How to study anatomy before med school

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tmandudeguy

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Hello all,
I am trying to find a good source to study for anatomy before med school. I have a gap year so I wont be cramming. I just never took anatomy and just want some background. Everyone says netters anatomy is the best. However, how do I study it? Do I just take the atlas and just memorize the structures?
 
tmandudeguy said:
Hello all,
I am trying to find a good source to study for anatomy before med school. I have a gap year so I wont be cramming. I just never took anatomy and just want some background. Everyone says netters anatomy is the best. However, how do I study it? Do I just take the atlas and just memorize the structures?
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You got a whole year to look over it man. No harm in learning it, just don't go crazy. I'm also taking a gap year too 🙂.
 
tmandudeguy said:
Hello all,
I am trying to find a good source to study for anatomy before med school. I have a gap year so I wont be cramming. I just never took anatomy and just want some background. Everyone says netters anatomy is the best. However, how do I study it? Do I just take the atlas and just memorize the structures?
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Netter's doesn't really help you unless you have a real body to look at because the real thing looks so much different than the drawings. There are anatomy books that show real photos of dissections, I would use both and compare the two.

You are better off taking a summer course and just audit it. Don't take it for grade just so you get a feel of the volume of work it's going to entail.
 
Last edited:
tmandudeguy said:
Hello all,
I am trying to find a good source to study for anatomy before med school. I have a gap year so I wont be cramming. I just never took anatomy and just want some background. Everyone says netters anatomy is the best. However, how do I study it? Do I just take the atlas and just memorize the structures?
Click to expand...

I remember LECOM-B telling us to learn anatomy before the school year, are you going to that program?

I think the smartest thing would be to try to take a community college class in anatomy or some online module maybe. It might not be a bad idea to call the school and ask what they think is the best way.
 
Netter is the best source IMO with BRS to tie things together and add clinical correlates. To answer your question, yes you just look at the pages until you can say what everything is. For muscles, it would be: name, the origin and insertion, nerve innervation, and blood supply.

With that being said, I wouldn't pre-study much if at all. If you do, don't go past muscles of upper and lower limb. I took a gap year, did not have anatomy experience, did not pre-study, and was able to be at the top of the class for the 1st written exam and practical (the info you could theoretically pre-study for). I'm only saying that to reiterate the point that you don't need to be pre-studying. I wish I would have spent more time pursuing some other interests and relaxing because you truly can't appreciate the volume/commitments school takes until you're there.
 
Honestly, I would take this year to just enjoy yourself and let your mind rest. I was really tempted to study before starting but am glad I took the time to enjoy myself. Even if you do start studying now, you will not be able to study it in the detail that medical school expects you to know.

I never took an anatomy class before med school and finished in the top of my class.

I would recommend just trying to find a copy of Rohen. There may or not be a copy of it floating around online. Electronic copies are the best because of the Ctrl+F commands.

Seriously, do not study. Enjoy the final moments of freedom you have left.
 
Haha awesome! Thanks for the info guys and hopefulreapp, no this isn't for LECOM, its just generally for any school. I was just worried because I have ZERO anatomy experience haha
 
lol I started this reply an hour ago and forgot to finish it...

A lot of people told me not to bother pre-studying on your own, and now I see why. The amount of detail they ask for in med school anatomy is incomparable to something you're going to study on your own. I mean it doesn't hurt to do some familiarization but don't invest too much time into it. Just be ready to put the time in regardless of your preparation.

There are videos on youtube of regional dissections that were pretty helpful. Netter's is okay, but I'd never use it exclusively. Things in the cadaver aren't as nicely placed or color-coded like they are in the atlas.
 
I am currently in med school and acland's videos on youtube are very comprehensive and helpful during anatomy.
 
I think an atlas alone would be a waste. There are a LOT more things in the atlas than you need to know for med school. Using something like BRS anatomy then supplementing with an atlas to me seems the most logical. BRS will teach you those things that are relevant to boards and teach you some basic pathologies; this keeps it far more interesting. I would supplement that study with an atlas and YouTube in order to better visualize some of the things described that are unclear. YouTube provides you with cadaver dissections pretty frequently so you get an idea of what things look like. Good luck!
 
I'm going going to weigh in with an alternative viewpoint, not taking anatomy before medical school is the largest regret I have. If you love memorization, don't bother, Anatomy will be your dream come true. If you are more analytical and problem focused it will help you immensely (people in my school who took anatomy before all did very well on the first exam), come neuro or organs, a cushion from back, limbs, etc will come in handy! Also, when you are trying to focus on other subjects anatomy is like this nagging rash that won't ever leave you alone, every minute you don't look at it you're falling behind. My advice, enroll in a course, self studying it probably won't get you very far.
 
HeyNumber2 said:
I'm going going to weigh in with an alternative viewpoint, not taking anatomy before medical school is the largest regret I have. If you love memorization, don't bother, Anatomy will be your dream come true. If you are more analytical and problem focused it will help you immensely (people in my school who took anatomy before all did very well on the first exam), come neuro or organs, a cushion from back, limbs, etc will come in handy! Also, when you are trying to focus on other subjects anatomy is like this nagging rash that won't ever leave you alone, every minute you don't look at it you're falling behind. My advice, enroll in a course, self studying it probably won't get you very far.
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i could not think of anything more stressful than having to learn anatomy along with additional course work. i absolutely loved anatomy and am sure that had a lot to do with not viewing it as "something i had to do in addition to phys, biochem, microbiology, and immunology". a lot of it also had to do with awesome professors. something about finding "textbook" anatomy in a donor--med student adrenaline rush :laugh: .

it should be a medical school law that all students (especially aspiring surgeons) have a semester of just anatomy. it was awesome.
 
watch online sources per each system/region. There are wonderful anatomy videos on youtube specific to each body part! For example, youtube superficial heart anatomy and find a video, follow along in netters atlas, then wikipedia or google for more clarification if needed. Or simply take a course at a CC
 
if you haven't taken anatomy at all, get a high school level book and learn the big stuff, but nothing more. you will never remember the minor stuff and you don't really want to try. you will be wasting your time to do any more than that.
 
Hey baby, you so fine. Id like to strip you down and study your anatomy all day long! GET OVA HEYYAH! (In will smiths voice from fresh prince)
 
FrkyBgStok said:
NO. prestudying is never ever ever ever ever worthwhile. prestudying anatomy isn't worthwhile, but nobody ever listens.
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I have to say I disagree. I think the problem is people who pre study do so without specific purpose or direction. Having taken anatomy and advanced anatomy in undergrad, I've been fortunate in that I don't have to put in near as much time for anatomy as my classmates, and I'm doing very well in it. This allows me to focus more time elsewhere, and perform better overall. I don't think anyone should commit a large amount of time to it during a gap year, but I sincerely believe taking a course in undergrad, or studying BRS Anatomy would be completely worthwhile. (Note, I said studying, not just reading) But hey, everyone's got their opinions!
 
if you are going to take a class, sure, that is fine because it has direction. but in my opinion, buying an atlas or board review books adds no context and by the time you get to that section, you will have forgotten anything anyway. and many schools have professors that test a specific way, and BRS isn't going to help you with that. so learning the right things to study is half the problem. and you don't have any of this.

but if you take a class to get exposure, that is different.
 
abolt18 said:
I have to say I disagree. I think the problem is people who pre study do so without specific purpose or direction. Having taken anatomy and advanced anatomy in undergrad, I've been fortunate in that I don't have to put in near as much time for anatomy as my classmates, and I'm doing very well in it. This allows me to focus more time elsewhere, and perform better overall. I don't think anyone should commit a large amount of time to it during a gap year, but I sincerely believe taking a course in undergrad, or studying BRS Anatomy would be completely worthwhile. (Note, I said studying, not just reading) But hey, everyone's got their opinions!
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👍
 
HeyNumber2 said:
I'm going going to weigh in with an alternative viewpoint, not taking anatomy before medical school is the largest regret I have. If you love memorization, don't bother, Anatomy will be your dream come true. If you are more analytical and problem focused it will help you immensely (people in my school who took anatomy before all did very well on the first exam), come neuro or organs, a cushion from back, limbs, etc will come in handy! Also, when you are trying to focus on other subjects anatomy is like this nagging rash that won't ever leave you alone, every minute you don't look at it you're falling behind. My advice, enroll in a course, self studying it probably won't get you very far.
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I really feel like memorization has much less to do with anatomy than most other classes.

I would say never pre-study anything before med school. Having no background will make it hard, but you aren't likely to get one on your own. I really recommend people take hard classes in undergrad just to keep their GPA high. The study skills and background you come in with from stuff like anatomy, biochem, and phys can be huge.

If you really insist on pre-studying gross, I would use an undergrad level anatomy book at most. You need to stay very big picture. Like very big picture. Get a feel for where some muscles and bones lay essentially.

Oh and Netter's is one of the worst atlases running. What a cluster.
 
I will say, I had undergrad anatomy but I had taken it AGES ago. If you took it later in the game it'd probably help.

(I also had sectional anatomy... sadly I had also taken that ages ago.)
 
I wouldnt recommend studying before med school for gross anatomy based on others opinions that are already in med school

if you must and just want to, just review your old anatomy and physiology books and notes and retest yourself based on your old tests if you have them or old quizzes, If you never had it you can look up online sample tests to test your knowledge after you review each chapter.. do hw problems in an anatomy book

Or , true gunner style. speak to the instructor of any anatomy class in a school near you and ask them if it would be okay if you sat in during the semester and took the quizzes / tests and lectures etc..
 
FrkyBgStok said:
if you are going to take a class, sure, that is fine because it has direction. but in my opinion, buying an atlas or board review books adds no context and by the time you get to that section, you will have forgotten anything anyway. and many schools have professors that test a specific way, and BRS isn't going to help you with that. so learning the right things to study is half the problem. and you don't have any of this.

but if you take a class to get exposure, that is different.
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I'm considering auditing an A&P course with lab in the spring if time allows it.
 
PinknGreenMD said:
I wouldnt recommend studying before med school for gross anatomy based on others opinions that are already in med school

if you must and just want to, just review your old anatomy and physiology books and notes and retest yourself based on your old tests if you have them or old quizzes, If you never had it you can look up online sample tests to test your knowledge after you review each chapter.. do hw problems in an anatomy book

Or , true gunner style. speak to the instructor of any anatomy class in a school near you and ask them if it would be okay if you sat in during the semester and took the quizzes / tests and lectures etc..
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Do people actually do that? Serious business!

I currently work at an undergraduate institution, and I have tuition waiver benefits. The undergrad a&p course is offered at my campus, and I would consider taking it as an audit just to get a little bit acclimated. Only one school I applied to has a legit physiology requirement, and if they show me interest, I'll take the a&p course for real.
 
SurgeDO said:
i could not think of anything more stressful than having to learn anatomy along with additional course work. i absolutely loved anatomy and am sure that had a lot to do with not viewing it as "something i had to do in addition to phys, biochem, microbiology, and immunology". a lot of it also had to do with awesome professors. something about finding "textbook" anatomy in a donor--med student adrenaline rush :laugh: .

it should be a medical school law that all students (especially aspiring surgeons) have a semester of just anatomy. it was awesome.
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Yeah, I wish I had nothing but anatomy to worry about.

Honestly, I know everyone will say, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!? But I regret not studying at least a bit of anatomy before med school. I doubt I would study anything else, but jumping in with tons of material all at once while taking 3 other med classes is kind of ridiculous. I wouldn't go all out and ruin my pre-med school time, because that time is precious and I'll never get it back, but if I had the time, I would have sat down with Gray's and read a bit of it, even a couple hours a day for a month. At least get yourself in the mindset for learning this stuff.

Obviously it depends on how much free time you have before school, but if you have enough time to both read and go and hang out with family and friends, I'd just go for it. Don't expect to memorize or really learn the stuff, but just get in the habit of dealing with the material. I'm still amazed that 2 months in, I'm almost done reading this whole book and memorizing a ridiculous amount of it.

Also, to be clear, most undergrad Anatomy courses are a joke compared to med school anatomy. Maybe if you are at a school that has a grad level course or a "med school light" level course, it might be useful, but most of the anatomy taught at my undergrad was the most basic of basics.
 
hallowmann said:
Yeah, I wish I had nothing but anatomy to worry about.

Honestly, I know everyone will say, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!? But I regret not studying at least a bit of anatomy before med school. I doubt I would study anything else, but jumping in with tons of material all at once while taking 3 other med classes is kind of ridiculous. I wouldn't go all out and ruin my pre-med school time, because that time is precious and I'll never get it back, but if I had the time, I would have sat down with Gray's and read a bit of it, even a couple hours a day for a month. At least get yourself in the mindset for learning this stuff.

Obviously it depends on how much free time you have before school, but if you have enough time to both read and go and hang out with family and friends, I'd just go for it. Don't expect to memorize or really learn the stuff, but just get in the habit of dealing with the material. I'm still amazed that 2 months in, I'm almost done reading this whole book and memorizing a ridiculous amount of it.

Also, to be clear, most undergrad Anatomy courses are a joke compared to med school anatomy. Maybe if you are at a school that has a grad level course or a "med school light" level course, it might be useful, but most of the anatomy taught at my undergrad was the most basic of basics.
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Most people at my school that took anatomy learned all of the bones and bony landmarks and a great deal of the muscles of the extremities and back; they didn't learn complex origin and insertions or vasculature and innervation anywhere near the levels of med school. But while I was sitting there studying for Histology, genetics/molecular, Biochem, cell Biology, etc along with anatomy, they were just doing a quick review of bones and muscles while I was trying to not only learn it for the first time, but figure out how to learn it. Anatomy is different than any subject I ever studied for, and just the adjustment period took a week or two. I did fine on the exam, but I tortured myself to get there. The top grades in the class all came from people with anatomy background.

Like I said, I had planned on taking it, but to to popular opinion on SDN I didn't. I want to make sure for those that are not master rote memorizers and excellent with spatial orientation (I'm talking to you cross sections) it may be beneficial to get a structured head start. I recommend a course or maybe Acland for independent study.
 
I'm a pre-vet (bio/anatomy major), but was just browsing SDN...

I really like "Bare Bones" by Dr. Mary Tracy Bee. She is an undergrad prof here and teaches at our med school (OUWB SOM). There aren't many cadaver pics in it, but the layout is nice. It really is the bare bones of what you need to know. The chapters are only a few pages each. There are illustrations throughout. This book is used in her advanced UG anatomy class. Word is that students who have taken this course have a lot of success in med school anatomy.

You could use an atlas with it. I wouldn't spend too much time memorizing the pictures though. Probably a waste of time... Netter is the major source used in our UG anatomy lab. I'm not sure what I'd do without profs and TAs there to point things out hecause this atlas is a mess to me.

Crystal
 
If you *have* to do something, get a copy of Acland's videos. It is very laid back, and almost enjoyable to watch (Dr. Acland is a G). This will give you a good broad base for medical school anatomy as he does have a lot of the little details, but it's not too much as to be overwhelming.

I'm in the camp of not pre-studying though. I didn't take a lick of anatomy prior to med school and I passed MS1 just fine. Most of the stuff you pre-study you will forget. Hell, I've probably forgotten 75% of anatomy already. 🙁
 
You'll forget most of it after the exams - until your surgery rotations. Surgeons love to pimp on anatomy. At 5 am.
 
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