Taking A & P I again...any advice?

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ok, so i am registered to take a & p i again in the spring. i took it this fall and while i think i ended up with a b in lecture(the grades haven't posted yet), i totally bombed lab. :chair: so here i am trying again. i did a search before posting this, but couldn't quite find what i was looking for. my question/problem is this. how do you study and retain the info? it's like i can study and be understanding the material with no problem, but when it comes to testing i just go blank sometimes. does anyone else have this problem? how did you overcome it? any help/advice would be great! thanks in advance. :redbeathe

I treated my A&P binder of notes like a Bible. I took it with me EVERYWHERE. If I had 2 minutes to spare....I was reading my notes. I took it to the gym while I exercised. You have to live and breathe A&P. Its your foundation. Learn it, live it. You won't regret it.

Try to apply the material to everyday situations. If someone says head, think cranium or skull. Pick words that people say, and appy it to A&P. If you exfoliate your skin, think of the layers of skin (basal, spinousum, granulosum, lucedum, corneum....I'm sure I spellled them incorrectly). Etc. If you can apply it to your everyday life, you will maintain/retain the information.

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Specializes in Clinical Partner and CNA.

First you have to figure out how you learn the best. There are many tests you can take online. Some people learn best visually so drawing charts or coloring worksheets, some hear it best, etc. I memorize things best by using index cards. I take them everywhere I go, kids appts or practice, school, etc. If I have to memorize a labeling activity I make lots of copies of the picture and white out the answers then test myself.

I took A&P back in 2007 and made an F. It was horrible!! But I just finished it the second time around and studied the way the test told me too and I made an A. Good Luck!!

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Specializes in Stepdown.

Holy bajeezus. My holy grail for A&P1 was notecards. I'm a huge proponent for making flash cards. Especially for lab. What I would do was read the chapter, go over the major concepts, and write notecards for the main points. I would then explain the concepts back to myself, or the locations of things back to myself. Also, bring those notecards EVERYWHERE. Invest in one of those small notecard binders. Right now I have a 97.4 in the class, and a 95 in Lab. Lab was rough the first 2 tests, but I managed to get perfect scores+Extra Credit on the last two because of notecards.

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Does your textbook have a website? We used Mcgraw-Hill/Aris. This website has quizzes, chapter outlines, flash cards, cross word puzzles, videos, and labeling exercises. Try googling A&P online study guides or A&P online quizzes. You should be able to find some stuff that will help you. U Tube also has some videos on things like the Z disk model, sliding filament model, action potentials etc.

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Thank you everyone for your very helpful replies. I will take your ideas and advice and hopefully I will pass this go round. To the previous poster who said something about not taking lecture again if I made above a C, the reason I have to take it again is because my school won't let me repeat just the lab. I have to take both. I'm not real happy about that, but I got the bad grade, so If i want to go to N.S. then I have to repeat them. Believe me, if I could just take the lab I would. lol

Thank you all very much! :heartbeat

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Specializes in Neuro ICU.

I'm surprised nobody has suggested this yet...

Take your CAMERA to lab. Take pictures of the models and anything you possibly can that you have to know. Walgreens will print them out for like... 20 cents a photo or something like that. One of my classmates was able to email the photos to Walgreens straight off of his phone and pick them up after lab using some crazy voodoo, but the rest of us just took the camera's memory card there later on. That way you can study at home using the actual models you'll be using during the actual practical, and there's less worry about differences between the "book picture" and the "model picture." I paired up each photo with flashcards with a rough drawing of the model (I'm no artist) and a "what is this?" arrow, if that makes sense.

I'm a very visual person so this was the best study technique I could have used for the lab. It was like having my lab models with me all of the time! By the time we got to the practical, I could look at a model and rattle of all of its parts.

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i'm surprised nobody has suggested this yet...

take your camera to lab. take pictures of the models and anything you possibly can that you have to know. walgreens will print them out for like... 20 cents a photo or something like that. one of my classmates was able to email the photos to walgreens straight off of his phone and pick them up after lab using some crazy voodoo, but the rest of us just took the camera's memory card there later on. that way you can study at home using the actual models you'll be using during the actual practical, and there's less worry about differences between the "book picture" and the "model picture." i paired up each photo with flashcards with a rough drawing of the model (i'm no artist) and a "what is this?" arrow, if that makes sense.

i'm a very visual person so this was the best study technique i could have used for the lab. it was like having my lab models with me all of the time! by the time we got to the practical, i could look at a model and rattle of all of its parts.

i thought about trying this. i was just wondering if anyone else was able to do it, or if the instructor would allow it. but if they will allow it, i will definitely take advantage. thanks for your help!

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Specializes in Neuro ICU.
i thought about trying this. i was just wondering if anyone else was able to do it, or if the instructor would allow it. but if they will allow it, i will definitely take advantage. thanks for your help!

i'd definitely ask first, but ours encourage it!

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It's funny, but the school I took a class in this semester. People are ok. getting "Cs." People get in NS with Cs!!!.

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It's funny, but the school I took a class in this semester. People are ok. getting "Cs." People get in NS with Cs!!!.

the school I was accepted to has supposedly changed its way of picking students for the program. It use to be purely grades and NET test, now that has all changed. They made it sound like they wanted a little more latitude when trying to pick students they thought would succeed and fit well in the program. maybe they do something similar at your school.

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I asked a girl in an A&P class what her grade was. She said it was a "C" with this content expresion on her face. I asked her if it was considered too low. She said that as long as you don't get anything lower.

I stopped asking anymore question because everyone in the group was looking weir at me.

Anyway, she's accepted in the nursing program.

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I will agree with everyone about the flashcards! I made flashcards for EVERYTHING!!! The process of writing the note cards and reciting them is constant repetition, which is what you need to memorize things. Also, re-writing your lecture notes is helpful too, even if you professor provides you with his/her notes, re-write them, maybe in your own words...it will help them sink in. I also recommend getting an AP coloring book (I know it seems elementary, but it works. A helpful hint too, don't color in your actual book...make lots of copies and then practice labeling them and coloring them as you go...that way you have a blank canvas to work with each time and have a chance to really memorize the material. Another suggestion, is even if you are not an artist, try drawing out pictures of stuff. My lab manual had crappy diagrams of bones (and other material) so I drew all my own diagrams, labeled and colored them (another process of repetition). :)

Check out youtube.com for AP lab lectures. I found a guy who went over models and labeled them with software along with other cool stuff. This was uber helpful when learning the muscles. If your textbook also has software with it, USE IT! Mine came with a great lab practice guide software that had real models you could label and interactive games. Also, do not be afraid to google stuff...you can find other schools websites that offer study guides, quizzes, pictures and games to study with. I spent every day on my lap top finding cool study websites along with making my piles of flash cards. I know the flash cards sound time consuming, they are SOOO worth it.

Good luck! I promise the second time around will be much easier than the first. :)

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