Need help with preparing for Anatomy tests

AprilRNhere · Nov 6, 2007

google anatomy study aids and whatever you're studying at the time. I often found some great drag and drop websites that were helpful. Anatomy coloring books are helpful for many....though they just annoyed me. I just did multiple websites for each system as we learned it. I learn better by understanding..not memorization. Honestly....most of anatomy for me didn't click until I started physiology. I barely made it out of anatomy...but once I started phys...I could remember WHERE everything was..by knowing HOW it all worked.

Good luck to you.

Freedom42 · Nov 7, 2007

For me, success in A&P meant following that oft-quoted academic ratio: One hour of class time each week equals two to three hours of study time each week. I had three hours of class and three hours of lab each week, so that meant 18 hours of studying. Sound excessive? I earned a high A and never had to cram. Over time, as I became more skilled at recognizing what the exam was likely to focus on, and as I built on concepts, I reduced that to about 10 hours a week. But I was always sure to look at the topic for at least one hour every day.

Some other tactics that worked for me:

Get into the lab every day. I found just 10 to 15 minutes of studying bones and other exhibits did the trick. And by doing it every day, I never had to compete with those last-minute crammers. By the time a test rolled around, I knew the subject so well that I was dreaming about it!

Do the reading before the lecture, take notes during the lecture, and read it again afterward. Reinforce, reinforce!

Got a lab manual? Don't write in it. Photocopy the pages and give yourself a pop quiz every morning until you get 100 percent. It'll take five minutes out of your day.

The subject you're struggling with has to be your No. 1 priority. Make yourself study that subject every day before you tackle anything else. Get it out of the way and feel good about your progress.

Find similarly motivated students and form a study group that meets weekly. Explain concepts to each other. When you can explain a concept correctly to a classmate, you understand it, and you'll learn a lot from your classmates. Plus, you psych each other up.

Use every study aid you can get your hands on. Have you used the CD that comes with your text book? Mine was great -- and many of the sample questions on the CD and accompanying website often showed up on tests. Those aids gave me a good idea of what was important when plowing through a lot of material.

Google "anatomy bowl." When you can't stand studying any more, check out the University of Minnesota's Jeopardy-style game for A&P. It makes studying painless.

Get your hands on old exams. Some professors don't like this, some expect it. The more sample questions you can get your hands on, the better.

Get a tutor! My university provides them for free. A students don't wait until they're failing to get extra help -- they make it part of their test-prep strategy. Sometimes my study group would get one just for the week before the test. The tutor would shake up the material. Keeping it fresh is a big help.

Ask your instructor for advice on how to study better, and make sure you attend any review sessions he or she puts on. (I was always baffled by how few of my classmates would take advantage of these extra sessions. It was always the same dozen people -- the people at the top of the class.) I know my professor wanted us to succeed. He was always happy to offer advice and even met us in the lab for extra help. Teachers like working with motivated students.

If it sounds like I did a lot for A&P, I did -- I was a second-degree candidate who needed to clinch that A for admission to nursing school, and I found several classmates in the same boat. Our study group has turned out to be one of the best experiences I've had. We know use it for every subject. We don't compete with each other. We cheer each other on. It's great knowing that you have friends you can rely on.

Good luck to you! Don't forget that college-level test-taking is a skill. It'll get easier with time.

catzy5 · Nov 7, 2007

I am taking Anatomy I right now and am struggling in the course. Our teacher allows us to drop one test grade because he knows that this class is usually a shock to the system of many of us coming right out of high school. (We have 4 tests.)
Anyway, I didn't do too well on the first test. I was about 10 points below the class average. We had our second test a week ago, and haven't gotten our grades back. I put more time into studying for this one, but I guess not enough because I feel like I did worse on this test than on the first one.
We have a big gap now until our next test -- I don't think it will be until November 29th or the week after that. I really want to use this time to study well for the next test so I can do well and understand the material, but I'm not quite sure how to approach it, since my previous two attempts failed. The test will be on muscles which I know will be challenging (I already looked at the chapter on Sunday.)
So my question to all of the Anatomy students that are doing well -- what study methods work best for you? I know that everyone has something different that works for them, but at least if I get some ideas maybe I can find something that will help me out.
I just feel very overwhelmed now and I feel like no matter how hard I study, I am never ready for one of my professor's tests. I feel like I have lost my confidence in this class and my negative feelings may be making me do worse.

Muscles are a hard unit! There is so much information. My best advise is read it and take notes before you even go into lecture, learn as much as you can on your own then go to lecture and just listen ask questions and take notes on points you didn't get when you went over it. After that flash cards flash cards! If you can tape the class I would suggest that as well. Good luck

nurz2be · Nov 7, 2007

I am taking Anatomy I right now and am struggling in the course. Our teacher allows us to drop one test grade because he knows that this class is usually a shock to the system of many of us coming right out of high school. (We have 4 tests.)
Anyway, I didn't do too well on the first test. I was about 10 points below the class average. We had our second test a week ago, and haven't gotten our grades back. I put more time into studying for this one, but I guess not enough because I feel like I did worse on this test than on the first one.
We have a big gap now until our next test -- I don't think it will be until November 29th or the week after that. I really want to use this time to study well for the next test so I can do well and understand the material, but I'm not quite sure how to approach it, since my previous two attempts failed. The test will be on muscles which I know will be challenging (I already looked at the chapter on Sunday.)
So my question to all of the Anatomy students that are doing well -- what study methods work best for you? I know that everyone has something different that works for them, but at least if I get some ideas maybe I can find something that will help me out.
I just feel very overwhelmed now and I feel like no matter how hard I study, I am never ready for one of my professor's tests. I feel like I have lost my confidence in this class and my negative feelings may be making me do worse.

If you will pm me I will send you my AP I and II notes. I have sent several people on this site my notes and they have seemed to helped them. I also have PowerPoints with complete transparencies for each chapter as well.

vivasmom · Nov 7, 2007

Maybe try the anatomy coloring book. It's relaxing and it works.