1st Gross Anatomy exam, is it suppose to be like this ?

[kornphan]

I am MS1, we just had a gruelling four hour Gross exam this morning!. First two hours lab and last two hours written. I have been studying my behind off, until I was ready to pass out. Not once did our school had a review or any kind of guidance on what we should study and what we can ignore, "just study the whole thing" thats the standard answer.

Are all schools like this ?.. I mean the schools should care and guide us throgh this 'gross' times because isn't it in their best interest that all students pass this the first time ?..

burnt out. (pray for me to be in the pass column!)..

korn

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[KyGrlDr2B]

Yes anatomy is hard. Yes you have to study your butt off. I had four quizzes, midterm, final, and 2 palpations. I made passing grades on everything, but did pretty crappy on the midterm and final. I majorly brought my grade up on the quizzes and palpations. That's pretty much how it was for everyone. I wouldn't worry about it. Med school is supposed to be hard as hell in the beginning because you are just figuring it out, learning how much to study and what exactly. My professors in anatomy were awesome and did a lot to help. If you needed help outside of class/lab time, they gave it. Some even came in lab on their own time to help before the final.

Did you not have old exams to look at?? Or M2s you could ask for guidance?

The next one won't be so bad. Now you know what to expect.

 

[imtiaz]

it varies depending on where you go but it can be anything from taking multiple body area exams at once (like you probably did) to only taking one body area practical/written exam at a time (this is how my school works). the practical is independent from the final, and on a separate day. but we have anatomy all year long, so take your pick. would you rather take shorter tests and have anatomy all year or would you rather take long exams and be done with it sooner?

 

[Goya]

We had 3 anatomy exams for one semester. Each one was 6-7 hours long I believe...3 hours for written...3 hours for practical/slides. In at 9 out at 4. Talk about super fun. Definately the hardest class in the 1st 2 years at our school. Pretty psycho. You can't beat 7 hours of anatomy fun. wheeeeeeee...

 

[williestyle81]

goya,
where in the world do you go to school ?

 

[Goya]

I goto Vandy.

And all of our other classes are not like that at all. Just that anatomy at our school is more psycho than other schools. It's cuz the teacher is really into teaching EVERYTHING.

 

[tega]

i remember those anatomy days....hardest section for me...was 2nd exam..lower limbs, pelvis, perineum......but it dint help that i totally took 2 weeks off after the first exam

 

[hotbovie]

At my school, the instructors set up a practice practical in before the first exam in both gross and histology. Good thing, too, cuz I did terrible on both. But then I saw what I needed to prep for.

Both of these courses had 3 exams, with each exam having a 2 hour written and an hour long pracitcal. We were divided into groups for the pracitcals and each group went at a particular time. My first exam was the gross written. I thought I was well prepared, but it didn't take me long to realize it wasn't going well. Plus, I was in the first group to take the practical, which was to start about 15 min after the end of the written exam time. I also felt the eyeball fatiuge setting in (I'm an older student and that first block of medical school pushed me over the edge from being merely nearsighted to needing bifocals...I didn't realize it til that exam). I didn't do so well on the written, but being a visual person, I smoked the practical. I did much better on subsequent written gross exams, so that with doing well on practical saved my grade. (pracitcals saved my grade in histology too)

Since then, my school has gone to all computer exams for written exams. You can take the exams in any order at any time you want during the hours the computer lab is open for exam week. Now there are only designated times for practicals. So no more marathon written/practical (unless you want to schedule it that way!)

 

[Y2KOK]

hey,
i just finished taking gross... the trick for us was to know certain key features i the body during our lab tests. our proff. mainly focuses on nerves and arteries, because of their importance. for the final... we get a review but there is so much material sometimes it doesnt help. but agian he focused on nerves... hope that helps.

 

[CANES2006]

Korn,
I hear you. That exam this morning was killer. At least it's over though (assuming we all passed ). Now if only I can get my butt in gear and study for that Pathology Final coming up this Friday.

 

[BatmanMD]

we dont get reviews either, but the 2nd year stuff is more relevant. They schedule reviews "the day" before the test, and simply go over everything again, just not as detailed as regular lectures.
Have to know everything in every detail in ~ 250-300 pages of notes/ test. fun stuff!

 

[ta'tanisha]

anatomy is hard dude

 

[warpath]

wow! At my school we have 3 practical/written (combined) exams. Each is about an hour long. The first two were in the lab (bell-ringer). The last one was in class with projected slides because we'd mutilated the body so badly during head and neck.

 

[onboard]

hey guys, I too go to Vandy and I just took my anatomy final. Our anatomy professor is Dr. Art Dalley, who is the author of the Moore and Dalley text book. I must say getting through Anatomy at Vanderbilt is excruciatingly painful. 3 exams 9 hours long each 200 questions each. Written/slides/practical you name it. Sometimes we just detested our lives while going through 6-hour/day anatomy rapid-fire lectures day after day, but it is all over now. In hindsight we probably learned more than what most medical schools teach and will be able to recall more anatomy during our careers.

 

[rajneel1]

at our school, we had practice walk abouts where we look at bodies every two weeks or so. then an oral midterm which was 10 minutes with the faculty. them asking a few questions and then helping us with the answers. our final was about 4 hours, two hours written MC and then 1 1/2 hour walk about. only our final counted for grade but all of our courses are P/F. the entire class passed. good luck if you think you "will be able to recall more anatomy during our careers". i don't know why you think your class will be able to recall more anatomy than the students at most other medical schools.

 

[SaucyAZN]

I'm an M1 at MCW...we just completed Biochem, Human Development (Devo), and Anatomy.

We're on a block system, so we have 3-5 weeks of material and then a week of pain and suffering (aka exams).

This is how the powers-that-be structured anatomy:

Block I: Brachial Plexus, Arm/Forearm/Hand, Back
Block II: Head, Neck, Cranial Nerves
Block III: Thorax and Abdomen...and a touch of pelvis
Block IV: Pelvis, Thigh, Leg, and Foot

Each block had a written exam (we took this exam together with the devo exam...we usually had about 3-3 1/2 hours to complete both exams). Each block also had a practical...50 tagged items...one minute per tagged item.

Anatomy was difficult, but the class got easier as the semester progressed. Devo and biochem...well...biochem was okay...difficult as hell, but it went a lot smoother than devo...definitely my weakest class.

Anatomy, again, was difficult at first...I thought the first exam and first practical were the most difficult. Granted, Block II (Head) had the most difficult material, but we all studied our butts off, and most of us did very well with Block II, undoubtedly our most difficult block.

We always had a mock pracitcal about a week before the real one. The anatomy tutors sent them up, and they tried to make the mock practicals more difficult than the real things (for example, one of them pinned the Supreme Nasal Concha...who knew that damn thing existed?). But they're great...we'd be so lost without them.

 

[SaucyAZN]

I'm an M1 at MCW...we just completed Biochem, Human Development (Devo), and Anatomy.

We're on a block system, so we have 3-5 weeks of material and then a week of pain and suffering (aka exams).

This is how the powers-that-be structured anatomy:

Block I: Brachial Plexus, Arm/Forearm/Hand, Back
Block II: Head, Neck, Cranial Nerves
Block III: Thorax and Abdomen...and a touch of pelvis
Block IV: Pelvis, Thigh, Leg, and Foot

Each block had a written exam (we took this exam together with the devo exam...we usually had about 3-3 1/2 hours to complete both exams). Each block also had a practical...50 tagged items...one minute per tagged item.

Anatomy was difficult, but the class got easier as the semester progressed. Devo and biochem...well...biochem was okay...difficult as hell, but it went a lot smoother than devo...definitely my weakest class.

Anatomy, again, was difficult at first...I thought the first exam and first practical were the most difficult. Granted, Block II (Head) had the most difficult material, but we all studied our butts off, and most of us did very well with Block II, undoubtedly our most difficult block.

We always had a mock pracitcal about a week before the real one. The anatomy tutors sent them up, and they tried to make the mock practicals more difficult than the real things (for example, one of them pinned the Supreme Nasal Concha...who knew that damn thing existed?). But they're great...we'd be so lost without them.

 

[oldman]

Our school has a practice pratical prior to all lab exams run by the 2nd year students. It is independent of the professors, but they support them. Perhaps you could start such a program to help out future MS1s. The practicals didn't help me learn, but they did boost my confidence in what I had already learned.