what are some of the ways you studied for A&P.

Purple_roses · Jun 9, 2015

I made hundreds upon hundreds of online flashcards on Quizlet.com (they have a mobile app too) and studied those and my notes constantly. I organized them by different body systems. I also drew diagrams whenever I could; this was especially helpful while memorizing all of the blood vessels. There is also an app called "Visual Body Atlas" that allows you do review all of the systems on a virtual skeleton. This was wonderful for me because I'm a visual learner. The app costs somewhere between 1-3 dollars.

jaycam, RN · Jun 9, 2015

Plastic page cover, dry erase pen, and study sheets. Redo the sheets until you can do them in your sleep. Picked it up from some of my younger math students who used it for multiplication tables, but works well for any sort of intense memorization.

Qteapi · Jun 9, 2015

I used a&p coloring books....best purchase I made....help me get A's in those classes

augurey · Jun 9, 2015

I did tons of flash cards. I utilized Study Blue and Quizlet (it took a slight bit of extra time to import my notes to Quizlet - very easy - but did this in the event one of the sites was down which did happen on few occasions).

If you're allowed to record the lecture, record the lecture. I was able to record all my lectures. It was nice because if I didn't catch something or needed to go over something again, I could listen to it as many times as I needed. However, not all instructors allow lectures to be recorded, so if you wanted to do that you'd have to check first.

If you think you'd do well with a study group, try a study group. I'm not a study group type of person (at least I haven't been - not to say that'll never change), but I know some of my former classmates really benefited from a study group.

For lab, (again if you're allowed) we were allowed to take pictures. I would take many pictures of the dissections. We had a list of what we needed to know. I'd go through and label them. I'd first save one picture with blank spots pointing to what needs identified and then do another with the answers. I never got less than an A in lab.

NeoNurse2Be · Jun 9, 2015

I have a dry erase board, because writing things out helps me. I would make 2 columns, memorize them, erase and try to re-write the answers to questions I came up with. Focus on the course objectives given in the syllabus. Pay attention to bold words (vocabulary) in your textbook. I would write out all of the vocabulary and create crosswords, flash cards and other little memorization games like matching (matching helped a great deal). Always, always, always ask for clarification on anything you cannot understand before the test comes. I haven't taken a science class since I was in 9th grade in 2003 and it was biology. I've taken A&P 1 & 2 and Micro, got a B in A&P 1 and an A in A&P 2 and Micro. This was after 10+ years of not taking a science (I literally knew nothing); so you can do it!! Good luck to you.

FolksBtrippin, BSN, RN · Jun 10, 2015

For lab practicals I had to touch the models of bones, muscles, etc and go over the parts out loud. Touching the materials really helped me. Also explaining what i knew to other students.

I did better when I read the chapters before lecture.

I wrote out index cards and drew graphs while explaining them.

I told my kids about every cool thing I learned and tried to answer their questions.

Knowing your learning style is helpful. I learn by doing. Teaching others. Also writing, drawing, anything that adds tactile info.

If you are a visual type of learner you need to read and look at stuff. You can print out notecards. That didn't help me so much. I don't need to look at notecards ad much as I need to write them.

If you are an auditory type of learner you can listen to lectures. Not that good for me either.

You will learn all the above ways, but some will feel more fun and interesting. That's the way you should do it on your own time. You will retain more if you are enjoying the process more.

That is why, when I went over the anatomy terms , I would add some physiology (function) as I did it, even thoughv we were tested separately. Memorizing the names of stuff bored me, but knowing what it did kept it interesting and also prepared me for my lecture exams.

FolksBtrippin, BSN, RN · Jun 10, 2015

On being an effective note taker: if you are taking notes for yourself, then the learning style stuff means a lot.

I mainly take notes to keep myself focused during lecture. It is pretty hard for me to listen to someone talk for an hour and really understand them without taking notes at the same time. I write down important points and put question marks next to anything that I'm not sure about or missed. Then i can see what questions i have later during question time.

Write everything the teacher writes. If they write it, it's important.

If the teacher stresses the importance of something, put giant stars around that point.

If the teacher says, you need to know this for the test, giant stars go there.

If the teacher says something like, This is usually an essay question. .. giant stars.

Before the test you rewrite and review all the stuff with giant stars.

You look up that stuff in your text book and make sure you fully grasp it.

That's how I do it.

truthteller · Jun 10, 2015

For lecture (the physiology part) I made my own study guides using the text (I read every word of every chapter), drawing and labeling pictures, standing at a white board and teaching it to my classmates, and going to the professor's office regularly. For lab (the anatomy part) I started by writing (pen in hand is good memorization strategy) every term we had to know. I repeated this until I knew them all and could spell them correctly. Then I set out to identify them on models, pictures, cadavers, etc. I spent roughly 2 to 3 hours a day on A&P and I got the A I wanted.

stephatron289 · Jun 10, 2015

I used a dry erase marker, and a clear cover. I would print out pictures with blank labels, write them in, erase and start again until I have that certain area down. We used to get into groups and have a list of areas. One person would have the book and everyone would go in a circle and name them. If someone missed, we would start again until everyone could name each area without prodding.

statepatrick001 · Jun 10, 2015

I made my own study guides to be honest. Upon using flashcards for labs I would make my own study guides from lecture matierials and I would update it every time I had a lecture so by the time my exam came around I already had a study guide for it which I was fresh on ( I would constantly read over my study guides). Also, I made a couple of friends in my class and we met once a week to go over materials from class. We also would go to the tutor on the same day and before an exam to make sure we were studying the right material ( our tutors were previous students of our professor and knew what to look for). To help study bones I bought cards that labeled all of the bones in the body. They had #'s on the front, name on the back and my friends and I would consistently go through the ones we were told to go through in lecture. Also if you can, look at real manicans and make sure you know the difference between left/right bones and which bones you're looking at. Label the bones on the manican and see if you can go through them all without having to look at your study guide. I got an A in A&P 1 and i missed an A in A&P 2 by 8 pts. If your teacher likes the book, you better like it too because he/she will most likely pull material from the book to put on exams so make sure you at least read then skim and highlight important area's.

mercurysmom · Jun 10, 2015

I had a classmate who had an amazing and unique system for learning bones, muscles, nerves, etc. For each system, she traced one of her kids. Then, she drew in whatever she needed to study. I only saw the one she made for muscle origins and insertions, but it blew my mind!

In addition, her kids were thrilled to "help Mommy learn," and she saved the kid-sized diagrams to give them when they were older. ðŸ˜Š

Man, I wish I could take credit for that idea. What a totally awesome "Mom move!" â¤ï¸