Anatomy and learning styles

[nyanko]

Alright, I'm ready to admit that I have a huge problem, and I would really appreciate any input or advice or even reassurance that I'm not the only idiot.

This problem has been ongoing since the first time that I took an anatomy course involving dissection as an undergraduate. And I have never in my life had a problem like this, where I feel like I just literally cannot possibly comprehend the material in the least bit. No matter how much I've tried to study and learn it, from specimens in the lab, from books, from videos, I absolutely can not get to the point where I am comfortable looking at a muscle and naming it. I can look at a muscle and tell you exactly what it would do functionally, but I can't just say "it's the X muscle" due to being shaped a certain way or near other muscle landmarks or whatever. I don't really have this problem with bones.

In studying for our first anatomy lab practical (thoracic limb and vertebral column), I tried to circumvent this problem through learning the origins and insertions of the different muscles, figuring that if I could see the muscles through from origin to insertion, I'd be able to figure out what they were through those means. Well this worked to a point, except with, say, the antebrachial flexors and extensors, where it was difficult to make out exactly where the tendon was inserting in the jumble of other tendons inserting in those places.

I feel really really stupid for not being able to do something so simple, so perhaps that's holding me back a little. When I've been in the lab studying with classmates, I've felt like nothing they've said on how they remember that so and so muscle is shaped this way or next to this other muscle or whatever has made any sense to me. My brain just doesn't seem to work this way. But I feel like a ***** saying that, so I don't.

So am I alone in this? Do I have any hope? Anyone who's had a problem like this have any insight or tips or strategies they've used?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[bruinvetman]

Have you tried the anatomy cd the 2nd years made? That helped me immensely to see real pictures of the muscles and quiz myself over and over again in little chunks throughout the day. Take some pictures of the prosections and constantly refer to them.

 

[ORvetgirl]

I can't say that I've had this problem, but I can tell you my strategies for learning the muscles, etc.--maybe there will be one you haven't tried.

One thing that helped me with, say, the muscles of the antebrachium, was to find one I could orient myself with and then learn the others in order around the limb. That way, as long as I could always find that one muscle, I could say them all in order in till I got to the tagged one. I would learn that order through various methods: writing them in order, touching each muscle and saying its name in order, saying them over and over in my head in order, etc. This works best on the limbs, but I suppose it could be carried out over the whole body. If you need, come up with pneumonics to remember the order.

I also think it's really important to not rely on looking at the list and then pointing to the muscle while studying, since that is not how practicals work. Instead, point/touch the muscle while saying the name, without looking at the list. If you get stuck, then stop and figure out what it is, and go back to identifying.

I'm sorry if you've already tried these things, or if they don't work for you. Hopefully others will have other ideas. Good luck!

 

[TrocarKarin]

This problem has been ongoing since the first time that I took an anatomy course involving dissection as an undergraduate. And I have never in my life had a problem like this, where I feel like I just literally cannot possibly comprehend the material in the least bit. No matter how much I've tried to study and learn it, from specimens in the lab, from books, from videos, I absolutely can not get to the point where I am comfortable looking at a muscle and naming it. I can look at a muscle and tell you exactly what it would do functionally, but I can't just say "it's the X muscle" due to being shaped a certain way or near other muscle landmarks or whatever. I don't really have this problem with bones.

Are you me?

I just survived my first round of tests, and did well on all of them, except for spectacularly bombing my anatomy practical.

What one of the anatomists suggested that I do is to physically describe each muscle on the test (even write it down if necessary.) Ex. "This is on the caudal aspect of the cannon bone, in between metatarsals I and IV. It is deep to the deep digital flexor and the superficial digital flexor." While you might not be able to immediately recognize the structure, the verbal description might trigger it for you.

 

[StartingoverVet]

Kind of the same advice as ORVetgirl. I kept on studying the same muscles for weeks and it just wouldn't sink in.

Finally, I picked one muscle to absolutely know in each area (generally the most cranial superficial) and be able to palpate that so I know I can always find it. Then I just memorized the other muscles orientation in relationship to that one muscle. The diagrams in Evans Dog dissection helps that process. Took me way to long to figure that out.

had a similar problem with the arteries and nerves but never got those down (as my grade on the anatomy exam is sure to reveal).

 

[BlacKAT33]

Kind of the same advice as ORVetgirl. I kept on studying the same muscles for weeks and it just wouldn't sink in.

Finally, I picked one muscle to absolutely know in each area (generally the most cranial superficial) and be able to palpate that so I know I can always find it. Then I just memorized the other muscles orientation in relationship to that one muscle. The diagrams in Evans Dog dissection helps that process. Took me way to long to figure that out.

had a similar problem with the arteries and nerves but never got those down (as my grade on the anatomy exam is sure to reveal).

like ORvetgirl and SOV-I did the same thing for the antebrachium and leg. Start with Extensor Carpi Radialis or Cranial Tibial and name them around in a circle. They are confusing to learn together and it took me a long time to get them straight. But every day Id pick a limb up and try to go around and name all the parts in a circle and Id do it until I got it right. Id also use a mnemonic for the first muscle so that u dont blank when u first start naming.

When we were learning origins and insertions, everyone says DRAW THEM!! but no, that does NOT work for me. my drawings are so crappy and it takes soooo much time to draw them it is not worth it. my friend and i would name a muscle, show on our own body where it was, and then name the origin/insertion and point to it on our body while we did it. It sounds stupid, and it looked like we were playing the hokie pokie or some stupid game in the library, but it works and it is much faster than drawing. also, i hated drawing because u cant accurately draw the superficial and deep muscles. But when we'd point to ourselves we'd be like "here, deep to the __" i really need to say things out load. You could also do this on a skeleton if you have one. i bought a dog one from SCAVMA for like 30$ (it is fake) but awesome for pointing to where things go on bone.

also, not sure if u are already doing this, but id say majority of our class spends between 4-10 hrs per week going to lab on their own time. that is definitely the best way to remember things because u can go at ur own speed, test yourself without a lab partner answering for you. and usually there are always other people in the lab to ask a question if u get stuck.

SOV-no worries about the vessels, i knew them about 80% and still got the blood supply questions wrong on the exam argg lol what a waste. maybe they won't notice the difference between gastroduodenal and pancreaticoduodenal lol

 

[rileydog]

I was having the same problem with anatomy until I started labeling the muscles. I took index cards and wrote the all the muscles on them in pencil. If you write small enough, you can fit 20-30 muscles on one card. I left a little space to the left of each muscle. I then covered the index cards with scotch tape and cut them down to size. Then I took them to class and used tacks to stick them to the muscle. This has helped me soooo much. Before I started doing this, we would identify a muscle, learn all about it and go onto the next one. After doing a second one, we would try to go back to the first one and find that we couldn't remember it or find it immediately. After labeling, all we had to do was look at the tag to be able to identify the previous ones. Maybe not remember origins and insertions right away, but we could at least identify. I have found that it makes it easier to follow along in the book too. If you are reading that B muscle is ventral to A and dorsal to C, you don't waste time trying to figure out where A and C are if they are already labeled. Before packing up the dog after lab we remove the tags and just keep them in the freezer. This is also an excellent way to quiz yourself when you first get to lab. Take the dog out and place the tags without looking in the book. A few times doing this and you know it! (and a few times is all you get, b/c they do seem to fall apart and get pretty gross, but it helps while they last) Good luck, hope this helps

 

[skittles12]

I found this website to be pretty helpful with identifying things. For me, I'm a visual and tactile learner. I write things out a lot, and use a lot of pictures. Also, not so much for muscles, but for nerves and vessels, my anatomy professor suggested labeling our own body parts. I walked around for two days with R, M, and U all over my arm for the nerves of the forelimb.
Anyway, here is the website! I hope it helps some!
http://vanat.cvm.umn.edu/muscleQuiz/index.html

 

[nyanko]

TrocarKarin: Yeah same, did very well on all other exams and conceptual portion of anatomy but poorly on the lab practical (even though the actual score was better than I thought it was going to be, I don't feel at all comfortable with what I actually know which is far more important to me than the score). I actually did that on the lab practical, haha, where I wrote down originates X, inserts (Y or Z) and would (action) (joint). So that I could try to remember during the rest stops and/or more quickly during the 5 minutes at the end.

bvman: I do have the CD, but it is difficult for me to connect the pictures of the muscle to the actual muscles on the specimens, for some reason.

people who suggested memorizing them in a circle or whatnot: Yeah, that's kind of what I was talking about when I said I couldn't really grasp using a landmark to identify them. A lot of people used that strategy in my class, but it wasn't working for me at all.

I also did go into the actual lab to study for the practical, quite a bit. But usually I just wound up overwhelmed and frustrated at the end.

Origins and insertions are also NOT a problem for me, for whatever reason. Maybe it's because my brain feels like those are necessary pieces of information in order to determine what the muscle function is, and inherently I prioritize understanding the function rather than memorizing for the exam. But it just discards any sort of photographic memory of the muscle as unimportant info.

Good idea that I think might help..

Hey, that's a really good idea. I will see if my lab group is amenable to giving that a shot...

Thanks everyone for your input!

 

[Willowhand]

I'm having problems with anatomy too. I can look at a muscle, recognize it, and say what it does, but I can't for the life of me keep all the names straight. One thing that does help a bit is that whenever I'm watching the movements of a live dog (which is often, since I have one) I try to name some of the muscles responsible for each action. Still not perfect, but it has helped me improve.

Before our muscle exam a few weeks ago, my class created a practice lab test. Each group set up their dog with a few muscles pinned, and each person went from dog to dog naming them with a minute at each station (same setup as our lab exam). One nice thing about that kind of review is that we get to see all of the differences between dogs before having to figure them out during an exam.

 

[alliecat44]

nyanko, I feel your pain. I really do. I think I cried at least once before every anatomy exam because I was so overwhelmed and no matter how much I tried I could never "get it"!!! Fortunately for me, things would end up snapping into place around 8pm the night before the exam for some ungodly reason. No idea how that worked but it was so so stressful and I wanted to burn my labcoat at the end of the year in celebration (but settled for ceremoniously throwing it away because I was afraid about formaldehyde's flammability.) Anatomy was far and away my hardest class in vet school.

I'm not spatial at all--really struggled with o-chem and I'm very verbally/language oriented. I've never been a flashcard maker and I hate rote memorization.

The landmark trick worked for me but not until right before the exam would things start clicking.

Two things that helped me with the muscles: I'm not a draw-er or a flashcard-maker and I didn't have one of those coloring anatomy atlases. However, in desperation, I used colored pencils in my copy of little Miller's--and I really think it actually helped. I'd repeat the name in my head as I carefully colored inside the lines and as corny as it sounds it really helped. I would also visualize the colors during the practicals to help me orient to a landmark--like visually remember the color and shape from looking at the page while studying.

I'm sure you're already doing this, but as some have mentioned, it helped studying in the lab with classmates and taking turns naming all the structures for each other. Catching others' mistakes or remembering funny mistakes that happen can also help.

Good luck--I really really feel for you.

 

[bunnity]

This is going to make me sound really weird but I have to feel the bones/muscles to remember them. I don't read the book (any of them) outside of class, I don't draw, I don't write, I don't use CD's or anything. My 3D visualization is useless so I have to actually have my hands on the dog to understand anything. As my amazing lab group can attest to, I am that person that always has to have their hands all up in everything. I spend a lot of time in lab... probably an extra 10 hours a week outside of class, but it works for me.

Just throwing that out there in case you happen to be the same way.

 

[BlacKAT33]

This is going to make me sound really weird but I have to feel the bones/muscles to remember them. I don't read the book (any of them) outside of class, I don't draw, I don't write, I don't use CD's or anything. My 3D visualization is useless so I have to actually have my hands on the dog to understand anything. As my amazing lab group can attest to, I am that person that always has to have their hands all up in everything. I spend a lot of time in lab... probably an extra 10 hours a week outside of class, but it works for me.

Just throwing that out there in case you happen to be the same way.

You know, I never realized this until you said it, but i feel everything too lol. And when I name a muscle or part of a bone i stroke it multiple times until the name pops into my head and then i can move to the next thing to name. Yes, this does sound extremely weird haha but i guess it works if we are both doing it! other people in my group do this too, i dont think we've really noticed it but i just realized it when you brought it up. I especially remember it being awkward when we did the genital area because we were all stroking every tiny part and laughing when it looked "wrong". yes, sounds silly, but it must work if bunnity and my whole group do it!

 

[HopefulAg]

Odd...I'm another bone stroker (hrmm....nope, sticking with that descriptor!). I love the deltoid tuberosity in particular, not sure why.

But some things you can't see (or I can't) like the teres minor tuberosity of the humerus. I can feel the bump but for the life of me can't physically see it, so in that way feeling the bone helps out quite a bit.

 

[dyachei]

So am I alone in this? Do I have any hope? Anyone who's had a problem like this have any insight or tips or strategies they've used?

Nope, not alone out there. I really struggled with anatomy as well. What helped me was repetition. I would go to lab after classes and really just get out a plastinated specimen and point to everything and name it and its functions. I would do one area each time and only after I felt comfortable would I move on to another area. With arteries and veins, I would draw out the path on a piece of paper without any muscles kind of like a road map and label each one. I also asked other people in my class to come up with questions with pins on a specimen, and then i would try to come up with answers and they would explain to me when I was wrong and why.

Just know that it can be done even if you struggle with it. Good luck!

 

[sumstorm]

I have done everything everyone else has mentioned, and like Bunnity, I am very kinesthetic; I need to touch it, which was absolutly not allowed on our practical. So, I went the other way. I bought the cheap modeling clay in various colors...the one that doesn't dry, harden, or crumble (it is oil based). It is cheap, generally can find it in craft stores, and has lots of color options (I think I used rose art, but there are other brands, and it is cheap!). Do not use playdough (it will stain and stick to bones.) I also bought plastic colored laces (like what they use to make cheap jewellry at kids camps.) You might want to ask permission before doing this. Before we start a section of anatomy, I would create a list of muscle, action, origin, insertion. I would take that list and my book into the lab. I would find a sturdy skeletal model, and start deep (most books start superficial and go deep) and literally 'make' a muscle, scratch the name of it into the modeling clay with a stylus, and attach it to the origin and insertion on a skeleton. Repeat until you have a leg, or back, or such...kind of like how the CSI shows illustrate the building of a face from a skeleton. The laces can be used to illustrate arteries, veins, and nerves. This took a lot of time (several hours), and I generally did it on a Friday night or Saturday morning so that I had the lab to myself...and I always did my best to do it before we started that section in class. Something about figuring it out, putting it in place, and literally labeling it in the 'muscle' helped me so much more than working on the cadavers or looking at pictures. I color coded for muscle action. I also made up stories...like 'Operator, operator, call Grace' (which was from some radio show a long time ago) while I was doing the 'modeling' to help me rememeber things (the gracillis muscle is innervated by the obturator nerve.) I did not, by any means, ace anatomy, but I passed, and I still remember alot of it. When I took the model apart, I made myself name the info about each muscle I removed. Then, everything I did in lab after that was repetition to what I had already done (I am horrible in lecture, so that was never really helpful for me.)

 

[StartingoverVet]

I have done everything everyone else has mentioned, and like Bunnity, I am very kinesthetic; I need to touch it, which was absolutly not allowed on our practical. So, I went the other way. I bought the cheap modeling clay in various colors...the one that doesn't dry, harden, or crumble (it is oil based). It is cheap, generally can find it in craft stores, and has lots of color options (I think I used rose art, but there are other brands, and it is cheap!). Do not use playdough (it will stain and stick to bones.) I also bought plastic colored laces (like what they use to make cheap jewellry at kids camps.) You might want to ask permission before doing this. Before we start a section of anatomy, I would create a list of muscle, action, origin, insertion. I would take that list and my book into the lab. I would find a sturdy skeletal model, and start deep (most books start superficial and go deep) and literally 'make' a muscle, scratch the name of it into the modeling clay with a stylus, and attach it to the origin and insertion on a skeleton. Repeat until you have a leg, or back, or such...kind of like how the CSI shows illustrate the building of a face from a skeleton. The laces can be used to illustrate arteries, veins, and nerves. This took a lot of time (several hours), and I generally did it on a Friday night or Saturday morning so that I had the lab to myself...and I always did my best to do it before we started that section in class. Something about figuring it out, putting it in place, and literally labeling it in the 'muscle' helped me so much more than working on the cadavers or looking at pictures. I color coded for muscle action.

That sounds like a brilliant idea. I was really hoping there was a dog anatomy toy model to play with. I thought that would really help. Pull the muscle off. Insert it on. Play with the nerves and vessels.

I know that is what dissection should kind of be like... but... it isn't.

 

[nyanko]

That IS a really good idea sumstorm.

I don't know if they would take kindly to us messing with the skeletons that much, but it could be worth a shot to ask. Thanks.

Signed,
another stroker of bones.

 

[chii chan]

Not sure if you're an artist at all (I'm certainly not), but have you tried drawing out everything and naming things? Pasquini was awesome for this. It also helped me to shade the direction of the muscle fibres if applicable. I'm a kinesthetic learner so drawing REALLY helped even though it took a lot of time since I wanted it to come out well and I'm not great at it.

This site also helped immensely to at least help me begin to recognize the words since they come up repeatedly: http://vanat.cvm.umn.edu/muscleQuiz/index.html

And then to compare what I saw in lecture, lab, the site, Pasquini, and my drawings, I read through Done (color atlas). I passed my anatomy, embryology, and cell bio module with distinction.

Muscles examples:

Just for fun since I don't know HOW this turned out SO well:

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Drawing VERY much helped me too...I highly recommend it. Even if you aren't good, it is good practice to visualize.

 

[chii chan]

Oh! How about making up a song? One of my classmates changed around the words to the chorus of: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEU_LRfpLe8

Where "notorious" was "sartorius". Then progressing onto extending the stifle and flexing the hip... I can't remember how the rest of the song went.

It was awesome.

 

[IHeartGoldens]

Oh! How about making up a song? One of my classmates changed around the words to the chorus of: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEU_LRfpLe8

Where "notorious" was "sartorius". Then progressing onto extending the stifle and flexing the hip... I can't remember how the rest of the song went.

It was awesome.

Ahh! my classmate and I did the "sartorius" instead of "notorious" song too.. I thought we were being original! lol..guess not so much.. but hey, it works!

 

[nyanko]

Thanks for all of the suggestions everyone! I did much better on the last two locomotor anatomy lab practicals and the cardio anatomy lab final!

In case anyone's wondering, a combination of being more hands on with actually physically touching structures, watching dissection videos and doing self-narration of the videos to check myself really worked well for me.

And I have to say, chii chan, to be honest those illustrations look like they could go in a textbook somewhere - don't sell yourself short!

 

[flyhi]

I'm glad you did better, Nyan...

I'm not sure if anyone else has to do this, but it helps tremendously. In the 5yr program, we are required to turn in an anatomy lab book that has pictures (or drawings....yeah, no) of all our dissections labelled. So, during and after each dissection, i take a lot of pictures. That night (this is the important part), i download them on to my computer and use publisher to label everything we saw that day. I fine tune it over the weeks and make it 'prettier', but it helps TREMENDOUSLY with identifying muscles just by sight alone, since you have dissected it yourself, felt the muscles, tendons, nerves, etc, taken pictures of them, and then labelled them that evening. Then, we use our finished products to study from. Of all of the little projects we have to do, this one by far makes the most sense and we get the most out of it.

and yeah, I've seen Chii Chan's drawings before, and they are unbelievably good.

 

[chii chan]

Thanks Nyanko and flyhi! But seriously the drawing skills came outta left field.

And Nyanko, I'm glad you were able to find something that works for you!

 

[ColoradoDVM]

.

 

[sbdgonzales]

I'm not sure what the format for your exams are...

Ours usually had a concept portion, and a lab practical. 50% of the class would be doing a section at a time, with a switch in the middle. I usually tried to switch to the section that was taking the concept portion first, because I always finished it early. This gave me time to diagram out the order of muscles, VANs, etc - I could make myself a cheat sheet under low stress that would come in handy on the lab portion.

*****************************************************

Thread hijack: The one-minute-per-station bit SUCKS! I would hate to take a test like that, I had to go back and reason through or sweat over 20% of the questions on each test... at least!

 

[GreennWhite]

Two things I did, that I think my fellow classmates appreciated as well:

For the blood vessels, on a big whiteboard, I drew a schematic representation of each and which organ they supply. Then I randomly numbered them. At the bottom of the whiteboard I put all the numbers and what b.v. they were. Then I took separate pictures of the schematic and the key so everyone could quiz themselves.
This method took out all the "fluff" and allowed me to focus on what was really important.

Also, for the heart, we had to know horse, cow, pig, and dog. I took our diagram of a heart and added the aorta, and all of the blood vessels coming off each for the particular animal. Then I color-coded them so that the azygous vein was the same color for each animal, etc. This highlighted the differences between the species (since the unique traits are usually a significant portion of our exams). The colors and their labels I made into a separate key so that again, we could quiz ourselves.

 

[MrPolarZero]

I am not a graduate of medical course, but I am really eager to learn human anatomy and other related topics. I hope there are online tutorials which I can use.

 

[spicykimchi]

That muscle website is awesome! (http://vanat.cvm.umn.edu/muscleQuiz/index.html) I learn anatomy for fun and when I saw this site I was like "oh boy!!!" I busted out my anatomy books and had a blast hunting down muscles I'd only before seen in drawings. Too fun.

I agree with drawing anatomy to learn it! When I draw I'm forced to pay VERY CLOSE attention to not only the shape of each muscle but also what its SIZE and ORIENTATION is in relation to all the muscles nearby! I am downright in love with anatomy, so I want my picture to look right!

I like to color my drawings too. Coloring a muscle is kind of like touching it, I think, except instead of running your fingers over it, you're running your colored pencil over it.

As for learning the names, I normally have no trouble and pick them up at breakneck speed but I have gotten into a pickle in areas with a lot of similar muscles, be they similar due to their names or because what they look like.

I solved this dilemma in the foreleg of the horse by categorizing the muscles first into the category of flexor or extensor and then into the subcategory of what bone they originate on. It got my brain engaged and before long I couldn't forget the names even if I wanted to!

A variation to this technique, that would work better on, say, the large thoracic/abdominal muscles (e.g. external abdominal oblique) is to make a list and order it by most superficial to most deep.

I had so much fun writing this reply. Anatomy is awesome!!!!!

 

[StartingoverVet]

That muscle website is awesome! (http://vanat.cvm.umn.edu/muscleQuiz/index.html) I learn anatomy for fun and when I saw this site I was like "oh boy!!!" I busted out my anatomy books and had a blast hunting down muscles I'd only before seen in drawings. Too fun.

That site is ridiculously easy. If only anatomy exams were like that I might enjoy anatomy as well.

 

[nyanko]

I had so much fun writing this reply. Anatomy is awesome!!!!!

I had a lot less fun reading it. To be honest it made me want to shove rusty nails into my eyes.

 

[BlacKAT33]

That site is ridiculously easy. If only anatomy exams were like that I might enjoy anatomy as well.

lol omg i wish!! id get 100%!! wow that really boosted my confidence it makes me think i dont need to study for this upcoming exam haha

 

[spicykimchi]

Considering I've spent the last 8 or so years on anatomy (on and off) it's probably easier than for someone who is learning everything in a semester.

 

[HopefulAg]

I would highly suggest drawing out muscle insertions/origins and organ placement within the body. I was absolutely struggling to learn what inserted where until I drew it out and then could just visualize it. We didn't really put in enough effort to trace the tendons to their insertions on our cadaver.

 

[spicykimchi]

In my communication studies class (it started yesterday) we had to form groups and then interview eachother. One question we had to ask one another was what makes each of us unique. For me I had them put that I'm in love with learning animal anatomy Also, next class, we have to bring an item, one single item, that we feel represents us. I'm bringing an anatomy book. LOL

 

[Medic_9]

Thought I would throw this in.

I completely agree with drawing the out the muscles if you are an "artist". When I was revising for exams I drew them out in pencil and labelled them within the muscle, then outlined the muscles based on what nerve innervated them. Then I colored the muscle one color for flexor and another for extensor and if it was both it got both colors with whatever color closest to the joint it did that action.

I have an eidetic memory so that kinda of stuff really helps me.

I would post a picture but I can't remember where I put them right now. I just put everything away since exams just finished and we start new stuff on Wed.

 

[sumstorm]

I have an eidetic memory so that kinda of stuff really helps me.

If you have an eidetic memory, wouldn't you only need to view an image to recall precise details? I thought the test for youths was 30s viewing.

 

[Medic_9]

If you have an eidetic memory, wouldn't you only need to view an image to recall precise details? I thought the test for youths was 30s viewing.

I do remember some things really well as if I was looking at it. It doesn't work for everything either, but I like it anyways.

I'm in no way a youth either.

 

[nyanko]

I'm not an artist and I'm not visual.

 

[bunnity]

This isn't to you specifically nyanko but I'll share how my study buddy and I studied for this last anatomy exam.

She had a really hard time with the first exam and something we realized was that when you're reading the dissection guides, you are given a word and then you find the structure - versus when you are tested (at least at Penn) you are given the structure and have to recall the word. So you're learning in one direction but being tested in the opposite one.

What we did was have me go through the book and point out each bold term on the specimen. Then she had to tell me what it was. We kept score sometimes to see what percent she was getting right. We did this every day after class and every weekend. And then once again for everything right before the test. So by the time we took the test today, she had been "tested" on every structure 3-4 times already. It helped me a ton too because like I said before, I have to have my hands all over the thing to remember it.

 

[nyanko]

She had a really hard time with the first exam and something we realized was that when you're reading the dissection guides, you are given a word and then you find the structure - versus when you are tested (at least at Penn) you are given the structure and have to recall the word. So you're learning in one direction but being tested in the opposite one.

I definitely took note of this inconsistency too, and realized that finding a structure with already knowing the word and producing a word when faced with a structure use like, completely different parts of my brain. I took advantage of this as well, and it definitely worked for the lab practicals I've had this quarter.

I think I might actually kind of like head anatomy, honestly...things seem to make more sense there.