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Study Tips for A & P

My Anatomy & Physiology (A&P) Final is Monday (2 days away!)




Personal Set Up
  • My course required Anatomy & Physiology The Unity of Form and Function Saladin's 9th Edition.
  • My school uses Canvas as the platform for lecture slides, quizzes, and assessments. 
  • I teetered between an B+ and an A. Right now I have a 90.37% (but let's see how finals go)
    • An A is possible for a lot of students if they study effectively
      • I feel if I had created flashcards for on the chapter assignments per chapter I would have given myself something to study instead of cramming for each LAB quiz. 
      • Writing the Lab Quiz Grade I want on my whiteboard helped me have a goal. Then, if I did not achieve my goal, I would not beat myself up about it. 
      • My academic skills tutor suggested drawing the (Coccyx) and labeling its parts without the book - this would have saved me for the skeleton bony landmarks!
Here are my takeaways for studying/reviewing A & P for the first semester as a freshman in college. 
  • Read the Textbook out loud. 
    • Notes are not necessary for the skimming/reading of the textbook because notes are taken during lectures. 
  • Note Cards
    • Make physical note cards with what is on chapter assignments. 
      • Complete w/ hole punching each one, highlighting keywords, and separating chapter with a ring (I personally bent paperclips into a round shape and slid the cards on that to avoid having a jumbled stack of 500+ cards)
    • Anki is a great online flashcard platform that you download to your computer. I'd say it's college-level Quizlet. Anki Link
  • Attend SI Sessions (or schedule separate tutoring/office hours)
    • The point is to spend more time with the material and make it a priority in your busy college schedule. All of your courses are competing for your attention!
  • Watch Amoeba Sisters or Crash Course on YouTube.
    • Utilize as a quick overview to familiarize yourself with upcoming concepts in the lesson
    • With that said, do not spend too much time on videos because it is a passive study strategy- too easy and no longevity. Learn from the more engaging study methods- this is simply to entice my brain!
    • With that said, 
      • I found the Amoeba Sisters Biomolecules video helpful! (CHO, CHON, CHOMP) YouTube link here
        • Also the Meiosis video because apparently BIO in high school is not going away! YouTube link here
      • I found Crash Courses' Taste and Smell video helpful because the pizza was a great visual. YouTube link here

Physical Notebook(s)
  • 1 Single Red notebook for Lecture. - Spined
    • Label notes as "Lecture Notes" and "Textbook Notes"
      • As earlier stated, textbook notes are not necessary, but sometimes I am so deeply moved I must take notes. 

  • 1 Review Notebook - Composition
    • I used this for SI (supplemental instruction/group tutoring) & YouTube (especially KenHub muscles videos)
  • (I started to script online in Microsoft Notebooks, but my academic skills coach said in-class notes should be taken by hand for muscle/brain retention. Creating online notes after is a great review strategy tho!)


Subject Material Layout (roughly)
  • Start to Midterm: Barely Used Textbook :(
    • Scientific Notation !
    • Homeostasis/Positive & Negative Feedback
    • Anatomical Position & Region
      • Directions of Body: Superior, Inferior, Anterior, Posterior, Distal, Proximal, Lateral, Medial (def took a minute but you'll get there!). Practice, practice 😂
        • Arm = only upper arm
        • Forearm=below the elbow
        • Crural, Caudual, Frontal, Patellar, 
      • Organs inside body cavities
        • Hypochondria, Umbillacal, Lumbar, Illiac, so on...
        • I, II, III, IV quadrants
    • Chemical Bonds (super easy but don't underestimate- synced up well with my Gen Chem lecture)
    • Cell Membrane & Organelles (embarrassing how much I winged it- maybe I was relying on my high school knowledge because I found the college-level explanation unengaging- brain fog was also very active during this stressful transition to college)
    • Tissues (This was all new material and ate me alive until I dove into it. Labs weren't very helpful but the exercises and YouTube identifying were helpful)
    • Integumentary System (all new information; textbook went more in-depth than lecture. Labs & SI were most helpful).
    • Bones (yea, lost me here)
      • Identifying the bone (was fine)
      • Identifying its Landmarks (skull made sense - lots of good mnemonics)
      • Bone Physiology (why??)
  • Midterm to Final
    • Will update soon- this one went a lot faster
Now Let's Gab
  •  I was surprised I found reading the textbook out loud so helpful. This and the notecards after completing chapter assignments/quizzes have made the most profound impact on my recall and recognition (and grade)
  • I have the cutest professor; she's a 60-year-old with a heavy Russian accent (●'◡'●)
    • It was incredibly frustrating when I heard girls behind me making fun of her accent or complaining about it. Straining to understand what Dr. Zincovelch was saying stopped after 1 lecture; grow up! However- it was equally frustrating when the girls in front of me pee'd themselves over their idolization of Dr. Z and dismissed the fact that no one understood the context of the material because the professor zoomed past muscle physiology.  As always, I like to think I am a happy medium where I find the accent and dress style endearing but I also do not let those cute brown eyes fool me. 
      .
Credits
"Season 1 netflix GIF" by Gilmore Girls via GIPHY"
"Take Notes GIF" by FunnyJunk.com via GIPHY.
"I Have No Idea Reaction GIF" by MTV Movie & TV Awards via GIPHY


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