If you could study before A & P I, what would you have done to get ahead before it??

liquidblue · Dec 28, 2008

The hardest part for me was the bones. I would have been fine if I had thought to start memorizing ahead of time! My recommendation is start studying the bones (and muscles, if you have lots of spare time) ahead of time. Make flash cards, write out the words, whatever it is that helps the information stick in your head.

cjcsoon2bnp, MSN, RN, NP · Dec 28, 2008

My recommendations would be to buy the textbook your going to use for the class ahead of time and start reviewing the beginning chapters. The coloring books help if you are a visual learner, I wouldn't use them in lieu of reviewing the textbook but buying them and coloring them in can be a fun way to begin learning A&P and getting used to the terminology before you start the class. I think people are expecting too much from the coloring books they are supplements to learning but they aren't textbooks, its just to get you started. If you want to go to work and memorize bones and all that business that's fine but personally I wouldn't until I started the class to found out exactly what the professor expects you to know. If you haven't taken a science class in a long time or aren't strong in science I would take a general biology course to review and brush up on your biology terminology. I think that once you start the class if you make up flash cards, form study groups and study daily (even if its only a little bit each day) then you will do fine. Just remember not to stress yourself out too much and that there is such a thing as overstudying. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

!Chris :specs:

Nepenthe Sea · Dec 28, 2008

I started studying for A&P I in the summer and took the class in the fall. I got "Anatomy and Physiology for Dummies", and spent some time reading it. I did the same for microbilogy, and I believe it helped me alot better than going in without ever having heard of any of it. I was at an advantage, too, because I had to have some A&P when I became a Licensed Massage Therapist, so the bones and muscles were mostly pretty easy for me, swince I was already familiar with them. Most people I knew had trouble with that part.

The part that got me, and that I wish I had known more about, was sliding filament theory (muscular system) and the stuff about neural pathways. Just trying to understand how those worked took lots of repetition in order for me to get it. The bones and muscles and stuff were just memorization, and no problem for me. That's just me, though.

I'm about to start studying for A&P II, to get ahead for the spring semester.

sunray12 · Dec 28, 2008

I just completed A&P I and II. If I was OP with two semesters of lead time, I'd take med term. and chemistry first. These courses would have made getting through a&p a lot less rigorous for me. As it is I'm taking med term and chem AFTER a&p so I don't get the benefit as they relate to a&p, but they are required by one of the schools I'm applying to so I gotta get them done.

Memorizing bones and muscles outside of the context of the structure and physiology wouldn't have been helpful in my courses because that's not how we were tested. No one said "okay quick - name all the bones in the body". Instead we had questions that required us to think critically about bones and/or muscles and their functions. So it was possible to know all the names and still not do all that well on tests. Just my 2.5 cents.

OC85 · Dec 28, 2008

600 ******* bones that 50 of the hardest ones had to be spelled right. I studied about 5 hrs a day for 2-1/2 weeks for that. There was nothing to chunk your memory with, since that is the anchor to relate the rest with. And there was so many of them.
Start studying your practicals early and hard. They were the hardest for me. Foreign students said that was the easiest for them since the class tests are biased toward English literate students. Your other classes will take a back seat if you don't have an LPN or similar class background.
The only 2 who did better than me were LPN's, and none of us used Flash cards; but it helped some in Practicals and hurt them in tests. Everyone is different. Good luck!

Hello,
Bones are easy, try looking up cells (e.g. golgi, mitochondria etc.), and also basic Chemistry(e.g., Lipids, ions, bonds, Carbohydrates, etc.)
It is actually all memorization, not all professors teach the same, not all want the same.
Basically don't stress it! Chill!
You'll do fine.
Good Luck!

That's what all the B and C students keep telling me.

Wow, those are some pretty big words..... Personally, I wouldn't knock osagarese's advice, because its actually very good. Also, I wouldn't make cracks like that last one because, surprising though this may be, A&P isn't really that difficult. The bones really are easy, as its all memorization, just words. Also, this: " Your other classes will take a back seat if you don't have an LPN or similar class background.". I'm sorry, but this is just absurd. We're talking about A&P as a combined discipline, here. I had to take full courses in anatomy an physiology separately [combined wouldn't cut it], and it still wasn't that difficult. The people who look at a class like A&P as super difficult, and build it up in their minds as a huge obstacle really are wasting their own time and making their lives needlessly more difficult, in my opinion. Honestly, don't stress about it, things only get more difficult from here....

Anyway, as anatomy is all memorization, I would focus more on the physio side of things if you want to study ahead of time. Understanding the structure and functions of various cell types, as well as basic chemistry, and cellular respiration would probably be helpful, as physio is more about concepts and processes than anatomy, so understanding the basics of these concepts will go a long way in helping you prepare.

seaspray700777 · Jan 2, 2009

I agree with everyone here. I recommend Holes Anatomy book as well as "The winking skull interactive website" I do alot better with the matching names to bones kindof like a game it was fun. :yeah:

LiveYourDreams · Jan 2, 2009

How I got A's in my A&P classes.

Store purchased (Netter's) flash cards helped me so much with the bones and muscles. READING my lab book definately increased my understanding. If your school offers open lab (to look at slides and models) take FULL advantage of that. If not, ask the biology department if there is a time when there are no classes in the lab that you may be able to look at the slides and models. A GOOD HISTOLOGY ATLAS helped a lot. Did you know that you can take pictures through the microscope? I purchased a Netter's atlas and an anatomy coloring book and have not used either, though for some people they really help. Last but not least.... We had weekly quizzes. After learning something in class, I studied that EVERY DAY until we learned something else, then the new information EVERY DAY, until the next, and so on. I don't believe that A&P is that hard, just time consuming. In order to master the class, you must invest yourself 100% and plan on studying daily.

ms.hopeful2013 · Jan 3, 2009

Read the book and start memorizing!

LillyBug22 · Jan 4, 2009

I start A&P1 in a week! I hope that the short time I have studied will pay off..I Studied all the organs, muscles and bones to get a head start.. here's a website I found that is a little more fun to get familiar with the exact location and facts about anatomy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/

Good Luck everyone!! :typing

meatballexperience · Jan 6, 2009

I really liked this site's tutorials....

http://www.gwc.maricopa.edu/home_pages/crimando/Tutorial_Big.htm

and for my own interest I liked this website with lots of cadaver dissection videos......I find it helpful to put the information that I have learned in perspective with the actual body

http://www.lawrencegaltman.com/Naugbio/CADAVER/GALLERY.htm

I bought Barrons Anatomy and Physiology The Easy Way and read some of that before I started A&P to get a general idea.

I would also take advantage of using any websites that accompany your text. This really helped me, especially since my professor IMO was less than wonderful.

Basically there are no shortcuts when it comes to this class. Repetition repetition repetition. It's a load of information but when broken down in small amounts its doable.

Snowii · Jan 7, 2009

Bones, cranial and spinal nerves, endocrine hormones, lymph organs. OH! And parts of the eye... when we did special senses I missed every single question about the eye.

Adams_Mommy_07 · Jan 7, 2009

I got a 95 in A&P I last semester, but after minoring in Biology in undergraduate school (very little of which I used in A&P I--not too much genetics, ecology, and immunology in my course...but hey...) I thought my instructor was too easy. I, having the experience that I do, would rather have had fill in the blanks, short essay, and essay questions---I probably would have had a 100 then. I tend to second guess myself with multiple choice...grrrr... My point is, route memorization (which I do NOT prefer over demonstration of knowlege of concepts) is the name of the game in A&P I, typically, thus getting familiar with the material is the best way to go at this point. The best things to study, not to be redundant, are bones, markings, muscles, and to some extent tissues (only superficially). If you have no prior experience in biology, look over basic cell structure and familiarize yourself with organelles and their funtions. Your textbook and lab books likely have these pictures/tables/information in them, so I would study off of those. I did not use any supplementary materials and half of the bones I had never heard of--sad given bio was my minor, but I was immersed in a different subfield of biology.

In my class we covered cells, tissues, Integument, Osseous Tissue, Bones, Muscle Tissue, Muscles, Neural Tissue, Spinal Cord, and The Brain. I've noticed other students covered other topics on these boards so I have no opinion on lymphatic or endocrine systems.