how many hours do you study every day for anatomy?

[Dr Who]

I was curious, how many hours a day did you guys study for the anato/ histo/ embriology block?
I am not the most structured person in the world, so studying ten hours a day, every day is crazy for me.

So what did you do? and now that you have gone on to ms II and beyond what has experience taught you in regards to the best way to internalize all that info.

I know that dedication is very important, but is there a method to all this madness or do you all bascially take the brute force approach?

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[TruTrooper]

I was curious, how many hours a day did you guys study for the anato/ histo/ embriology block?
I am not the most structured person in the world, so studying ten hours a day, every day is crazy for me.

So what did you do? and now that you have gone on to ms II and beyond what has experience taught you in regards to the best way to internalize all that info.

I know that dedication is very important, but is there a method to all this madness or do you all bascially take the brute force approach?

First year stuff? Brute force is the key all the way for the first year. You just keep reading that stuff until you vomit. If you don't vomit, you are slacking.

Can't do 10 hours a day? In that case, try 9 hours and 45 minutes. If that doesn't do then just continue dropping in 15 minute increments until you find your nitch.

 

[mikedc813]

I don't think you have to be studying 10 hours a day, but it's a lot of studying still. I probably did 5 hrs/day.

 

[jonb12997]

what worked for me... after somewhat learning the info, I took the Rohen (the real picture one with the numbered stuff). took a page of info that I was responsible for, covered up the key on that page with a post-it, took my notebook, numbered down the left side of the page how many numbers on that particular picture and tried to do it from memory... I did it over and over untill I got everyone right. Yes it was a lot of work and very time consuming, but it's what worked...

 

[noncestvrai]

Well, I have a good memory for these things but I studied enough to know names and functions, then spent a $hitload of time at the lab, I believe you learn better by doing, feeling and looking at the real stuff. I always had over 85 in all aspects of anatomy.

As said b/f repetition is the key, but not 5 hours/d...

noncestvrai

 

[Ramoray]

I always had over 85 in all aspects of anatomy.

d...

lets give him a trophy

 

[sleepymed]

the dissection itself takes a long long time... if your cadaver has a lot of fat you can spend hours just cleaning off everything... our block had physio, histo, embryo, anatomy...

you're not studying 15 horus for an individual subject, but i think you're studying a total of maybe 8 hours a day plus being in lab and classes and stuff...

physio and histo are quicker to study for... they're more an understanding kind of deal...

the embryo and anatomy work really well together actually, they help you understand the other... you get a complete picture...

it's the anatomy that will kill you... to quote my proff when we asked her what we needed to know for the exam "everything." don't go into the exam thinking that you have the basics... they will ask you about the tiniest things.. what is the name of this miniscule bump on the bone and what attatches there... stuff like that...

just a quick reccomendation... you HAVE to study for anatomy with other people.. grab a few people, go to lab, and start pointing to things and quizzing each other... trust me looking at the atlas or the textbook is no where near enough... you need to touch!

good luck... it may be challenging, but it was one of the most satisfying classes...

 

[fun8stuff]

the dissection itself takes a long long time... if your cadaver has a lot of fat you can spend hours just cleaning off everything... our block had physio, histo, embryo, anatomy...

you're not studying 15 horus for an individual subject, but i think you're studying a total of maybe 8 hours a day plus being in lab and classes and stuff...

physio and histo are quicker to study for... they're more an understanding kind of deal...

the embryo and anatomy work really well together actually, they help you understand the other... you get a complete picture...

it's the anatomy that will kill you... to quote my proff when we asked her what we needed to know for the exam "everything." don't go into the exam thinking that you have the basics... they will ask you about the tiniest things.. what is the name of this miniscule bump on the bone and what attatches there... stuff like that...

just a quick reccomendation... you HAVE to study for anatomy with other people.. grab a few people, go to lab, and start pointing to things and quizzing each other... trust me looking at the atlas or the textbook is no where near enough... you need to touch!

good luck... it may be challenging, but it was one of the most satisfying classes...

but studying in groups has always slowed me down in the past...

 

[njbmd]

Hi there,
I never went to anatomy class or lab unprepared. I took the dissector and make a list of the structures that I needed to find from superficial to deep. I then put the dissector along side the Netter atlas and looked to see where those structures were likely to be found. I also glanced at the Rohan atlas to see the relative size of things. I kept up with my reading in my text by tearing out the pages and reading them on the subway as I commuted. If nothing else, I read the bold print and got an idea of what the lectures should be like. I also took photocopies of the Netter pages to lecture with me and took notes on them with colored pens and markers. I made sketches in my dissector of how I found structures.

For muscles, I looked at a skeleton and imagined the action of every muscle. I studied cross sections and radiographs. For embryology, I kept up with the material and crossed referenced it with my gross anatomy.

All of this generally took about 3 hours per day outside of my class and lab. I reviewed on the weekend and studied other bodies. I also made sure that the dissection of my cadaver was complete otherwise the instructors would come in and finish the dissection on exam day; tagging those structures that they uncovered.

I made study summaries and kept up with the material and dissection. In the end, I honored gross anatomy, micro anatomy and embryology. The biggest thing that made a difference in my study was good and through prep BEFORE lecture and active listening during lecture and demonstrations.

Good luck!
njbmd

 

[DocNickRiviera]

Hi there,
I never went to anatomy class or lab unprepared. I took the dissector and make a list of the structures that I needed to find from superficial to deep. I then put the dissector along side the Netter atlas and looked to see where those structures were likely to be found. I also glanced at the Rohan atlas to see the relative size of things. I kept up with my reading in my text by tearing out the pages and reading them on the subway as I commuted. If nothing else, I read the bold print and got an idea of what the lectures should be like. I also took photocopies of the Netter pages to lecture with me and took notes on them with colored pens and markers. I made sketches in my dissector of how I found structures.

For muscles, I looked at a skeleton and imagined the action of every muscle. I studied cross sections and radiographs. For embryology, I kept up with the material and crossed referenced it with my gross anatomy.

All of this generally took about 3 hours per day outside of my class and lab. I reviewed on the weekend and studied other bodies. I also made sure that the dissection of my cadaver was complete otherwise the instructors would come in and finish the dissection on exam day; tagging those structures that they uncovered.

I made study summaries and kept up with the material and dissection. In the end, I honored gross anatomy, micro anatomy and embryology. The biggest thing that made a difference in my study was good and through prep BEFORE lecture and active listening during lecture and demonstrations.

Good luck!
njbmd

I never prepped beforehand, didn't study daily, and stood around in lab thinking "What the hell am I supposed to be doing?". I would highly recommend going through the lab in a group close to test time and quizing each other. Otherwise, I did most of my studying in the 4-5 days before an exam, and did very well in my class. If you were a cram-study type before med school, you probably will be during it, it just may take a couple more days of cramming than you were used to. One of the best pieces of advice I got coming in was that whatever study skills you used to get to med school will probably get you through med school... you'll just be doing more of it. Good luck!

 

[mikedc813]

I really think that the Rohen color atlas is really really helpful. It's well designed for you to quiz yourself and the pictures are beautifully done. It helped me so much on the practicals.

 

[TheFlash]

Rohen's is GOLD for practicals. other than that, use baby moore and either grant's or netter's atlas to rip this class to shreds.

 

[LevatorAni]

Atlases are great for knowing what should be where. But, the more cadavers yu can get your hands into, the better. Get to know people at neighboring tables and hang out with them for a portion of every lab session. Also, doing the dissection yourself will give you an idea of what you need to get through and around to get to different structures.

Basically, it boils down to 3 R's: repitition repitition repitition.

 

[mikedc813]

Basically, it boils down to 3 R's: repitition repitition repitition.

Here here! So true...