How do you study anatomy ?

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yalla22

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Discuss...what are the ways/techniques you used to study anatomy? flashcards? diagrams? Also, are there any techniques that anyone found to be a pure waste of time?
 
We need to make sure that you are not a 2011er trying to study for anatomy the summer before school starts before we will discuss this.

😀
 
I took anatomy as an undergrad. For muscles, in addition to studying our cadaver, I found it helpful outside of the lab to review as many photos and drawings as possible. Then I couldn't help but think about the series of muscles being used to walk to class, open my book, play my cello, etc. Impromptu self-testing throughout the day I guess. As for learning insertions/origins/innervation, I was all about lists lists lists to read again and again and again.

For learning vasculature, I drew diagrams. First copied from my book, then drew them enough that I could sit down before my classes started and recreate them from memory. It was kinda fun...felt like creating a road map of sorts. 🙂
 
I used Netter's flashcards, they were invaluable to me. I love flashcards as a learning tool, they're very active. I used them to great benefit in pharm and micro as well, very high yield. Highest yield actually--they are straight up facts that often show up on tests. That's just me though...many others don't seem so fond of them.

Dissector was an all right and concise tool too. A friend of mine mastered it and did very well in anatomy. Lab me and my friends all skipped after the first month. Netter's atlas is nice but it's loaded with trivial labels--it's more of a reference book. Dissector sticks to more germane structures.

Ah--you may want to invest in a real photo atlas. This might preclude the need to attend lab altogether.
 
Hey all, forgive my ignorance, but what is this about high and low yield? I've never really heard the terms where I'm from in terms of studying... (Sorry OT)
 
Hayden2102 said:
Hey all, forgive my ignorance, but what is this about high and low yield? I've never really heard the terms where I'm from in terms of studying... (Sorry OT)
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High yield = topic likely to be tested on in the future (e.g. cranial nerves)

Low yield = topic less likely to be tested on in the future (e.g. vein locations)
 
Hayden2102 said:
Hey all, forgive my ignorance, but what is this about high and low yield? I've never really heard the terms where I'm from in terms of studying... (Sorry OT)
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Haha..it's k, I wasn't familiar with this either before med school. With the amount of info that gets thrown at you in med school you have to learn to distinguish between what's important and what's not. You can't master it all. I used to be daunted by the sound of this but you get the hang of it. Some ppl it comes naturally to. Some of my peers are bad at it and spend way too much time studying. Sometimes I've studied with them and get annoyed and leave bc they study dumb things. You've probably encountered ppl who study dumb things in the past, maybe you just didn't think of it as high or low yield.

It comes down to this--a graph of grades vs time spent studying follows a logarithmic curve. I personally don't prefer the area with diminishing returns and focus on the initial part with a steep rise in grades. I would say that is the high yield area. It gets you the most points for your buck.

But like Critical Mass said it is essentially a prediction game. Master it! Just think like teachers/test creators do. They have a limited number of questions they can spend information on, I think of it that way.
 
Thanks Shredder and Critical Mass.

I've definitely studied with people who have been working on something and I've thought, "Why the hell are you spending any time on that?" Hehe
 
EM_Rebuilder said:
It usually begins with a drink...............
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Haha, I would go more with ending the studying with a drink (keep you clear of any sour aftertastes, if you know what I mean.) Plus, good path to gettin' a little stripsy with the subject....then more studying.

Urban Dictionary 😍
 
I heard so many people tell me to "study every cadaver in the lab" so you'd know structures backwards and forwards. I personally thought this was bad advice and stuck mostly to my own dear cadaver just going over relationships over and over.

It helps on the practical exams because all that meat is going to look different on each body, so if you have a clear idea of anatomical relationships you can pretty much attack any problems.

One extremely low-yield technique is fat-picking. Try to avoid becoming the shmuck in the group who gets good-guyed into "cleaning" all of the dissections.
 
for the theory component -
i found using a question source helped to reinforce concepts so it would stick better. so for that i used BRS anatomy. i also tried to make my own schematics and flow charts to help organize all the details.

for the practical component -
i went over the cadaver with a group of friends using netter's atlas. we quizzed each other and tried to correlate a structure to its' factoid while doing so.
 
RxnMan said:
:laugh:

Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Our school has a website with diagrams and labels that pop up and ID the part when you pass the mouse cursor over it. I also used this website so I could study cadavers from home.
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That website is awesome.....
 
My trick has mostly been to invest in a box of coloured pencils. Childish I know, but I find the best way to study anatomy is to get a blank A4 or A3 paper and just doodle diagrams and flow charts as I read the text book. The more colourful, the more I usually get it.

Then if I have time (which I usually don't because I'm terrible at sticking to study schedules) I get Grant's or McMinn's and go over the atlas diagram by diagram. This helps to get the bigger picture.

I've tried make flashcards and they're good when you want to cram in as many lists of details as you can on the day of the exams. Usually, though, I don't really remember them past the actual exam.

And OP - please don't wreck your summer trying to study Gross for med school! It doesn't even make a dent and you'll start classes feeling exhausted!!!

Claire
 
claire88 said:
And OP - please don't wreck your summer trying to study Gross for med school! It doesn't even make a dent and you'll start classes feeling exhausted!!!

Claire
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Agree, some of it doesn't even make sense till you actually see in situ. Study biochem instead. But really, have a summer, it could be one of your last for quite a while. I just blew my M1/M2 summer doing research, completely regretting it.
 
All you need to succeed in anatomy:
1. Netter Atlas
2. Netter flash cards
3. A lab group that understands when you are hung over and will cover for you

Believe me.
 
LadyWolverine said:
3. A lab group that understands when you are hung over and will cover for you
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:barf:I thought a regular old hangover was bad enough, and then this comment just made me think about NOT having a lab group that would cover for you and...I shudder to think...going into lab with that hangover.
 
Study from cadavers whenever possible for practicals. I actually used my Netter atlas more to supplement lecture notes for the "written" exams. Having an atlas in lab is absolutely valuable, but gotta see the real thing.

When you do study with cadavers, don't go alone. I never found I used my time well alone, unless you just wanted to check up on one thing to make sure you're correct. if you can find a good group that's semifocused/semi laid back, you'll learn a lot because you've got people to help you with material. Some of the stupid mnemonics we thought up still stick, and it's fun to search for structures while arguing about Voltron.

If you can't find a good group, look into going in when TAs are available. Many times (in my experience) TAs would much rather walk through a demo of structures in an area for a small group than to have to run from person to person answering what some tiny artery is.

As for written tests, both times I've taken anatomy (college and med school) anatomy teachers tend to ask the same type of questions. There's a ton of questions, but there are very high yield type of questions. Know all the structures in anatomic spaces and where they are located. When studying groups of muscles, look for the little tricks they like to ask, like how flexor digitalis profundus has dual innervations, as those always tend to show up.
 
yeah i agree with above poster.. they love to test any exception to a rule/trend.
 
Using a variety of sources was useful to me. Grey's anatomy, leonard + netter, and Rohan. Didn't use many mnemonics, but using numbers helped a lot; I remembered the number of muscles, nerves, cutaneous nerves, branches off arteries, etc., which helped me remember names. Repetition is key, of course.
 
Would you recommend getting a "real" picture atlast like Rohen or Moses in addition to a Netter's and More/Dalley?
 
rohen is good. i liked it.

but the thing is you do not want to have so many sources either.

perhaps just moore/netters/rohen combo is enough.
 
shivasHeroLike said:
rohen is good. i liked it.

but the thing is you do not want to have so many sources either.

perhaps just moore/netters/rohen combo is enough.
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That is what I was thinking. Just trying to figure out if getting a real picture atlas (Rohen or Moses) would be worth it. Sounds like those three would be a solid combo.
 
HarveyCushing said:
Would you recommend getting a "real" picture atlast like Rohen or Moses in addition to a Netter's and More/Dalley?
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I used it some, but I preferred to spend as little time in the lab as possible, so I used it in exchange for lab time.

My school had a slightly different way of teaching anatomy than your regular anatomy course. We cover the anatomy for whatever block we're covering at that point in time. i.e. thoracic anatomy during the cardiopulmonary block, pelvic anatomy during human sexuality.

I've heard our next block (first block of second year) will be much more intensive than what I've had before, but my experience up to this point is that anatomy not as bad as everyone has made it out to be. Perhaps this is just because of how my school handles it, I don't know. I actually put off studying for anatomy until the week of the exam. I spent whatever time I had to in the lab for dissections (about once a week) and then went to the practice test and then studied with a few classmates once during the week of the test. I used Netters to do any strict memorization.

Anyway, I say this not to make anyone mad who had to study much harder than I did, nor to say that you will not have to study hard, but rather to say that you have no idea how anatomy will be for you until you get into it. Its not worth worrying about it now.

I second spending time in the lab with classmates or PAs, especially if the classmates are more knowledgeable about anatomy than you are. (But don't be a frustration to those classmates either because you know NOTHING). I found it helpful to know one cadaver well, but make sure you communicate with your classmates, cuz maybe they have interesting pathology that you ought to look at, or perhaps they have a common variation of the norm. Those kinds of things ended up on all of our exams. Also, (at least for us) generally no cadaver is dissected perfectly, so its important to look at other cadavers to see whatever you missed on yours.
 
Great advice here so far.

I'd just say that anyone looking for advice first start with students at your school. Many schools have different curricula for anatomy and chances are advice from actual students at your school would be more relevant to your study needs than everyone's advice here on SDN. Plus, they may even pass on a book or two to you.

But, there's no shame in gathering more information!
 
SanDiegoSOD said:
Using a variety of sources was useful to me. Grey's anatomy, leonard + netter, and Rohan. Didn't use many mnemonics, but using numbers helped a lot; I remembered the number of muscles, nerves, cutaneous nerves, branches off arteries, etc., which helped me remember names. Repetition is key, of course.
Click to expand...
On the other end, I found that lots of different sources just confused me. I tried Moore's (textbook) and Moses' Atlas (cadaver photos with the occasional live photo of some good-looking female anatomy 😀), but Netter's Atlas (all drawings) was awesome for me. I used the flashcards a lot for the first two blocks, and a bit less for the second two blocks, but I thought they were both great. Try out the stuff your school has on reserve before buying everything.
 
thegenius said:
I'm curious, why do some students spend as little time as possible in the anatomy lab?
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The smell.
I had lots of other studying to do.
Anatomy is relatively concrete, strict memorization, because of that, I put off studying to the end of the block, and spent that time studying other things.
I didn't need to be in the lab a lot.. Netter's and Rohen were sufficient to help me memorize what I needed to, all I needed to do is have a day in the lab to identify what I already had memorized. By that time, I had friends who were wanting to go over stuff with other people in the lab, they helped me identify structures that I didn't know, and I was able to help them as well.
Did I mention the smell?
 
thegenius said:
I'm curious, why do some students spend as little time as possible in the anatomy lab?
Click to expand...

It's kind of uncomfortable. There's so much fat being flung around that there's no clean place to sit. (And it's awful to sit down somewhere and feel cold slimy fat seeping its way through your thin scrubs.) And it can be really cold in the lab (at least at my school). Sometimes, after a dissection, my hands would be kind of numb, because the cadaver was so chilly. But I couldn't fold my arms to warm my hands up, because I was covered in adipose tissue residue all the way up to my elbows.

And, of course, as lilnoelle pointed out - the smell can be pretty bad. Some people have stronger reactions to the smell at the END of the anatomy block than they do at the beginning - more things have been cut open, so more smells are released. At the beginning, I would just gag a little bit at times. But at the end, I came very close to throwing up a few times.
 
lilnoelle said:
The smell.
I had lots of other studying to do.
Anatomy is relatively concrete, strict memorization, because of that, I put off studying to the end of the block, and spent that time studying other things.
I didn't need to be in the lab a lot.. Netter's and Rohen were sufficient to help me memorize what I needed to, all I needed to do is have a day in the lab to identify what I already had memorized. By that time, I had friends who were wanting to go over stuff with other people in the lab, they helped me identify structures that I didn't know, and I was able to help them as well.
Did I mention the smell?
Click to expand...

The smell can be bad, especially in the beginning. I always believed that overcoming the smell was like overcoming the first jump into the pool for swim practice. The pool was kept at 64F, and buuuurrrrrr it was cold for the first 30 seconds. But after that you never noticed how cold it was. For me the same phenomenon occurred in anatomy lab. In addition, I found you get used to your cadaver's smell, way more so than other peoples' cadavers.

Lots of students in my class say that it's an inefficient use of time, which is essentially what you are saying too. While I see that it takes more time to learn each anatomical part (because of dissection time), people gave their bodies to the study of medicine and it seems disrespectful on the part of students to incompletely devote their lab time in preference for books.

Plus there is the whole other experience of dissecting itself which is quite invaluable, and is unfortunately not tested. The feeling of touching bone, nerual tissue, the heart, understanding the 3D anatomy of structures, dissecting the intricate and delicate tendons and muscles of the hand...all of this is so much more appreciated when it's performed instead of just studied.

I was pretty disappointed when I learned that there were several (> 6) cadavers that were abandoned after the first month of anatomy. It is such a waste of a scarce and valuable resource.
 
smq123 said:
It's kind of uncomfortable. There's so much fat being flung around that there's no clean place to sit. (And it's awful to sit down somewhere and feel cold slimy fat seeping its way through your thin scrubs.) And it can be really cold in the lab (at least at my school). Sometimes, after a dissection, my hands would be kind of numb, because the cadaver was so chilly. But I couldn't fold my arms to warm my hands up, because I was covered in adipose tissue residue all the way up to my elbows.

And, of course, as lilnoelle pointed out - the smell can be pretty bad. Some people have stronger reactions to the smell at the END of the anatomy block than they do at the beginning - more things have been cut open, so more smells are released. At the beginning, I would just gag a little bit at times. But at the end, I came very close to throwing up a few times.
Click to expand...

Yea, I wish there was some way of mitigating the smell, even great ventilation systems can't do the trick, but they help. Surprisingly in our lab we used only ~5% formaldehyde and the bad smell I think comes from phenol, a much larger % component of the preserving fluid.
 
You guys are making me thankful that I really don't have much of a sense of smell...whenever my time in the lab comes that is. Yay for my broken nose and what not.
 
Consider anatomy lab preparation for cleaning up gangrene from someones feet.

Yum
 
For me, the anatomy lab was a colossal waste of time. I read Moore/Netter's/Rohan/BRS, never went to lab, and never got below an 85% on any of the practicals.
 
Perrotfish said:
How exactly is anatomy graded? Are the tests just drawing and you fill in the blank for a name, or are there actually cadavers involved?
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There's a written portion and a lab practical. The written portion features questions similar to what you'd see in the Gross Anatomy BRS. (Ex: A patient comes in with trouble extending his hand. What nerve is affected?)

The lab practical varies from school to school. A lot of times, the teachers will go in to your cadavers and wrap a piece of string (or insert a pin) in the structures. They might ask you for the name of the structure, OR they might ask you what the structure does/what innervates it/what artery supplies it, etc.
 
thegenius said:
While I see that it takes more time to learn each anatomical part (because of dissection time), people gave their bodies to the study of medicine and it seems disrespectful on the part of students to incompletely devote their lab time in preference for books.

Plus there is the whole other experience of dissecting itself which is quite invaluable, and is unfortunately not tested. The feeling of touching bone, nerual tissue, the heart, understanding the 3D anatomy of structures, dissecting the intricate and delicate tendons and muscles of the hand...all of this is so much more appreciated when it's performed instead of just studied.

I was pretty disappointed when I learned that there were several (> 6) cadavers that were abandoned after the first month of anatomy. It is such a waste of a scarce and valuable resource.
Click to expand...

Well, dissection was required at my school and I did attend every required dissection. We had a group of 10, and 3 of us did dissections every third lab (one group with 4 individuals) Then the rest of our group would teach us on the other two days.
I would say the dissections are important, and made it much easier to find things during the test. It was also invaluable for me to spend at least one day at the end going over everything in a bunch of cadavers. I couldn't have done well without that.

I just spent a lot less time in the lab than a lot of people in my class did. I didn't find it necessary to spend more than one or two extra days (other than dissection days) in the lab.
This meant I spent a total of about 3 1/2 hours every week dissecting in the lab and maybe an extra four hours during the week before our anatomy practical.
 
smq123 said:
There's a written portion and a lab practical. The written portion features questions similar to what you'd see in the Gross Anatomy BRS. (Ex: A patient comes in with trouble extending his hand. What nerve is affected?)

The lab practical varies from school to school. A lot of times, the teachers will go in to your cadavers and wrap a piece of string (or insert a pin) in the structures. They might ask you for the name of the structure, OR they might ask you what the structure does/what innervates it/what artery supplies it, etc.
Click to expand...

Pay attention to how your points are allocated in anatomy too. This isn't me saying "be a gunner" but there's usually a lot going on in that class (dissection, lecture exams, and practicals) that while you do need to put time into learning everything, proportioning your time appropriately can lead to the same amount of knowledge but a much better grade.

For example, my school your grade came entirely from lecture exams with a small "participation" score based on your time put in dissecting and in lab. Practicals were pass/fail. A lot of people fell into the trap of ONLY studying for the practicals and acing them, but neglecting lecture. So you'd see people blowing away practicals with lower scores in the actual class then people who skated by on the practicals but killed the lecture exams.
 
PeepshowJohnny said:
Pay attention to how your points are allocated in anatomy too. This isn't me saying "be a gunner" but there's usually a lot going on in that class (dissection, lecture exams, and practicals) that while you do need to put time into learning everything, proportioning your time appropriately can lead to the same amount of knowledge but a much better grade.
Click to expand...

Incredibly sound advice for pretty much all of undergrad and beyond. Sometimes, things just aren't worth stressing over.
 
Shredder said:
I used Netter's flashcards, they were invaluable to me. I love flashcards as a learning tool, they're very active. I used them to great benefit in pharm and micro as well, very high yield. Highest yield actually--they are straight up facts that often show up on tests. That's just me though...many others don't seem so fond of them...
...Ah--you may want to invest in a real photo atlas. This might preclude the need to attend lab altogether.
Click to expand...

Rohen's photo atlas was invaluable to me during anatomy and is still a great reference. Also, Netter's flashcards helped tremendously (esp Head and Neck.)

But, the best investment I made was to go to Home Depot, got a sheet of cheap whiteboard-like material (not sure of the exact nomenclature) and hung it on my wall. Basically it's just ginormous white board from which I drew and re-drew diagrams, structures, relationships, etc.
 
Hi everyone,

I've been reading all these pre-ms1 threads and quite honestly, i'm starting to freak out. I'm really second guessing myself and having all these nightmares that i'm not going to do well in med school and that i'm just not going to be able to make the academic adjustment (just like i had trouble freshman year of college). I am trying to get a better idea of how people approach anatomy on a day to day basis. What should we be doing after lab everyday? taking notes or reading the textbooks or just trying to memorize everything?? At this point i don't have a good feel for (a) what will be expected of us in anatomy, (b) how to organize myself (i always have trouble in this department) and (c) how to assess myself, before exam time, whether i have been studying correctly and am on track, etc...

Any specific suggestions of things to do or not to do? especially in terms of organizing oneself...

Thanks!!
 
Don't sweat it, remember all your classmates are feeling the same way (whether they admit it or not). Here's my advice:

1. Look ahead, and have a good idea what's going to happen in lab before you get there, so that lab is just reinforcing stuff - when I was able to do this, lab was like a study time, so I could relax more after. Granted this is easier said than done, but try to do this.

2. I found that I was most comfortable when I made things into a story, sort of - so nerve x, passes posterior to bone a, and travels with artery d, etc. Making it more of a narrative really helped.

3. Don't listen to the a-hole nearby who says he knows everything - it'll just freak you out - worry about yourself - you'll find that this guy is one of two people - the freak that really does know everything or the d*ck that makes himself feel better by bragging. Maybe find a group that is like minded, but most importantly worry about yourself.

4. Work hard, and you'll be fine, you're there for a reason, if you couldn't handle it, you wouldn't be there.
 
For me, the key to studying anatomy was to make it a visceral learning experience. Reading the notes and memorizing alone only did so much to help me learn. I studied all the cadavers diligently until I could visualize everything in my head. Then I would sit, close my eyes, and try to visualize every part on the cadaver, using nerves and blood vessels to trace my route.

I would do the same thing on my own body, staring at my anatomy and trying to see to what lay beneath with my mind's eye until it became second nature.

Above all, keep a positive attitude about studying anatomy and truly think of it as a time to examine yourself as well. Make it personal and it will have a lot more meaning.
 
the negative 1 said:
For me, the key to studying anatomy was to make it a visceral learning experience. Reading the notes and memorizing alone only did so much to help me learn. I studied all the cadavers diligently until I could visualize everything in my head. Then I would sit, close my eyes, and try to visualize every part on the cadaver, using nerves and blood vessels to trace my route.

I would do the same thing on my own body, staring at my anatomy and trying to see to what lay beneath with my mind's eye until it became second nature.

Above all, keep a positive attitude about studying anatomy and truly think of it as a time to examine yourself as well. Make it personal and it will have a lot more meaning.
Click to expand...

Thats interesting. So in order to study every cadaver, did you do this during lab? or did you go in after hours (can we actually go in after hours btw if we need extra time??)
 
I'm guessing that a lot of this is getting a whole 3D picture down in your head - do people find that it is hard to do this just by looking at a book (2D)? Are there any 3D software programs that give better pictures of how things are oriented with respect to each other?

Also, since there is such a large volume of information and you have to keep up everday, how do you really know when you are behind? sounds like a stupid question but i know in college this was very easy at times...
 
yalla22 said:
Thats interesting. So in order to study every cadaver, did you do this during lab? or did you go in after hours (can we actually go in after hours btw if we need extra time??)
Click to expand...

I spent the majority of my time studying my cadaver and then would examine the other cadavers to recognize all the similarities and differences, which really cemented the information in my head.

I don't know about your school, but we were allowed extra time as along as another class wasn't in the lab and we had 24 hour access a week before each exam.

Lastly, depending on how long your anatomy block lasts, it is very easy to get behind if you don't study everyday. Don't let yourself get more than a day or two behind. Anymore than that and it will pile up very quickly while you try to play catch up. You don't have to master the material as soon as it's presented, but you do need to review and keep it fresh in your head everyday.
 
okay that makes sense. So you definitely have to be studying the days material that evening. When you study, do you usually make flash cards so that they can be used again before exam time, or is it more just reviewing the pages from lecture? I'm asking because i'm one of those people that has never really developed an organized way of studying and i feel like that could be suicide in med school...
 
Don't worry, you'll adapt. Here are a couple of things that I found useful.

1) I never really got anything done during dissection. It really felt like a waste of time for me, but that just didn't work out for my style of learning. I would go up during the actual dissections and just pay attention to the things that the professors pointed out (this would last maybe an hour). Every week, however, I would go up with a group of friends and spend some time in the lab. We would quiz each other and point things out to one another. I thought that was important because it gave us each a different way to remember the structures and relationships. There were many times that I didn't get a relationship at first, but a different viewpoint made it much clearer. So, point number 1 is find a group and spend some significant amount of time outside of class with your group. At least once a week if you can.

2) Don't fall behind. This is one class that is just brutal to play catch up. While people are in lab studying the current material, you are sitting there studying previous material.

3) This may seem like nothing, but get an atlas that you like. Netter is great and Rohen is great. The Rohen has amazing dissections, which offers something that Netter does not. Just remember that your cadaver probably wont look as good as the atlas.

4) Don't be afraid to ask for help. You will have professors, tutors, classmates, etc... all will be willing to help in some way. Just don't wait till the last minute--there were a lot of us in our class that could completely blow off the final and that has to be the best feeling in the world.
 
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