I just started my first semester of classes and I am taking anatomy. I am struggling in the course with the amount of information and being able to recognize things on the cadaver. I was wondering if anyone had any advice. thank you. Right now i am using videos, going into the cadaver lab, and using powerpoint to study.
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Anatomy help
- Thread starter Halie
- Start date
Get into study groups. I almost never studied with other people in undergrad or my master's, and for DPT, I am constantly in study groups. Studying with other people saved my life in anatomy. We would round-table and put each other on the spot: "Halie, tell me the origin, insertion, blood supply, innervation and actions of the gastrocnemius". It's super uncomfortable but it forces you to get your thoughts together, and is way more effective than flash cards. Other people will help you through your thought processes if you blank out, say hysterical things that stick into your memory forever, and help keep you sane.I just started my first semester of classes and I am taking anatomy. I am struggling in the course with the amount of information and being able to recognize things on the cadaver. I was wondering if anyone had any advice. thank you. Right now i am using videos, going into the cadaver lab, and using powerpoint to study.
A lot of us also bought large drawing pads and would just write everything out, over and over, draw pictures, whatever. Since anatomy is mostly rote memorization, try to find different ways to interact with the material versus the same 2-3 studying tactics so that you stay engaged and focus on it.
As for the cadaver, it's pure repetition. Knowing your origins & insertions will help you put together what structures are. Rather than blindly staring at a mass of tissue or bowl of spaghetti nerves, figure out something that you know and use that as a true north to figure out what you are looking at. Make yourself uncomfortable, grab a friend or teacher and teach that person a cadaver - it'll force you to think out loud, get over any testing anxiety you may have, and recognize your deficits.
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deleted797640
I just started my first semester of classes and I am taking anatomy. I am struggling in the course with the amount of information and being able to recognize things on the cadaver. I was wondering if anyone had any advice. thank you. Right now i am using videos, going into the cadaver lab, and using powerpoint to study.
Essential Anatomy App
Agree with studying in groups, but I would say make them very small groups or even just one or two consistent study partners that you do well with. My experience was that there is a direct and inverse relationship between the size of the group of people "studying" and how effective the studying is. I found groups of 2 or 3 to be much more productive and focused. Small groups/partners are generally better able to move through information at a quicker pace and focus on high yield info, large groups tend to get bogged down by the one person who wants to spend 15 minutes trying to delve into a piece of minutia that has a very low statistical likelihood of appearing on the test.
My biggest advice for PT school studying goes along with the above: the more likely a piece of information is to appear on the test, the more time you should spend on it in your studying. The people in my class who spent many hours studying their brains out each night but still scraped by with grades seemed like they were those who were not naturally good at differentiating high yield information from "bonus material" if you will. This is a hard skill to learn if you don't already have it, but the better you get at playing "can you read my mind" with your professors, the better your grades will be. Just really try to consider when you are studying and you get to something you either don't understand or have a hard time remembering whether this information is statistically very likely to appear on the test or not. You don't need to know everything on every slide just because it COULD be on the test. What you need to know is roughly 80-85% of what WILL be on the test. Sounds like common sense, but this is a test-taking strategy I think a lot of people haven't internalized.
My biggest advice for PT school studying goes along with the above: the more likely a piece of information is to appear on the test, the more time you should spend on it in your studying. The people in my class who spent many hours studying their brains out each night but still scraped by with grades seemed like they were those who were not naturally good at differentiating high yield information from "bonus material" if you will. This is a hard skill to learn if you don't already have it, but the better you get at playing "can you read my mind" with your professors, the better your grades will be. Just really try to consider when you are studying and you get to something you either don't understand or have a hard time remembering whether this information is statistically very likely to appear on the test or not. You don't need to know everything on every slide just because it COULD be on the test. What you need to know is roughly 80-85% of what WILL be on the test. Sounds like common sense, but this is a test-taking strategy I think a lot of people haven't internalized.
