anatomy...hardest class ever? perhaps!

[Stephie3]

hey guys...i just wanted to say that i am taking human anatomy this semester and it is HARD! i seriously studied a lot for the first test and got a low B, which is not how i usually do.

which makes me wonder...in your opinions, is human anatomy one of the hardest classes first year in dschool?

my reasoning is that by taking it in my last semester of undergrad (even though its sooo hard..ok i am whining now lol) that it will help me be prepared for it in dschool.

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[PDizzle]

Definitely the hardest single class in DS for most people. One of our students was actually an MD switching careers...I don't think he strugled too much but the rest of us did!! hehe

 

[bucknut2009]

hey guys...i just wanted to say that i am taking human anatomy this semester and it is HARD! i seriously studied a lot for the first test and got a low B, which is not how i usually do.

which makes me wonder...in your opinions, is human anatomy one of the hardest classes first year in dschool?

my reasoning is that by taking it in my last semester of undergrad (even though its sooo hard..ok i am whining now lol) that it will help me be prepared for it in dschool.

I absolutely love anatomy. Although it is probably the hardest class I have taken, I somehow managed to ace it up...probably because of my interest in it and the fact that I had already taken so many classes that seemed like an exercise in rot memorization and which I really cared nothing about. I also think it helped a ton having a cadaver lab...do you have that? I'm certainly no genius though...just look at my stats lol. Just try to think of it as being information you are actually going to use and which is something everyone should really know about-its your own body. People spend years learning how some machine works or program runs etc. but do not even know the basics about their own body, the same one your hopefully going to have for the next 60+ years.

 

[Stephie3]

Definitely the hardest single class in DS for most people. One of our students was actually an MD switching careers...I don't think he strugled too much but the rest of us did!! hehe

thanks pdizzle for the confirmation of what i was suspecting

 

[SugarNaCl]

I think it is one of the hardest if you haven't had exposure to it before.

 

[yuppers]

Yeah, it was tough. Mainly lab though.

 

[aguacero]

The whole getting accepted to d-school has taken the wind out of my sails. I definately haven't been giving my Anatomy class the attention it deserves. Bell ringer in my cadaver lab on tues, right after the lecture midterm. It ain't gonna be pretty.

Hang in there steph3. I feel your pain.

 

[makushin]

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[jay47]

hey guys...i just wanted to say that i am taking human anatomy this semester and it is HARD! i seriously studied a lot for the first test and got a low B, which is not how i usually do.

which makes me wonder...in your opinions, is human anatomy one of the hardest classes first year in dschool?

my reasoning is that by taking it in my last semester of undergrad (even though its sooo hard..ok i am whining now lol) that it will help me be prepared for it in dschool.

My anatomy, taught by the same professors who teach it in our vet school (#3 in the country btw) was definitely not my hardest class. Although difficult, it did not compare to our physiology (taught by the Vet school pharmacology professor!) nor our Biochemistry 2 class. Sigh.....that was one tough semester....

 

[playa2652]

I'm taking Biochem and Anatomy right now...Biochem is definitely harder because there's lots of formulas and application. Anatomy is pure memorization and interesting because its part of you and how you work.

 

[playa2652]

I'm taking Biochem and Anatomy right now...Biochem is definitely harder because there's lots of formulas and application. Anatomy is pure memorization and interesting because its part of you and how you work.

 

[JamesOSU]

I feel liek biochem would be harder... What makes Anatomy so hard, isn't it mostly rote memorization, or am I missing something? I took gross in undergrad and while it wasn't easy persay it was very interesting, just a lot of memorization. Having a cadaver lab 3x a week made it SO much easier, i can't imagine it without a lab. You need to see it to really believe it.

So what exactly makes anatomy so hard? Is it how indept it is?

 

[needa20]

I took it my last year of undergrad but it was taught at dent/med school level with cadavers.

I got a C on my first lab and Lecture test, then an A on every other test for the rest of the semester and ended up with a B+ in the class. I just did not know where to begin studing for that first test, after that I knew what to expect. memorize

 

[visbimmer79]

When you took anat, what else courses were you taking at the same time?

Were you able to handle the course load?

Above all, what are the most difficult classes during first year at dental school? Why do you think yr1 at dental school has been the most difficult time for majority of people, some of whom have already quitted their schools?

 

[PDizzle]

This is a little advice about anatomy if you have never taken it before, please listen up...you will PM me with a "thank you" if you do!

First off, most people who get into dental school are pretty damn smart and each have their own study habits but all are able to pretty much learn most science material on their own, after it was presented in class and before the test is given. This is where anaotomy differs.

I was never the one who read the chapter before class and did just fine. This will not work in anatomy lab! I can't stress that enough. When you are cutting into a cadaver, you have to know what to expect under each layer you remove. Everyone(the cadaver that is) is a little bit different and all the vessels/nerves/etc may not be where you think they are. You have to do massive preparation work before that days lab or it will be meaningless. It will be just a big pile of goo to you.

I was completely lost on the first lab practical, I actually had to remediate 🙁

After that ego blow, I studied my butt off and learned anatomy from our disecting guide as well as Netter. After that, I aced the course because the lab meant something to me. I knew what I was looking for and most importantly, looking at.

Also, anatomy isn't just memorizing the names of stuff, it's the association of nerves, bones, vessels, etc. For instance, in our lab practicals, there were two questions at each station.
#1: What is this?
#2: What nerve intervates it? What vessel supplies it? What bone does it insert into? What embryonic layer does it derive? etc, etc

Last tip. Before head and neck, know all 12 cranial nerves like you've never known anything else in your life. From origin in brain, through which foramen, type of nerve(motor, sensory), inervation, association with other CN's, role in the four major ganglions of secretion, etc, etc.

It's no joke.

I personally thought biochem was easier than anatomy. Sure, there are a lot of reactions but I found it to be more fascinating. The incredible regulation your cells have to do to maintain homeostasis is mind bottling! (You know, when your thoughts are all jumbled up like in a bottle!) 🙂

 

[Stephie3]

thanks pdizzle. we had one cadaver that had some crazy veins, arteries, and nerves going on in his legs. it took me like 45 minutes just to sort them all out and try to guess what they were.

i think the reason my anatomy class is so hard is that the teacher quizzes us on EVERYTHING. its remember every little factoid he utters in class. on our first lecture test (the same day as the cadaver lab one too), he asked us to draw both a cross section of the leg, a cross-section of the thigh, the posterior aspect of a right femur and lots of fill in the blanks (no mercy! lol)

while its not that bad, its certainly no walk in the park and this is coming from a person who did pretty darn well in undergrad and even pchem lecture last semester lol😳

 

[PDizzle]

thanks pdizzle. we had one cadaver that had some crazy veins, arteries, and nerves going on in his legs. it took me like 45 minutes just to sort them all out and try to guess what they were.

i think the reason my anatomy class is so hard is that the teacher quizzes us on EVERYTHING. its remember every little factoid he utters in class. on our first lecture test (the same day as the cadaver lab one too), he asked us to draw both a cross section of the leg, a cross-section of the thigh, the posterior aspect of a right femur and lots of fill in the blanks (no mercy! lol)

while its not that bad, its certainly no walk in the park and this is coming from a person who did pretty darn well in undergrad and even pchem lecture last semester lol😳

PChem! Now that's a subject created by the Devil! The hardest class I've every had the misfortune of enrolling in!

 

[makushin]

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[preOMFS]

Biochem here is not in the same league as Gross Anatomy. Still harder than undergrad Biochem, but much easier than G.A.

There are 3 reasons G.A. is so difficult in dental school.

1) You have to memorize thousands of items for each test. As PDizzle points out, it is much more than ID. ID is really the easiest part.

2) The tests are on a blank sheet, not multiple choice. You have to REALLY memorize everything.

3) The stations are timed. Once that bell goes off, you're done. Things can snowball very quickly.

The timed stations were my biggest problem in the course. You're at a station with about 6 questions, and you have 2 minutes to answer them. My brain doesn't always work that quickly.

Timed stations aside, the course was pretty manageable until we got to head/neck. Head/neck was nuts. A real kick in the balls. I think all my classmates would agree it is the most difficult test in first year.

Every school's GA is different though. For example NYU has plasticized cadavers. I think this would make the course much easier, because you only see ideal dissections. I'm not sure how it is taught at the undergrad level, but I'm skeptical. There also seem to be some people that have very good memorization skills. Only a few though. I swear one of my friends can memorize like this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Peek

It sounds silly, but that dude would be a model dental student. He has an IQ of 87, but he can memorize. That's what dental school's all about. You will probably be frustrated and bored if you are the math type.

To bad his motor skills are shot. Comes in handy if you're a dental student...

 

[makushin]

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