, and it's listed for almost $100. Don't know why, but there's also a newer version available. I might look into buying a new recorder if I get into nursing school. I want to make sure anything I have does not fail. Good luck!

lecole01 · Jul 17, 2017

This! My tutor who tutored me had other students from different classes she was going one at a time with and she knew the teachers testing style based off the students needs in the past and she knew the teacher I took so she would say "Ok, we'll go over this, I know you don't need this because your teacher doesn't require you to learn it".
Also, when you record lectures, make sure that your recording capability in whatever device you use has high quality recording. I had an Ipod Touch that I used for a chem class that had a staidum style class room and I sat in the lower mid section. WHen I used it to record, the quality was so bad that I could hear popping, and it sounded like it was recording the lecture all the way from the back, even though I placed the recorder near my teachers podium where she'd lecture.
I recommend a stand alone, dedicated recorder.
This is what I use...
Amazon.com: Olympus VN-722PC Voice Recorders, 4 GB Built-In-Memory: Electronics
I paid $50, and it's listed for almost $100. Don't know why, but there's also a newer version available. I might look into buying a new recorder if I get into nursing school. I want to make sure anything I have does not fail. Good luck!

Thank you so much. & YOU WILL get into nursing school. Always keep a positive mindset. You can do it!

rileowski · Jul 17, 2017

Just finished A&P I a couple month ago and got an A in the class. It was my first time being exposed to the material, but I managed to take it all in and I learned A TON. It requires a lot of studying but if you love A&P (like me) and WANT to learn, all you have to do is put in the time and you'll do fine.

Flashcards are a great tool for anatomy, because anatomy is mostly memorization--cranial nerves, landmarks of bones, functions of certain parts of the brain, etc. However, flashcards aren't that affective when it comes to physiology (in my opinion) because it's not about memorizing, but understanding.

Don't worry too much about taking notes in lecture. You can if you want to, but I found it helpful to pay attention instead of trying to write down everything he said. I would take notes when I read through the chapters in the book as well as from the printed powerpoints my professor handed out. And once I had pages and pages and pages of quality notes, I'd rewrite them a few times before the test so it'd stick better.

I'd also highly recommened Professor Fink on YouTube. He has a whole playlist on Anatomy and a whole playlist on Physiology. I'm currently in the middle of his physiology playlist and I love it! I'm learning so much and I'm going to breeze through A&P II because of him. For his videos, don't take a whole lot of notes. Just pay attention and try to really understand what he is teaching. I take notes on the really important stuff I know I'll need for nursing, like normal pH level of the blood, for example, but for the most part I just soak it in.

A&P is an essential class for nursing. Study hard and you'll learn a ton.

Good Luck!

lecole01 · Jul 17, 2017

Thanks a lot! I just checked out Professor Fink and he is outstanding.

djh123 · Jul 18, 2017

Here's one: I made up a little thing to help me remember the vertebrae in order: Cute Tots Love Sugar Candy- Cervical Thoracic Lumbar Sacral Coccyx.

Indeed, cute tots DO love sugar candy. :^)

4tomorrow · Jul 18, 2017

I think you should first ask yourself how you learn best. Are you a visual learner or do you understand things best after you read them? We all learn in different ways so start by asking yourself what has worked best for you in the past and what methods you prefer.

I took Anatomy during the summer period which was fast paced and intense. However, I relied heavily on coloring books, flash cards, YouTube, and study groups. I highly recommend the Interactive Biology channel on YouTube for Physiology concepts. He explains it in a very clear and concise way which my Physio prof could never do.

So my tips are to find out how you learn best, get the tools ready and find your tribe in class as it's a collaborative effort for many of us in these classes. Good luck!

Beldar_the_Cenobite, CNA · Jul 18, 2017

all you have to do is put in the time and you'll do fine.

That's another thing my teacher said was that A&P is very time consuming. If all you have is time, you'll be fine. If you're kind of "dee dee dee" and take it with another class that is hard, you'll struggle. That's all I heard last semester was students struggling between Micro and A&P or Math and A&P or something that requires a lot of studying with A&P. A&P should be taken with a class like intro to music, like a class that's an easy A, open book exam, or exam answers that can be answered online. A&P is no joke, same with Micro. I'm sure Pathophysiology, which is a combo of micro and both A&P classes, should be taken by itself because then everything gets thrown in plus a sprinkle of nursing stuff.

A girl I used to be friends with took micro and A&P I at the same time and didn't have boyfriend issues like the other girl I knew did and she did fine. Don't know about the boyfriend issues one tho.