Studying Anatomy - I NEED HELP!!

[sinatra16]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I'm starting med school this fall and know the anatomy is heavy the first year. I did horrible in my undergrad anatomy course and am a little worried the pace and level of anatomy in med school will only make it that much more difficult. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to improve my anatomical memorization abilities??? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!!!!!!!!

 

[8744]

I'm starting med school this fall and know the anatomy is heavy the first year. I did horrible in my undergrad anatomy course and am a little worried the pace and level of anatomy in med school will only make it that much more difficult. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to improve my anatomical memorization abilities??? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!!!!!!!!

Just form an emotional attacment with your cadaver. You'll do all right.

 

[Ypo.]

Just form an emotional attacment with your cadaver. You'll do all right.

har har. No, better yet, remain detached and look forward to all the butchering you get to do whilst comparing your cadaver to the salamander you dissected in 7th grade.


Seriously, I thought Netter's flash cards were a useful learning tool, for repetition, when standing in line at the grocery store, etc...

 

[beponychick]

I'm starting med school this fall and know the anatomy is heavy the first year. I did horrible in my undergrad anatomy course and am a little worried the pace and level of anatomy in med school will only make it that much more difficult. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to improve my anatomical memorization abilities??? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!!!!!!!!

haha, i guess those of us who didnt have undergrad anatomy are doomed! 😉

I'm sure you'll do ok, but I am also interested in any pointers on how to survive anatomy.

 

[superdevil]

try reviewing before the course (with plenty of studying during, naturally). netter has a series of flash cards that many people find useful, and you can try any of a large number of online anatomy atlases/tutorials like these:

really good

pretty good

there are also some great websites for radiology images for when the time comes. hooray for the internet, it seems.

sd

 

[Brainsucker]

This really depends on your school. Some places have a few weeks of anatomy and that's it. You won't go into much detail there. My anatomy course just ended a couple weeks ago. I started off below average, but the last test I was an SD above the mean in both written and practical portions. So, here's how I studied at the end:

Skim your study materials (we use a review book written by our prof) the night before each lab. Go to lecture. In lab, dissect if possible, you'll remember it better if you dug it up. When you're not dissecting, review other structures. Go into lab once or twice a week with an intelligent, non-smalltalking partner. If your school has lists of previous tagged structures for the practical, both of you should look for the structures in other bodies. Think about where they might be tagged (not always in the most obvious places). Identify landmarks for each structure ("CN IX goes between superior and middle constrictors with the stylopharyngeus muscle and innervates the posterior 1/3 of the tongue.") While in lab you can start thinking about written test type questions: "What does this nerve carry? Where do these fibers synapse?"

For the rest of the written, the familiarity you should now have from lab will mean that you actually understand what you read when you review your texts again. Drawing out a few things like the brachial plexus until you can do it from memory will be helpful. Once you've done all this, Netter flashcards are superfluous. (I bought them and used them less as I got better. I didn't use them at all for the last 1/3 of the class.)

 

[OctoDoc]

When I took undergrad anatomy, I photocopied/scanned many of the illustrations in the book. I replaced the labels with blanks. Voila, worksheets! And the originals before "doctoring" (ha!) were the answer keys).

I printed out the worksheets and kept filling them in until I got to where I could look at a worksheet and identify all of the structures quickly, and without writing anything down.

I also read the assigned material the day before class, and recopied my notes from lecture right after class, annotating from the book.

I took the anatomy course in a 5-week summer session, and we got through the entire book. The lecturer was insane! We had to know nearly everything on every illustration. Talk about not being selective. We had a quiz every Tuesday, and an exam every Thursday. My strategy worked well for me; I did very well in the course (I missed an A+ by 0.3% - straight scale - Not a very nice lecturer, indeed!). I plan on using this strategy this fall, or some abbreviated version, if I am swamped also by my other classes.

 

[beponychick]

Whoa, now im getting REALLY scared. Do a lot of students take anatomy in undergrad? Am I totally screwed?

 

[Brainsucker]

Whoa, now im getting REALLY scared. Do a lot of students take anatomy in undergrad? Am I totally screwed?

You'll be fine. Most undergrad anatomy courses don't go into the detail you'll see in med school, so they won't have much of a leg up on you unless your med school doesn't spend much time on anatomy. In that case, you'll be fine 'cause it's not that detailed. Also, few students have had anatomy before.

 

[OctoDoc]

Whoa, now im getting REALLY scared. Do a lot of students take anatomy in undergrad? Am I totally screwed?

No, you're not screwed. Just devote the necessary time and effort, and you'll do fine. What I described above was my necessary time and effort, not necessarily everyone's.

 

[8744]

No, you're not screwed. Just devote the necessary time and effort, and you'll do fine. What I described above was my necessary time and effort, not necessarily everyone's.

Three Words: Rohan's Photographic Atlas.

Come on. Say it with me....

 

[8744]

har har. No, better yet, remain detached and look forward to all the butchering you get to do whilst comparing your cadaver to the salamander you dissected in 7th grade.

Oh no. I felt kind of sorry for the little things. Especially the cat I dissected in comparative anatomy. It certainly didn't have a choice in the matter.

And while I don't believe in animal rights and support animal research, I could never have gone to vet school simply because they dissect dogs...and not dogs who died of natueal causes either...and I love dogs to much to butcher them.

I almost didn't go on a residency interview because someone told me they had a "dog lab" where they used live dogs to practice chest tubes, crichs, and other procedures. Turns out it was pigs which is OK because I've eaten hundreds of those.

 

[Jedix123]

Three Words: Rohan's Photographic Atlas.

Come on. Say it with me....

Rohan's Photographic Atlas

 

[8744]

Rohan's Photographic Atlas

Good...now once more with feeling.

 

[philchemist]

Good...now once more with feeling.

ROHAN'S PHOTOGRAPHIC ATLAS!!

Seriously, Rohan's helped a lot with lab. Also 2 or 3 of us would meet up on Saturday or Sunday to review all the structures from that weeks lab. We looked at other people's cadavers so that we coud get used to establishing relationships between structures. I spent extra time in lab but it made the tests easy.

 

[UDbiochem]

Talking about anatomy out loud helps too. I remember going into lab for a few days before the exam and talking through every single structure with my lab group. It helps tremendously sometimes to hear someone else say it.

At NJMS, we had quizzes every week where we worked together as groups to figure out answers. That also helped. I remember so many things from anatomy that our group fought over for the quiz and one person in the group would save the day with a thorough explanation about why their answer was correct.

Pretest and other question books helped me too. Questions are how I learn.

 

[moranwoods]

I printed out the worksheets and kept filling them in until I got to where I could look at a worksheet and identify all of the structures quickly, and without writing anything down.

I did the same for an undergrad anatomy class and it worked wonders.

 

[narniaMan]

During my undergrad anatomy, access to the lab was very limited. You were only allowed in the lab during your session. So I found some 3D anatomy software that allows you to "dissect" the body in a much more convenient fashion. This obviously doesn't replace the hands on experience you get out of the lab, but it worked great as a supplement. The software I used was called Anatomica 3D. You should be able to find it using a google search. This is what I'll be using over the summer as a refresher before courses begin. Good luck!

 

[azzarah]

Study ALL day...just do it over and over and over.

 

[azzarah]

Study ALL day...just do it over and over and over.