step I & anatomy . . . i'm at a loss

[itsaliger]

i'm taking step one in less than a month (january 18th), and i've been studying for the past few weeks. i have come across an impasse with respect to anatomy (and this sort of includes some of neuroanatomy as well) -- i just don't feel i can learn it in this short a time period, if at all. i never got a grasp of it during the basic sciences, and the spatial-memory aspect of my brain is seriously lacking.

so i have two questions:

- how much will it hurt me if i just give up on it and focus my energies elsewhere from here on out? is that a dumb strategy? i just feel like there is NO WAY i can really learn it all.

(and in case anyone's worried about me killing someone someday, i'm planning on going into a field where i don't think it will ever matter if i know what-innervates-what)

- if anyone is as spatially challenged as i am and has experience learning enough anatomy to deal with the questions on the step i, i would love any tips.

anyway, i would appreciate any input, one way or the other!

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[TommyGunn04]

I imagine that First Aid's Anatomy section is quite high yield. Step 1 is mostly path, pharm and micro, so I don't imagine you'd be disadvantaged as long as you can memorize the anatomy in First Aid. Many of the questions I've seen in practice materials ask anatomy in clinical ways anyway, so it might be feasible to just memorize, for example, what happens when you have a mid-shaft humerus break (damage to radial nerve, etc.).

It just seems like you're stressed about lacking a great, spatial understanding of every part of the human body, whereas for Step 1 you really need only memorize certain key relationships to get by. While understanding is of course preferred, especially in terms of informing your clinical judgment, given what you've said about your timeframe it seems that memorizing FA might be the best way to go.

 

[Doc Ivy]

UMich has a really good anatomy website. I feel like the questions on the site are super-repetitive but really good for cementing key anatomical principles, relationships and concepts. By the time you go through all the practice tests you'll have a good grasp of the bare essentials for each organ system's anatomy. Hopefully you can take a short-cut to learning it all.


http://anatomy.med.umich.edu/courseinfo/mich_quiz_index.html

Hope it helps

 

[itsaliger]

thanks to both of you - i'll definitely take a look at that site! i realize i'm probably over-panicking here, but it scares me when i have trouble hitting 50% on the qbank anatomy questions. only in that category do i feel like i'm guessing at random!

ps: tommygunn02 - you probably know who this is, yes? good luck w/ studying!

 

[TommyGunn04]

ps: tommygunn02 - you probably know who this is, yes? good luck w/ studying!

haha! That's funny, I didn't even realize who I was talking to until you said that! Good luck with Step 1!!!

 

[slickrikk]

do what you will but as far as i'm concerned you should focus on your strengths at this point.

i rolled boards and i did high yield anatomy and neuroanatomy. don't focus on the nitty gritty details of anatomy. just know those major areas that they love to tie into a clinical scenario. very little of boards is about knowing one area in extreme detail; it's about knowing how to bring together your embryo-anatomy-physiology-path knowledge to answer one question. do your q bank anatomy over and over till you are up in the 70-80% range for anatomy and just go with it

get your confidence together and when the boards throws you an impossible anatomy question rest assure that it is probably one of those "test questions" they are using for experimental purposes (there are 50 of these on the test)

peace out

 

[Ursus Martimus]

I saw these, they look pretty good. They have clinically important points for step I in anatomy, neuroanatomy, with embryology correlations:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=fk7KPDCAVS&isbn=0781756545&itm=4

 

[adagio]

what abt clinical anatomy made ridiciouloly simple ?? is it good ?

 

[azzarah]

I am 100% anatomy-challenged. In fact, I "won" the "least likely to know what a femur is" class superlative last year.
I started reading HY anatomy while doing surgery research ( !) this summer and honestly everything is starting to finally make sense. It's still really difficult for me to visualize everything, but that book helped.
I also looked at Anatomy made ridiculously simple, but didn't like it as much as HY. Also, I personally wouldn't bother with BRS Anatomy...I think it is way too detailed for the boards.
My recommendation, assuming you are going to focus on anatomy for step I would be to take a look at HY and see if you like the style.
GOOD LUCK!

 

[scottj00]

Go to the bookstore. They seel anatomy coloring books. You can use those to learn the3 material in as much or as little detail you want.

 

[eda]

i am a new arrival and i have a question .Plz if somebody can answer me. So i am applying online for step1 and i would like to know where i can find Form 183 ?Ihave been looking but i cant find it .Thnx