Pegasus,
Chapel Hill is a fine place to be (especially in the springtime!) Congrats on getting in there. My post deals with this topic as well as your troubles in gross anatomy.
You probably have heard a lot of this before, but take it for what it is worth. I am currently in med school, and have taken and passed gross anatomy - it was definitely a struggle, but I passed every single exam.
First of all, you are studying an enormous amount. Are you being productive (you have probably heard this a thousand times before). I myself study a ton, and I freely admit that I am not as productive as possible. I usually study 3-4 hours a day, more on weekend (6-8), but it ALL depends on where we are in the test cycle. Nothing on the horizon - then less time in the library and more time off. Exams soon - busting my ass till 1 am, then up at 6 am. Usually I get 7-8 hours of sleep a night, except around exams. It is useless for me to try and study when I am exhasted. I rarely go to class ( we have a scribe service). I just don't learn anything in there and can spend my time much more productively hitting the books. Some folks are classroom learners though. Decide what is best for you.
Regarding gross anatomy, IMHO
I don't know what books you use, but my advise is to FORGET Moore if you have it. It is so long and BORING. I chucked it after the first week of school. Forget baby Moore for that reason as well. Start with the big stuff - Muscles. The first thing to do is know their names and where they are. Use netter to learn them and find them in the lab.
Next is the nerves. Know muscular innervations COLD. Memorization is the ONLY way. They are best learned from tables in Chung or Moore (I know, I hate Moore). Tables are good because they break down muscles by compartments - flexors and extensors of the arm, adductors of the thigh, etc. Netter is OK for nerves, but they are best found in the gross lab itself. Cutaneous nerves aren't that important, though some may show up sometimes on tests, such as the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve of the thigh (or whatever it is called). Don't worry about the anterior superior, middle superior, and posterior superior branches of the alveolar nerve. Just know the alveolar is a branch of V2 - and the general area it innervates, not every stinkin lousy branch of it - be aware of them but don't waste time memorizing them. Muscles functions are important, but I wouldn't memorize every single one. Often you can figure them out from looking at your own body or knowing what compartment they are in or just knowing their names. Attachements are a pain in the ass. My advice would be to know thm in general terms (I don't know how nitpicky your instructors are) but DO NOT waste time memorizing every single little tuberosity and tubercle theya attach to. DO know big stuff, like what 3 muscles attach to the coracoid process (pec minor, coracobrachialis, and short head of the biceps).
Next comes blood supply. KNOW IT. MEMORIZE IT. Use mnemonics for the external carotid and other parts of arteries that are difficult (thyrocervical trunk, etc). KNOW the anastomoses around the shoulder and elbow. It is important to knowwhere the inferior pancreato-duodenal artey comes from (superior mesenteric) but not so important to know that it has a common, anterior, and posterior portion). You have to draw the minutiae line somewhere.
Muscles, nerves, and blood supply cover much of gross anatomy. The rest is dependent on what UNC emphasizes. Learn the structures they go over in lecture or lab or highlight Netter with stuff in the dissector. For instance the heart - know the big stuff - atria, ventricles, valves, coronary arteries, coronary sinus, papillary muscles, pectinate muscles. chordae tendinae, moderator band, septomarginal trabeculae, trabeculae carnae, fossae ovalis, etc. Forget those stupid little auricles and the fibrous nodules of Albini in the mitral valve.
Know the contents of certain structures like the various mediastinums and the carotid sheath.
Finally putting the relationship of structures together was the most difficult part for me - learning the pathways that various arteries, nerves, and structures take.
Tackle lab the best way you can. I never learned much during the dissections, nor did I dissect much. I learned it in the lab after I pored over Netter. Really I crammed for the lab practiclas for three or four hous a night of INTENSE lab work for a long weekend before an exam. Not ideal for everyone, but it worked ok for me.
The bottom line is that gross is a beast. Nearly everyone is in the same boat as you. Don't let it form a psychological block. I am not the smartest person in the world, yet I passed just fine. Hang in there.
