Anatomy is HARD because...

[unsung]

I'm having a hard time learning anatomy because there are no overarching concepts or theories to tie things together. I had no probs with o-chem in college because I relied on reasoning things out (as opposed to mindless memorization that seemed to fail a lot of other people). (Oh, and I mention o-chem because that I did have to spend a lot of time on that too. But the good thing with o-chem was, once I learned & memorized some basic structures, I could use underlying concepts to deduce answers. The answer was rarely something I straight up memorized. I don't have a prob with memorization per say... just when the memorization seems pretty much random.)

Unfortunately, my tactics seem to fail next to the nemesis that is Gross Anatomy. I am overwhelmed by a sea of minutiae. What's worse is that none of the detail appear to be unified by anything remotely interesting.

A lot of things that WOULD make the anatomy interesting are probably more things that I would learn in physiology. Also, whenever I ask "why" Qs, a lot of the times, the answer appears to be "it just is" or "I don't know."

When I try to think about motions of muscles, for example, to try to remember each muscle, it quickly becomes a complicated task. I get bogged down trying to understand, while my classmates have already finished memorizing and regurgitating info. I know I'm wasting precious time by trying to understand and make sense of things... But it's HARD for me to switch to rote memorization mode.

Any advice? Just bite the bullet, stop asking why and stop thinking? Is that the best way?

...Am I the only one with this bizarre problem? I can't stand things with so little thinking!

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[Renova]

...Am I the only one with this bizarre problem? I can't stand things with so little thinking!

No...I had the exact same problem with gross. I'm guessing that, like me, you went to a fairly rigorous undergrad where they placed a lot of emphasis on critical thinking skills. Unfortunately, M1 (and to a slightly lesser extent, M2) are almost exclusively based on rote memorization, and there's really no way around it.

Just bite the bullet, stop asking why and stop thinking? Is that the best way?

For anatomy...yes. Get through it and be done with it...rest assured that unless you're planning on going into a surgical field, the minutiae of gross anatomy are probably some of the most useless things you'll have to learn in med school. You won't even need 90% what you learn in that class to do well on Step I.

 

[ChemEngSoonMD]

anatomy is just memorization.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

just pass and be done with it

 

[MilkmanAl]

I was in a similar position, and I found it really helpful to break the muscles down into compartments of similar function/supply/innervation. That allowed me to conceptualize a little more than usual. Still, gross is pure drudgery. Hammer out the memorization, get through it, and forget all the worthless crap you have to know during the class.

 

[ChemEngSoonMD]

I pwn anatomy.

















Proof:

 

[synapse lapse]

Welcome to med school? All med school is memorizing lists and charts and regurgitating that information. Don't be fooled into thinking this is a field with constant critical thinking, it isn't. Sure there are times when that is involved, when reasoning is needed, but at this stage in your (our) careers we don't reason much.

 

[ChemEngSoonMD]

Welcome to med school? All med school is memorizing lists and charts and regurgitating that information. Don't be fooled into thinking this is a field with constant critical thinking, it isn't. Sure there are times when that is involved, when reasoning is needed, but at this stage in your (our) careers we don't reason much.

which sucks, because unlike physics, you cant just copy down the equations and plan on acing the test.

 

[phospho]

relationships, relationships, relationships! so far that's been working for me (we're getting ready to finish upper extremity)...

But, I agree with you. I think it's hard because it's so different from everything we've taken in undergrad.

We'll get through it!

 

[megalomanicboy]

Me too. I did have that kind of problem. But I've found one tactic that memorization is likely to be much easier when you study a diagram. I bought Atlas of Anatomy (or you can have it at the library) such as "Grant's" or "Netter". Here is what I did;
1. Read the material in text.
2. Opened the Atlas and searched the one I had recently read.
You don't have to think much in learning Anatomy. You'll just have to know which organ is in which place. That's for gross.
For nerve roots, innervations and nerve plexuses, I myself drew a diagram after reading the material. Reading the material and drawing a diagram simultaneously helps you memorize much easier.
If it fails, try mnemonics.

 

[ZagDoc]

Draw. That's the only way I found to "conceptualize" anatomy.

But yeah. It's a ton of memorization. Get used to it, because there are worse subjects out there when it comes to memorization without the pretty pictures to keep you entertained (biochem, pharm, etc). Welcome to MS1.

 

[MossPoh]

I thought a lot about why certain things functioned the way they did, what possible benefits it'd have being how it is, etc. The vast majority is just rote memorization and repeating over and over again but I found myself looking up various disorders or injuries just to learn what happens when something is screwed up.

Either way, so happy being done with that class.

 

[KnuxNole]

At first I hated this class due to the sheer amount of volume thrown at you while you still learning the ropes of medical school. But, it can get very interesting and it's one of the few first year classes that make you feel like a student-doctor. I feel like if you can get through Gross Anatomy, most of the other "rote memorization" classes won't seem as bad. Of course, those who rely mainly on rote memorization may have trouble with Physiology...but that's for another thread. 😉

 

[amph119]

I really enjoy anatomy, but the pace that we learn it at is pretty rough.

 

[MMN]

Anatomy is complete rote learning. I use R.J. Last for gross anatomy(relation and minor details) and big moore for clinical info(the blue boxes) and i pwn it. Last's anatomy is pretty cool, try it and see if u feel ok with it.

 

[psipsina]

Draw. That's the only way I found to "conceptualize" anatomy.

But yeah. It's a ton of memorization. Get used to it, because there are worse subjects out there when it comes to memorization without the pretty pictures to keep you entertained (biochem, pharm, etc). Welcome to MS1.

I also found drawing things out to be incredibly useful. I also talked my way through various netters plates with a focus on relationships. There is alot of logic to the way the body is set up but often you are so overwhelmed by the pace that its difficult to delve that deeply into the subject. But if you know what a muscle does you can guess at its attachments or vice versa. There is some rote memorization but such is the next two years of your life. It gets better though, once you get some of the big picture into your brain you can start to see the forest instead of just the trees.

 

[Mattabet]

Anatomy is HARD because...

...of what SHE said! hey-o

And ChemEng, I think you used an eponym or mislabled 'pituitary gland' on your diagram. It's more commonly known as 'hat'.

We start Gross Lab tomorrow, just had the first lecture. So... I have no useful information yet.

 

[drfosho]

Just bite the bullet, stop asking why and stop thinking

you should have done md/phd then

 

[MossPoh]

Nice little deadlift there if that's you though. Break 500 yet?

 

[seelee]

I am surprised that nobody has mentioned using flash cards. I use anki, computer based flash cards that you can put on your smartphone or palm. It isn't going to tie things together so much but it is one of the best ways to memorize long lists of minutae.

 

[coldweatherblue]

loved anatomy.. each piece of the body is perfectly made. Form follows function but it is beautiful all the same. The key for exams are the relationships and clinical correlates. I pretty much just thought about each system enough until I could look at someone in a grocery store or whatever and visualize every part, where it ran, what arteries were close by and how they passed through muscles, nerves, etc. Obviously you have to know the name of every muscle, artery, nerve, bone landmark, etc but this is the first stage of learning and should come quickly.. beyond that for exams you have to know where and why (relationships) and what happens when things go wrong (clinical correlates).

 

[ChemEngSoonMD]

Nice little deadlift there if that's you though. Break 500 yet?

nope, I think my lifts actually went down. Too much studyin.

 

[MossPoh]

nope, I think my lifts actually went down. Too much studyin.

I thought my lifts went down until I unleashed the beast after a particularly bad test performance. I then went and did 16x375 with increased ROM, 10x275 Good mornings, insane abwork and sled pulling till dry heaving. That worked out any issues I had.

 

[ChemEngSoonMD]

16x375

wtf

 

[wryandwatchful]

Yeah, critical thinking is good, but so is being able to take in a bunch of information in one fell swoop. Anatomy primes your brain to be able to do that the rest of the two years. There's a lot to take in.

If I observed anything, it was that everyone had their own way of handling anatomy. It takes a while to find your way, but you'll get it. Some people drew crazy diagrams and drew those over and over. Others read. Others were in lab ALL the time. I did most of it by going to lab with a dedicated study partner and just talking about the structures as we stood over them. I kind of treated it like learning a language and being able to exchange conversation about the structures. New people would come in, teach us, and add to our vocabularies. I mean, that's why we learn anatomy, right? To be able to talk about things.

 

[ChemEngSoonMD]

Yeah, critical thinking is good, but so is being able to take in a bunch of information in one fell swoop. Anatomy primes your brain to be able to do that the rest of the two years. There's a lot to take in.

If I observed anything, it was that everyone had their own way of handling anatomy. It takes a while to find your way, but you'll get it. Some people drew crazy diagrams and drew those over and over. Others read. Others were in lab ALL the time. I did most of it by going to lab with a dedicated study partner and just talking about the structures as we stood over them. I kind of treated it like learning a language and being able to exchange conversation about the structures. New people would come in, teach us, and add to our vocabularies. I mean, that's why we learn anatomy, right? To be able to talk about things.

Yes
Anatomy is really just language. Before language, people couldn't communicate effectively. I read about this in one of Malcolm Gladwell's books. For example, in taste testing, there are a specific words for specific taste properties; texture, acidity, how easy it crumbles. Without this set of vocab, the only thing you can say is, this cake tastes good/bad. Same with anatomy.

 

[MossPoh]

wtf

Yea, there was a fair amount of blood from my shins and hands when i was done. I also had a subconjunctival hemorrhage. Totally awesome.


Anyway, back on topic. Just a language. All repetition.

There we go.

 

[WellWornLad]

Anatomy is just constant repetition. At some point, however, everything clicks and it's a lot more fun. Unfortunately, the "click" usually happens the night before the exam (if you're lucky). Then it's on to the next body part, and you're lost again.

 

[HPSPpayissues]

It happned to me during head and neck. Make sure to understand spatial relationships. It makes memorizing easier because you can make many different connections. Anatomy was a biaaa*ch

 

[ygree001]

loved anatomy.. each piece of the body is perfectly made. Form follows function but it is beautiful all the same. The key for exams are the relationships and clinical correlates. I pretty much just thought about each system enough until I could look at someone in a grocery store or whatever and visualize every part, where it ran, what arteries were close by and how they passed through muscles, nerves, etc. Obviously you have to know the name of every muscle, artery, nerve, bone landmark, etc but this is the first stage of learning and should come quickly.. beyond that for exams you have to know where and why (relationships) and what happens when things go wrong (clinical correlates).

Visualizing people's parts in the grocery store

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself.

 

[JacobSilge]

I was once like you, trying to understand anatomy. The problem is, there are only 3 ways to use understanding - embryology (inadequately taught), evolution (not taught), and clinical relevance (you won't get this in adequate amounts until 3rd year). Unfortunately, you have to just grind through it and recognize that this is the least contextual course you'll have to take. But if you put in the effort now, you might actually understand anatomy after you finish surgery 3rd year.

 

[unsung]

I was once like you, trying to understand anatomy. The problem is, there are only 3 ways to use understanding - embryology (inadequately taught), evolution (not taught), and clinical relevance (you won't get this in adequate amounts until 3rd year). Unfortunately, you have to just grind through it and recognize that this is the least contextual course you'll have to take. But if you put in the effort now, you might actually understand anatomy after you finish surgery 3rd year.

And I would add to this list, physiology. Does physiology go over how complex body movements result from a combination of various muscle contractions? I thought medical school was supposed to teach me that kind of stuff. But now I fear, I will never learn this or understand things at that level.

Clinical correlates does help in many ways. But I still feel like a lot of students are just memorizing what each test is supposed to test for, rather than truly understanding how the test tests for what it does. For example, why does abduction test for supraspinatus at 30 degrees, but test for deltoid beyond that til 90 degrees, and beyond that is up to latissimus dorsi & trapezius? (Actually, I found the answer to that one, so that's a bad ex lol. But the pt is, no one taught me that, and I had to dig up the answer myself.) Most of my peers don't really care and are fine just memorizing things. They seem to take more pride in knowing a muscle is named "blank" rather than in knowing how do these muscles actually work to help make XYZ movement possible?

...What have I gotten myself into with this medical school thing? It really does depend on the culture of the school/students, I guess. Still, I would say the "curious" students are in the minority.

It's good to know that courses only get better from here on out, though.

 

[Gute]

Anatomy is hard because you really need to learn the complete picture before delving into details, but the details must be learned on the front end before you have the big picture. No doubt, its the hardest thing you do in med school.

 

[anon3]

Anatomy can be hard if you prefer problem-based learning over memorization. I find it funny that some people have like a philosophical objection against memorization.

 

[Jumpin JAK STAT]

I am surprised that nobody has mentioned using flash cards. I use anki, computer based flash cards that you can put on your smartphone or palm. It isn't going to tie things together so much but it is one of the best ways to memorize long lists of minutae.

Try using the Anki for your computer. It's not a totally separate applicaiton (despite the name), which sucks, but it does used spaced interval repetition to get you to learn and remember things. I would swear by it, and it's backed up by science.

Basically, I took an anatomy picture, and made a "flashcard" with the picture and an arrow pointing to a structure for each structure (like biceps brachii, vomer bone, hook of hamate, etc.).

Basically, it keeps you from wasting time reviewing things you already know, and gets you to focus on learning the things you don't know yet. It's also really good for histology, pathology, etc., really anything visual, I found (but that could just be me).

Bottom line, I used it to study for Step 1 and was quite pleased with the results. So, I would suggest at least checking it out.

 

[gujuDoc]

anatomy is just memorization.

Sadly "just memorization" makes it seems like it should be easy and memorization in theory is easier but for those like former engineering majors or those who were in majors where there was more emphasis on the critical reasoning rather then straight memorization, they find it a difficult adjustment to study via rote memorization.

And since a lot of curricula are not based on the kinda integrative concepts of PBL or what not, and not every school uses the organ system approach where if you are studying one organ in one class you are doing that in the next class, it often becomes harder for a lot of people to cope.

But the biggest problem I'd say is that there is an ocean of details that exist and such little time to memorize them all and seeing stuff on a real life body is not always as clear cut as it is in the pictures in a book.

I have heard that 2nd year is more intense but that it ties a lot of things together whereas M1 is just memorization of the basics so that you can see the more integrative things and have the background knowledge for such in year 2. This is why a lot of people prefer M2 despite the stress to M1.

 

[gujuDoc]

Anatomy can be hard if you prefer problem-based learning over memorization. I find it funny that some people have like a philosophical objection against memorization.

People learn different ways. Those who are used to memorizing love this, but those who are used to reasoning things out and hate having to memorize a lot of details i.e. former math, physics, and engineering majors, and also former philosophy majors, this kinda stuff is rather difficult cuz they are not used to it.

Also keep in mind it is just memorization but there is so much to memorize and for people who are already not good at memorization, memorizing the large volume of minutiae is a tough adjustment.

 

[gujuDoc]

Anatomy is hard because you really need to learn the complete picture before delving into details, but the details must be learned on the front end before you have the big picture. No doubt, its the hardest thing you do in med school.

haha sounds like an analogy to which one comes first, the chicken or the egg. One is needed to create one and the other is produced from the creation. Same is true of what you've said above. Good way of puttiing things on your part.

 

[ChemEngSoonMD]

haha sounds like an analogy to which one comes first, the chicken or the egg. One is needed to create one and the other is produced from the creation. Same is true of what you've said above. Good way of puttiing things on your part.

Dont ever use the chicken or egg analogy, it shows lack of biology understanding. chicken speciated from an ancestrial bird which evolved from dinosaurs. Guess what dinos lay? Oh wait its an EGG! duurrr duurrr

One more thing, speciation is a gradual process, there is no such thing as a first chicken. The gene pool is constantly changing.

 

[PSUtoMD]

Dont ever use the chicken or egg analogy, it shows you failed biology. chicken speciated from an ancestrial bird which evolved from dinosaurs. Guess what dinos lay? Oh wait its an EGG! duurrr duurrr

One more thing, speciation is a gradual process, there is no such thing as a first chicken. The gene pool is constantly changing.

 

[hypnix]

Do you guy's anatomy class have it where you have to literally memorize all of Netter? To my pleasant surprise, we do not...at least for our lab practical.

 

[ChemEngSoonMD]

 

[chiz2kul]

FAIL

 

[ChemEngSoonMD]

FAIL

You do know the background story of this picture right? It was Kirk Cameron's argument against Evolution.

 

[PSUtoMD]

You do know the background story of this picture right? It was Kirk Cameron's argument against Evolution.

The "Fail" comment was in reference to the fact that the site won't let you link that picture, and it apparently only shows up for you.

 

[gujuDoc]

Dont ever use the chicken or egg analogy, it shows lack of biology understanding. chicken speciated from an ancestrial bird which evolved from dinosaurs. Guess what dinos lay? Oh wait its an EGG! duurrr duurrr

One more thing, speciation is a gradual process, there is no such thing as a first chicken. The gene pool is constantly changing.

wow what a nerd. who gives 2 cents about the evolution. It was just an analogy. lol. sorry if I opened a can of worms guys.

 

[DeadCactus]

Dont ever use the chicken or egg analogy, it shows lack of biology understanding. chicken speciated from an ancestrial bird which evolved from dinosaurs. Guess what dinos lay? Oh wait its an EGG! duurrr duurrr

One more thing, speciation is a gradual process, there is no such thing as a first chicken. The gene pool is constantly changing.

Yes, it's an egg. A dinosaur egg. The egg in the analogy refers to a chicken leg. If we're just going to pick random eggs, then it's not much of a conundrum now is it.

Second, the analogy isn't about speciation. It's about whether it's a chicken egg because a chicken laid it or because a chicken hatched from it. It's a linguistic conundrum. Gradual or not, at some point you have to call it a "chicken" and either the egg it hatched from or the egg it creates a "chicken egg". The question is which.

But why bother with that when you can go on a rant and show what an expert Intro to Bio has made you...

 

[ChemEngSoonMD]

wow what a nerd. who gives 2 cents about the evolution. It was just an analogy. lol. sorry if I opened a can of worms guys.

Posts: 18,679

Yes, it's an egg. A dinosaur egg. The egg in the analogy refers to a chicken leg. If we're just going to pick random eggs, then it's not much of a conundrum now is it.

Second, the analogy isn't about speciation. It's about whether it's a chicken egg because a chicken laid it or because a chicken hatched from it. It's a linguistic conundrum. Gradual or not, at some point you have to call it a "chicken" and either the egg it hatched from or the egg it creates a "chicken egg". The question is which.

But why bother with that when you can go on a rant and show what an expert Intro to Bio has made you...

1. Chicken Leg ftw!
2. It is 100% about speciation. There was never a such thing as the first chicken just like there is no such thing as the first man because between man and ancestral primate you will find hundreds of transitional fossils. If someone is 95% man and 5% ape, do you call it a man? What about 99.9% man and 0.1% ape? On the same token, it might have taken thousands of generations from chickens to evolve from other birds. So out of that thousand generations, which generation is considered the first chicken? You can't make that distinction, however the egg has been in every single generation of that transitional process.

 

[username456789]

Jesus Tapdancing Christ, the sole reason for your existence is apparently to argue with people on the internet for no reason.

I know you'll shoot back with your "hey brah, it's all in good fun" line, but seriously, give it a rest.

 

[StanLee]

haha, yea...this thread is ridiculous.