Medical school Anatomy making me feel overwhelmed.

Started by flodhi1
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flodhi1

flodhi1

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I'm in the pre-matriculation program in my medical school. It's a head start to medical school, I'm taking Anatomy, Biochemistry and Pop medicine. Anatomy is the same exact thing we will be taking in Fall but it's seriously an overwhelming amount of material. The professor walks in, names at least 50-100 new names I have never heard, talks about them but little to anything makes sense. We go to lab look stuff up and then i'm expected to know it. I don't have good memory I can't in one day memorize so much that's just presented to me. I feel overwhelmed what can I possibly do to help? Should I pre-read his notes and then go to class? His notes are very vague and it's hard for me to suddenly memorize all of this stuff in one day especially since classes are 8-5 pm and I feel like there's no time.
 
Just stick it out my man. Anatomy is a rough transition - it's (IMO) the hardest course of first year because it's all very foreign and very fast-paced. Just try different methods for memorizing things. For anatomy specifically, crude drawings and flow charts helped immensely with learning vessels and nerves. Muscles just need to be learned by observation. What helps me somewhat quickly memorize mass amounts of information is simply writing it down a couple of times. Others read and reread until it sticks. You just need to try various things until you figure out what works.

I will say, though, that depending on how your exams are done, an hour in the lab studying your cadaver can be worth 2-3 hours of looking at Netter's. This is especially true for "practicals," but not so much for written material IMO.
 
The trick about anatomy is to just know the important stuff. I know its tempting to memorize everything but you won't do well in med school if you follow that strategy. You really don't need to know insertions/origins of muscles, minor vessels/nerves, etc.

Anatomy questions are easy once you know how to study anatomy. It's all about picking buzz words (i.e. what clinical syndrome goes with what nerve/artery/muscle). I can answer most anatomy questions correctly within 5 seconds by just picking recognizable words.
 
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Is the program compressed? I thought most schools do just anatomy for the first couple months. Anatomy + Biochemisty + Another course with classes from 8:00 - 5:00 seems pretty brutal.
 
First, it's prematric, for the love of god please don't stress yourself out before first year even starts. Second, anatomy was terrible for me, so I have no great studying advice. 🙁
 
Only go to required stuff if you don't get anything out of class. Memorize it on your own (As I did for two years). BRS Anatomy and Netter's were all I used for anatomy. Knowing muscle function, innervations, blood supplies, and the effects of lesions will serve you well.
 
considering I decided against my school's prematric program to relax and enjoy the summer, the OP makes me feel a little :scared:
 
flodhi1 said:
I'm in the pre-matriculation program in my medical school. It's a head start to medical school, I'm taking Anatomy, Biochemistry and Pop medicine. Anatomy is the same exact thing we will be taking in Fall but it's seriously an overwhelming amount of material. The professor walks in, names at least 50-100 new names I have never heard, talks about them but little to anything makes sense. We go to lab look stuff up and then i'm expected to know it. I don't have good memory I can't in one day memorize so much that's just presented to me. I feel overwhelmed what can I possibly do to help? Should I pre-read his notes and then go to class? His notes are very vague and it's hard for me to suddenly memorize all of this stuff in one day especially since classes are 8-5 pm and I feel like there's no time.
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Hey OP, I did a pre-matriculation program too before med school. It was mostly anatomy but it was waay more intense then the regular year program because they tried to put in the first semester of anatomy into a week and a half. I went into the regular program terrified and compensated by studying more then I think I would have without the program. So I guess the program worked in getting me prepared?? Looking back on it I think they just wanted to get me in the right mindset for starting. The year program should be more manageable if your school is like mine!
 
You're not alone.....the beginning of med schools is ROUGH. I almost walked away at the end of the first week. Honestly, I went online at the end of the first week and just made the decision to stay - I went online and paid tuition, knowing that I couldn't back out then, lol. In all of my first 2 years I only got 1 B after all that. I very seriously considered dropping out and now I'm doing really well. Keep it up. You're not alone - everyone just puts on a happy face and acts like it's easy because they dont want to look/feel weak.

Seriously, you're not alone.
 
^Same. I figured I already had the loans in, so I might as well continue to try. 1st semester transition was brutal
 
That is one of the things I found very frustrating about anatomy. It was often difficult to even find what it is you need to study or to know for a fact that you're truly looking at what you think you are. You can only get so much tank-specific professor attention, so your success is somewhat dependent (imo) on if you luck out and get a tankmate that is an anatomy rockstar.

At any rate, don't fret too much about things that aren't in your locus of control. Just do your best, get through it, it'll be over soon enough
 
Anatomy is always overwhelming the first time you hear it, but things do really get more familiar and better the more you review it. It definitely requires a different method of studying than you're probably used to, but as you go through it, you'll figure out what works best. I found making my own notes and flashcards were personally really helpful. Also, drawing out nerve/artery diagrams also helps ... chances are, on lab exams, they'll only tag things that look as close to Netter as possible.

Also, I'm not sure if you have this at your school, but we had a bunch of practice lab exams (basically pdfs of pictures of tagged structures) for each of the lab exams. Amazingly, after reviewing those a few times, you'll be surprised at how much you remember. It really becomes a knee-jerk reaction, where you can't even tell how you know its the iliopsoas or anterior tibial n., but you've seen it so many times that you just do.

Biggest thing is to keep going ... I was so sure I was going to fail my first lab exam, but as long as you keep studying and reviewing, things will come back to you and you'll remember a lot more than you think you do. Also, never to early to remember that P = MD .. unless you have a heart set out on neurosurgery or derm, anatomy's just one of those classes that you have to get through, pass and be done with. Good luck!
 
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2050vlsb said:
Anatomy is always overwhelming the first time you hear it, but things do really get more familiar and better the more you review it. It definitely requires a different method of studying than you're probably used to, but as you go through it, you'll figure out what works best. I found making my own notes and flashcards were personally really helpful. Also, drawing out nerve/artery diagrams also helps ... chances are, on lab exams, they'll only tag things that look as close to Netter as possible.

Also, I'm not sure if you have this at your school, but we had a bunch of practice lab exams (basically pdfs of pictures of tagged structures) for each of the lab exams. Amazingly, after reviewing those a few times, you'll be surprised at how much you remember. It really becomes a knee-jerk reaction, where you can't even tell how you know its the iliopsoas or anterior tibial n., but you've seen it so many times that you just do.

Biggest thing is to keep going ... I was so sure I was going to fail my first lab exam, but as long as you keep studying and reviewing, things will come back to you and you'll remember a lot more than you think you do. Also, never to early to remember that P = MD .. unless you have a heart set out on neurosurgery or derm, anatomy's just one of those classes that you have to get through, pass and be done with. Good luck!
Click to expand...


U Michigan (I think) has a bunch of practice practicals and practice questions online for free. They help a ton.
 
FSU2013 said:
U Michigan (I think) has a bunch of practice practicals and practice questions online for free. They help a ton.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what you need to do. Anatomy is just repetition and repetition and repetition and...repetition. It's not necessarily how long you study the material as how many passes you make through it. Like the post above said you just want to look at stuff until it becomes a knee jerk reaction. Don't sit there and stare at it...just keep running through it.

Spread it out over days, you'll be surprised at how much stuff you remember after a few days of sleeping on it. I really think the sleep after memorizing is critical, I always remember stuff better if I sleep on it. After a few days you'll magically wake up one day and be able to ID 90% of the forearm pins (no joke).
 
FSU2013 said:
U Michigan (I think) has a bunch of practice practicals and practice questions online for free. They help a ton.
Click to expand...

This 👍

Hey OP. I also did an intro to anatomy course, and I was also overwhelmed. I ended up with an A in the course. I used flashcards (I needed the foundation of looking at the bones, muscle origins/insertions, blood supply, nerve supply). Then I used BRS anatomy to tie in the clinical aspects. I must have done about 1300 questions for the first exam alone (this only included back, upper limbs and lower limbs). I did the questions about 2-3 x, and it paid off in the end. I dont do well with memorizing huge amounts of information in a short amount of time, so I had to pace myself. For me, the trick was to study anatomy concurrently with everything else, even when the next exam was not for another month. The only time I didnt study anatomy was the day before another test.

Depends what kind of grade you are hoping for and if your school is pass/fail. I'm sure you can get a B if you keep up with the flashcards 2-4 X a week and study two weeks in advance for your exams.

Just my 0.02$. Good luck
 
NickNaylor said:
Just stick it out my man. Anatomy is a rough transition - it's (IMO) the hardest course of first year because it's all very foreign and very fast-paced. Just try different methods for memorizing things. For anatomy specifically, crude drawings and flow charts helped immensely with learning vessels and nerves. Muscles just need to be learned by observation. What helps me somewhat quickly memorize mass amounts of information is simply writing it down a couple of times. Others read and reread until it sticks. You just need to try various things until you figure out what works.

I will say, though, that depending on how your exams are done, an hour in the lab studying your cadaver can be worth 2-3 hours of looking at Netter's. This is especially true for "practicals," but not so much for written material IMO.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your advice and everybody else! I've sort of figured out a way to improve. I am now pre-reading the material, writing, drawing and forcing myself to learn the material prior to class. Then I go to lecture and it's a second review with everything I didn't understand falling in place. After lecture we go to lab in which TA's and the professor help so it's a third review. Finally I come home review a little more from Grant's Atlas, then take online quizes. My memory is not stellar at all but i've noticed reviewing over and over again in different ways helps things stick slightly. Right now I'm scoring in the 70s on quizes which is an improvement and hopefully i will score better. Anatomy truly is a different language and im starting to get used to it a bit. Thank you all for your encouragement.
 
Does anyone know/use a good reference book for Greek and Latin word parts? I think it's going to bother me if I don't understand different parts of anatomical terms.
 
Flash cards, flash cards, flash cards! Pull them out an go over them a few times a day. When ever you have a second. You would be surprised at the amount of information you have retained in a week.
 
DocFeelbetter said:
Flash cards, flash cards, flash cards! Pull them out an go over them a few times a day. When ever you have a second. You would be surprised at the amount of information you have retained in a week.
Click to expand...

Great first post. Welcome to SDN.

I started anatomy last week, but I feel surprisingly solid with it (and I never took it in undergrad). My information intake goes like this:

1) Read dissector pages the night before the relevant dissection. (~15 minutes)
2) Make a list (or snag one from another source) of the bold terms in the procedure. For each muscle add the origin, insertion, innervation, and blood supply (I do this in outline form). It's alright if you don't know where the origins/insertions physically are just yet, but get comfortable with the terms. (~45 minutes)
3) Look at your newly annotated list side-by-side with your atlas (Netter for me). (~10 minutes)
4) Dissection (a.k.a. clean fat for 2.5 hours). (until you're done...)
5) You're probably tired at this point after lab, so make a light effort in solidifying structural relationships.
6) Recharge (coffee, nap, dinner, etc.) & go back to lab to really learn structures. It helps to have a TA question you. (1 hour in lab really does equal ~2 hours of atlas staring)
7) Next day: review by making lists, charts, or whatever you prefer. Note card making is too inefficient time-wise, in my opinion (unless you can borrow someone else's :laugh:). (~1 - 2 hours)
 
flodhi1 said:
I'm in the pre-matriculation program in my medical school. It's a head start to medical school, I'm taking Anatomy, Biochemistry and Pop medicine. Anatomy is the same exact thing we will be taking in Fall but it's seriously an overwhelming amount of material. The professor walks in, names at least 50-100 new names I have never heard, talks about them but little to anything makes sense. We go to lab look stuff up and then i'm expected to know it. I don't have good memory I can't in one day memorize so much that's just presented to me. I feel overwhelmed what can I possibly do to help? Should I pre-read his notes and then go to class? His notes are very vague and it's hard for me to suddenly memorize all of this stuff in one day especially since classes are 8-5 pm and I feel like there's no time.
Click to expand...

flodhi1 said:
Thanks for your advice and everybody else! I've sort of figured out a way to improve. I am now pre-reading the material, writing, drawing and forcing myself to learn the material prior to class. Then I go to lecture and it's a second review with everything I didn't understand falling in place. After lecture we go to lab in which TA's and the professor help so it's a third review. Finally I come home review a little more from Grant's Atlas, then take online quizes. My memory is not stellar at all but i've noticed reviewing over and over again in different ways helps things stick slightly. Right now I'm scoring in the 70s on quizes which is an improvement and hopefully i will score better. Anatomy truly is a different language and im starting to get used to it a bit. Thank you all for your encouragement.
Click to expand...

Especially at a place like VCU which gives you the type of syllabus they do, I think prereading is crucial. I think that was the major difference in doing ok and honors for me was the pre reading and then watching lectures to solidify everything.
 
Anatomy was by far the hardest class I have taken so far. The tricks above will help you. BRS, Michigan, online dissections, etc etc. In the end, it's going to be just memorizing what connects to what. Not too much you can do about it. Just have to grit your teeth and get through it.
 
yeah, don't worry right now and just focus on enjoying summer. Anatomy and Neuro are both like learning new languages the first time you take them. Honestly, just stick it out and it will start to make sense. I tried to pre-read for anatomy, so that my notes were more efficient (so I had an idea about what was in and what was not in the notes), but then I got a month into the semester and figured out that class was pointless (at least for me, I just fall asleep) and I started studying the notes/PPTs on my own, rewriting the important parts. There are a ton of online sites that are helpful (UMich has one that is great). Looking back, I wish I would have looked at Netter's more (although I spent a lot of time in lab, so it wasn't a huge deal).
 
i took a dictating machine to all my lectures/workshops/intensives and tutes......i was up at 4.30am every morning (grew up on a farm) and most of my classes started at 9am but i never got home before 7.30pm....so i would turn up to classes that had a sign in sheet and the ones in the afternoon that didn't i would give my mate the dictating machine and hide in the library and have a snooze......i quite honestly don't know how i use to pull 36hr shifts on next to no sleep......
 
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