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Best way to get a good Anatomy base before starting med school?
- Thread starter futuremed3010
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1. Find a beach
2. Order a drink with an umbrella in it
3. Stare at the bikini-clad bodies around you
Thats all the anatomy you need to be studying this summer
Seriously, its going to be ok. You got into med school. Now go enjoy your last true carefree stress free summer.
Next year by this time you'll be on here stressing about whether or not you should do research or shadow someone. And the year after that it will be step1.
I was exactly like you. Now i wish i had relaxed a bit more the summer before first year. And oh, the preparation did not help one bit. I was still lost at first like most of the class and then figured it all out in a few weeks.
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I wouldn't even bother trying to get a head start on anatomy. Med school anatomy will go into so much details that even if you've learned basic anatomy, it won't really help much. About half of my class, including myself, had never taken anatomy before, and most of us still did well. There were a few people who had taken anatomy in undergrad and didn't perform as well. Personally, I think it'll be a waste of time. Go have fun and be lazyt. You'll have plenty of time to be productive in med school....
I came in with zero anatomy experience and I'm doing fine. You really don't need to worry too much about it.
Some people I know recommended the coloring books though. Probably be a better use of your time than any of the textbooks.
Some people I know recommended the coloring books though. Probably be a better use of your time than any of the textbooks.
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This is a pre-allo topic. Moving.
mmmcdowe
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If you are going to buy something, buy a set of netter's flash cards to flip through. Most schools seem to start with the upper extremity.
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I agree. But don't prestudy, it's a horrible idea.
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I remember thinking like this before medical school and most people say not to pre-study, I would tend to agree for the most part.
The problem with self study is that a text covers huge amounts of info, of which you will only need to learn 20%. How do you determine the information you need to retain? (Netters cards arguably cover only high yield, so that would be a way to narrow).
Secondly, I would ask what your purpose is? Are you trying to be a better doctor? Are you trying to ensure that you honor the course? What is the purpose?
If you are trying to get a better grade, pre-studying will do little to help. Your grades first year are largely dependent on how much you can study day in and day out, and how efficient you are during that time. This isn't to say that people who took a 1 year course in anatomy didn't have a slight advantage. I think they did, but nothing that would make the difference between getting honors and not.
If you want to learn anatomy, I would recommend buying a few atlases like Netter and Theime and then going over those. Even surgeons are constantly reviewing their anatomy, so it's a life-long process. Learning the big structures, muscles, nerves, large arteries, etc. would be great if you love anatomy. But if you want to do this to get a better grade, that would be a dumb move.
You can wait to start gunning until first day of class.
Agreed here, little to no correlation between previous exposure and performance. It's not what you know, it's how good you are at learning.
The problem with self study is that a text covers huge amounts of info, of which you will only need to learn 20%. How do you determine the information you need to retain? (Netters cards arguably cover only high yield, so that would be a way to narrow).
Secondly, I would ask what your purpose is? Are you trying to be a better doctor? Are you trying to ensure that you honor the course? What is the purpose?
If you are trying to get a better grade, pre-studying will do little to help. Your grades first year are largely dependent on how much you can study day in and day out, and how efficient you are during that time. This isn't to say that people who took a 1 year course in anatomy didn't have a slight advantage. I think they did, but nothing that would make the difference between getting honors and not.
If you want to learn anatomy, I would recommend buying a few atlases like Netter and Theime and then going over those. Even surgeons are constantly reviewing their anatomy, so it's a life-long process. Learning the big structures, muscles, nerves, large arteries, etc. would be great if you love anatomy. But if you want to do this to get a better grade, that would be a dumb move.
You can wait to start gunning until first day of class.
Agreed here, little to no correlation between previous exposure and performance. It's not what you know, it's how good you are at learning.
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was thinking the same exact thing!
I'm definitely going to plan the most elaborate vacation (that I can afford...) for the summer before and enjoy the peace haha
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Agreed. Many of us had some notion of getting a Leg up on med school before starting, but it's really not a good use of your time. You are better off getting your fill of fun and sun now so you can focus in on med school when it starts, and hit the ground well rested and ready to go full steam.
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Explaining the benefits of Ron Paul to an Obama lover is more productive than pre-studying.
Medical school prepares everyone for each course as though they had 0 training in it. You will be ok.
Medical school prepares everyone for each course as though they had 0 training in it. You will be ok.
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Fix'd.
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da8s0859q
Don't do it. Your first year will make you want that "free" summer back.
I disagree. I wouldn't go insane learning the crap, but if you haven't taken it in undergrad, it would be good to cover the basics to get a foundation, so that in the very least, you'll go in with an idea of how you should be thinking about things and studying. If anything, I'm guessing your school posts their syllabus, so you'll know what you'll be studying first, so study that so you can ease into medical school.
I half-assed auditing an anatomy class, and did some basic self studying - mostly the upper limb which is what we covered first - and I have to say, while I maybe went in with 5% of the necessary information for that unit, I had a much much easier time with it compared to my classmates who had never taken or looked at anything anatomical. While they got hit with a real shock, I was able to relax more, and while they had to at once put together the big picture, and fit all of the details into it, I was able to focus on those details. Suffice it to say, I did very well, and I do think having had the aforementioned foundation played a large role in it.
It is worth mentioning btw, that any advantage I had, I lost by the second unit, but I still would say it was well worth it.
edit*
I should also mention though that the other classes I took in anticipation of medical school, or that were required and repeated (histology, physiology, and biochemistry so far) have actually been a tremendous help, much more so than anatomy.
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The type of student who thinks about pre-studying is likely the type to put in a lot of hard work during the actual course. Since you can't go back and repeat the experience there's no way to know what your performance would have been like without that extra time. I bet there were a bunch of others honoring the class as well who hadn't ever seen the material before, though.
I'd suggest no pre-studying, but hit the ground running. Anatomy is a tough thing to start off the year with. Get your R&R now so you can put in 10 hours study days in the fall if you want that H.
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Exactly. Any advantage that those who took an anatomy course in undergrad have disappears pretty quickly.
Not only that, the vast majority of the anatomy questions we get on exams are clinically oriented 2nd/3rd order questions. Not simple identification ones. I doubt that most undergrad anatomy courses have that clinical emphasis.
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Exactly. So it's not really profitable to spend weeks or months pre-studying for anatomy when the advantage is minimal. Plus, by the time school starts, most of the pre-studying will be forgotten anyways.
The main point is most people who have never taken anatomy do just fine. There are also tons of other courses in med school where people have never been exposed to (histo, path, pharm, etc.), and most people still do just fine. No one pre-study for those either.
My opinion: you aren't going to learn it well until you have a body to study it on.
I didn't find anatomy to be an exercise in brute force memorization like some people think it is. You can memorize names all you want and it doesn't help you actually have a useful knowledge of the anatomy. You have to build a set of relationships among parts in your mind - knowing how things are related, what nerve runs between these two muscles at this location, what artery this is based on where it is running....that is the key to learning anatomy, and until you have a three dimensional body in front of you where you can move things, touch things, move your head to get different views...I just don't think you can get a functional, useable knowledge.
I didn't find anatomy to be an exercise in brute force memorization like some people think it is. You can memorize names all you want and it doesn't help you actually have a useful knowledge of the anatomy. You have to build a set of relationships among parts in your mind - knowing how things are related, what nerve runs between these two muscles at this location, what artery this is based on where it is running....that is the key to learning anatomy, and until you have a three dimensional body in front of you where you can move things, touch things, move your head to get different views...I just don't think you can get a functional, useable knowledge.
Fair points, but compared to many of the students I keep hearing about, it doesn't seem like I study nearly as much, and I've managed to do very well. There may be students who do as well or better, who study tons more, but I enjoy having never had to pull an all nighter, very rarely having to pull a 10hour study day (counting lecture time), getting plenty of days off, getting to spend time with my gf, and generally having an easier time than I otherwise would have.
Hell, for histo, having an insane class in undergrad that was well above and beyond what we had now, I was able to barely study (and put my time towards anatomy) and do well enough to only need a 9% on the last exam to get a guaranteed pass for the course. The people in my class who had the same prof for A/P had a much easier time with the written anatomy from what they told me.
Hell, for histo, having an insane class in undergrad that was well above and beyond what we had now, I was able to barely study (and put my time towards anatomy) and do well enough to only need a 9% on the last exam to get a guaranteed pass for the course. The people in my class who had the same prof for A/P had a much easier time with the written anatomy from what they told me.
