Tips for an A in Anatomy?

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I've already had a 20 question quiz(this was the first quiz) in Anatomy, got an 85% on it:). I HAVE to ace this class. As far as Anatomy goes, what are some tips for getting an "A"?. Should I make flashcards, read chapters before class?(my professor emails our notes before class). Any advice would be greatly appreciated. By the way, I have a test this coming Thursday on the cell, tissues, anatomical positions, and integumentary system... There will be a Lab test as well, so how should I go about studying for that portion?

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Every teacher and class is different. My teacher for the lab portion gives us a list of everything that we need to know. It is our responsibility to find it on a program we used called AP revealed which highlights the portion we search on a cadaver. The way I study for my lab tests is I separate the pictures into files on my computer. So for example when we did the nervous system. I got all of the nerves I needed and then I divided them into different areas of the body (head, leg, arm) and learned them by the area. I feel this helps me to break it down into easier to learn portions. I name the picture to whatever body part is corresponds to and then I get some pen and paper. I go through the pictures over and over again writing down what they are and making sure I have the correct spelling. This has been a great method for my class. I know there are other classes that actually use animals or even human cadavers.

For the lecture portion my teacher is strictly from the text book. This makes it a lot easier to study. I go through the whole chapter highlighting all of the important parts and then write my own outline of the chapter. This way I don't have to read all the "filler" stuff that will not be on my test. Then I do the end of chapter assessments and also use supplementary quizzes and material that we have available to use online. Hope this helps.

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Thank you KKinney. What you say does make sense about breaking down the pics based on where they're located in the body. My professor, for the lab practical, puts up slides of the tissues for example and we have to name the tissue, it's function, location, and he will asks us to name certain features of it. As far as the lecture portion, he tells us to read and form study groups( have a study group tomorrow!:). Should I read the new chapters before he lectures on them?. I made 100 flashcards just on anatomical position and they helped a great deal. I'm a visual learner so flashcards help me a lot.

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It sounds like your teacher does lab portion very similar to mine. Reading the chapter before hand is never a bad thing. For my teacher I never listen to him :sleep: LOL. Because everything is directly from the book I just take my time in class to study the material in a way that works for me. When I was taking microbiology it was very helpful to read the chapter before. I had to make sure I printed out her notes before hand though, because she would not teach the whole chapter. Just parts that she thought was important. What AP book do you use? Good luck with you study group! I am a very independent studier. I am hoping to try and fix that habit in nursing school, as I have read that study groups can be a very helpful too if you don't just chit chat the whole time.

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The best advice I can give is this: DO NOT FALL BEHIND!!!!

I would suggest using any and all study tactics that work for you and for specific sections. I say that because what works for the section on bones and muscles (sketching and re-labeling diagrams so I could test and re-test myself) may or may not work for other sections (reading before class and comparing your reading notes with your lecture notes weekly, for example). Flashcards seemed to be helpful across the board though. I flipped through flashcards while doing laundry, waiting in the waiting room at my son's doctor's appointments, etc. Turn every spare moment into a chance to make yourself more familiar with the subject matter, and don't be afraid to spend extra time (what is that and where can I find some, right?! :confused: ) focusing on the stuff that isn't quite sticking. You'll be surprised what you recall simply because you gave it an extra glance or two.

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The textbook is Human Anatomy, 6th edition by Marieb, Mallatt, and Wilhelm. My professor lectures on mostly everything and he omits some material. They have a website associated with the book, I haven't had a chance to check it out yet. I can use about an extra 4 hours per day :). I know it will be a challenge, but I'm ready to put forth the necessary effort.

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We use the 8th edition. I would definitely recommend using the website. The practice quizzes are very helpful!

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KKinney, I just got off the website that the book gave me and it is really good. I just took the practice quiz for the cell and I knew more than I thought, didn't do that bad, so just have to go over the stuff I missed and review.

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My advice is to make notecards. Either by hand ( I use large 4x6 cards that are lined and put them on a ring) or you could do them online with something like quizlet. I recently discovered this site and downloaded card sets from it to study for the Hesi. It's really good if you have an iPhone. I break my notes down into small pieces of info to put on the notecards and then the notecards go everywhere with me. Review them until you could teach the info to someone else without looking at the cards. It is easy to gloss over info if you are just reading a page of notes but if you have a notecard in front of you and you don't allow yourself to turn the card until you've got that card down cold it is harder to gloss over the tough topics.

For lab I suggest drawing everything you see. Even if you don't draw well you should try it. There is something about having to draw anatomy that helps you learn it. I would sketch from the text and from the cadaver and then when prepping for a lab exam I would draw from memory. Might not work for everyone but it really works for me.

If your prof offers open lab time make sure you're there. The only way I know to master A&P is TIME.

I ended up with a 98% overall in A&P I and 95%in II. My classmates laughed at my notecards and the extra time I spent in lab but I passed and many of them did not.

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The website for the book is very helpful - especially the Lab 2.0 for bones and muscles. I also liked some of the Mp3 tutor sessions for difficult concepts, and also some of the physiology videos.

The best way to get an A is to do everything the professor wants. My professor warned us not to just sit and read the book because we would get bogged down. She suggested we use the book as a reference, but MASTER her powerpoints. That's MY professor though, and it has worked for me. My course is only 8 weeks long.

Chapters 1-15 in just 8 weeks! I did my lab practical on Thursday and ended with an A in Lab. I have an A in lecture, but have my final his Wednesday - it is 50% of my grade, so I just need to do well to keep my A.

Honestly though just focus on what your professor gives you.

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The small book The Atlas of the Human Body - or something similar that comes with the Marieb books is GREAT for learning bones. I rarely spent any time in the lab outside of my scheduled class time and I knew all my bones and muscles VERY well. That little book and the website is really helpful.

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out of curiosity what school do you go to? i have the same test on the same chapters same book.. and our school breaks it down from anatomy and phys... what my teacher says is this.. whatever the question may be.. be as SPECIFIC as possible.. so honestly what im doing because my test is this thursday as well is.. make flash cards.. for the histology part.. and on one side have a photo of the tissue being discussed and on the back.. have cell arrangement, cell location, cell function, and matrix appearance.. for example.. this is one of my flash card.. simple squamous epithelium cell arrangement.. tightly clustered 1 layered cells with a round nucleus in the center.. cell location lining of the lungs (aveoli), blood vessels, and the anchor and the serous membrane... cell function permeability of blood vessels, performs absorbtion and secretion..

basically everything in my lab manual is what will be required in the lecture exam.. we just finished going over the axial part of the skeletal system.. for that we need to know if its the right or left side.. make sure you use terms like proximal, distal, lateral etc and know the articulations.. like the occipital condyle articulates to the jugular fossa i beilieve...

hope that helps.. but from what my lab professor tells me being very specific is a sure way to get an A on the test.. dont say like transverse process say transverse process of the occipital bone. hope that helps.. and good luck

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