Taking A & P without previous biology experience

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Hello,

Have any of you taken Anatomy & Physiology without previous biology experience? The reason I ask is that because at my community college, they "strongly recommend" taking an Introduction to Biology type class (Bio 1401) before taking A & P.

On the first day of my A & P class, the chair of the Biology department came in and gave us a 25-question 'pre-test' that tested us on things that we should already have known from taking the intro Biology class. He told us that while he can't technically kick people out for not taking and knowing the skills from Bio 1401, he said he strongly advised that if we hadn't taken that class before and couldn't answer the questions, that we should drop down to 1401. He said too many ppl fail out of A & P cuz they hadn't taken yet BIO 1401, weren't prepared for a college-level science class or it had been too long ago for them, in which case they should retake 1401 as a refresher course.

Well, I knew the answers to about 1/2 the questions. The last time I took Biology was in high school (7-8 years ago), and I didn't take any Biology courses in college. I am a second degree student, so I am prepared for 'College-level' courses, but now I am questioning whether I should switch down to Bio 1401 since I don't remember some of the basics.

What do you guys think? Has anyone been successful in taking A & P without recent Biology experience?

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Just stay in Anatomy. That class was not required for my class and I did fine.

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I took Biology in high school back in 1984. I passed A&P I & II with an A- in both in 2009. You can totally do it. Just study hard!

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Specializes in Oncology/Hematology.

I never took any Biology course prior to A&P. It was also "strongly recommended" at my school. There were people in my class who HAD taken Biology, and I did better than them! A&P is hard no matter what classes you take before it. Just keep up with class and you will do JUST FINE :)

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I was a biology major in undergrad and honestly, it didnt really help me...biology and Anatomy are somehwat very different. The only thing is that biology will expose you to the basics of life science such as the organization of life (cell, tissues etc), and somewhere along the line it was easy for me to understand DNA replication and histology due to my background in human genetics...other than that everything was like a foreign language so I studied my butt off...

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I took Biology last semester in preparations of A&P this semester. Being that school just started again last week, I am not sure if me taking Biology will be helping me this semester or not. The only good outcome was I ended up getting an A in Biology and it will help my GPA.

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Specializes in N/A.

I took A&P 1 last semester and ended up with a high A. Had not taken a biology course in, oh say, since 1976 in high school. I found that the biology I needed I learned in A&P. My school says not to take a separate biology course. I just found that I had to study harder during those "biology moments" than student who had taken a recent biology class. I would stay in the anatomy class and not let the teacher spook you. I had a A&P professor who loved to use scare tactics.

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I took A&P I last semester and also ended up with an A. I hadn't taken a Bio class since 10th grade Biology. I graduated high school in the 90s. Did I feel like a fish out of water for the first few weeks, while the recent HS grads were breezing through? Yes. Did I study hard? Yes. And it paid off. Not many people got an A in my class from what I could tell, even those recent HS grads who breezed through the first few weeks.

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I never took a biology course in college prior to taking A&P, and i got an "A" in the class because i studied everyday, and i had an amazing professor. It's possible to get a good grade you just have to donate the time!! Keep your head up and your going to do great!

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I took Biology last semester in preparations of A&P this semester. Being that school just started again last week, I am not sure if me taking Biology will be helping me this semester or not. The only good outcome was I ended up getting an A in Biology and it will help my GPA.

I am kind of in the same boat. However, from what I have been studying so far previous bio/chem/med term is coming in handy.

Our school is different though. You have to have biology since 2003 or you have to take it again. In addition, I felt like it would help me with preping for the Hesi. I was right on that one.

Do I think that you can do it without previous bio exp? sure. All science courses are going to require the work. Just be prepared to put in the study time needed to be successful.

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Specializes in Quality management.

My micro teacher is BIG on making sure we had an intro college level bio class. He went so far as to survey the class to see when was our last bio class (I don't know what he is going to do with this info). I received A's in both API and APII and the last time I took ANY bio was HS in 1997 as a freshman. I am not about to drop my micro class to go and waste money on an intro bio class that is not even required :uhoh3:

Don't worry about it you will do FINE :yeah:

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The class moves very quickly and I know I would never understand this quantity of material unless I had just finished chemistry and microbiology.

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