What's the deal with anatomy?

[Andrew21]

I have heard that anatomy was lacking this semester compared to those passed. For the record, beyond a photographic anatomy atlas, is there a recommended book to supplement the class? i have heard mixed reviews for chung's, but if there is a general consensus outthere I would love to hear it. Thanks all

andy

[rsgillmd]

Hi Andrew. I used the photographic atlas a couple of times, but mainly Netter. The big Moore is useful if you, like me, are more clinically oriented, because it lists more clinical applications -- easier to read also in my opinion. I hated Baby Moore and barely touched it.

I forget what edition of Chung I had, but I didn't think it was anything special. I thought it really lacked in the head/neck and ANS areas. Also found a decent bunch of mistakes. However, it was good to go back to as a review.

But, what really did it for me was spending more time in the lab. I made the mistake of not going down there much before the midterms. I barely squeaked off a "C" overall (72 or 74%), because I did so horrible on the midterm practical. After that I started joining a friend, who also happened to be in my dissection group, down in the lab several nights a week. In the end I had a better appreciation for anatomy and I aced the final (94 or 96%).

I realize this probably isn't what you're looking for, but that's my viewpoint.

Ravpreet

[stephew]

congrats rsgill on pulling that up. that's learning how to study.

[JLai]

I have heard that anatomy was lacking this semester compared to those passed.

Yea dude...they reemed us and used us for guinea pigs to see what works better. I think the whole class of 325, there were 10 A's.

[Reggaman]

Yea dude...they reemed us and used us for guinea pigs to see what works better. I think the whole class of 325, there were 10 A's.

Nah, there were many more A's than that. I don't know who started that rumor of being only 10 As, but if you sat there and counted the A's on that spreadsheet, there were close to 40.

You have to be careful not to let Anatomy take up all your time. You have 3 other classes to worry about. They also move anatomy at a lightening speed because it is not tested heavily on Step 1. Anymore important Anatomy that you need is repeated in later classes. Review Anatomy for the boards using First Aid.

[sak]

Heres the trick:

Preread ---> attend lecture ---> attend one review session by Dr. Hague every week ---> take the online quiz, take a DES-posted quiz, take some sort of quiz, quiz someone, ask someone to quiz you!

Get the picture. I use the rule of sevens in anatomy, if you see, hear, and discuss something atleast seven times, it will stick in time for the exam. Its quite arbitrary, but it worked and it didnt even feel like i studied as much as some of my class mates. People around here study alot!

You dont need chung, you dont need the colored atlas with pretty pictures, you dont need anything but the course companions (there are two versions, GET YOUR HANDS ON THE OLD ONE!) and your friend Netter.

Save your money and buy your friends a round of beer the night before you leave!

Peace

[JLai]

(there are two versions, GET YOUR HANDS ON THE OLD ONE!)

Wasn't able to get ahold of one till 2nd half of the class. They should have given this to us since the companion they gave us is complete crap. Perhaps another reason why we are regarded as the "dumbest class in SGU history" :P We party less and score lower. w00t.

[jgriggs]

Would it be possible for someone to post the old one, or will it be available to copy from the library or something like that.

[snitzle]

Would it be possible for someone to post the old one, or will it be available to copy from the library or something like that.

YES... are there, in fact, any upper termers with a copy of the "old anatomy companion" they'd be willing to part with??? If so, I would be happy to buy it from you and pay for shipping! Although I just finished 1st term, I have to take my anatomy completion exam when I return in August.

I agree with just about everyone else: our companion this last term sucked to the point of being worthless! :x I don't know why they changed it in the first place. I also hate the "baby Moore" (as did many), so I just ordered the "big Moore" from Amazon. I hope it's better. I should have done this during last term.

[rsgillmd]

When exactly did they come out with this new version? I was in the class that started 8/2000.

I'm not sure where mine is, but if you want, I'll see if I can find it tomorrow.

Snitzle, where in the U.S. are you?

Ravpreet

[archon218]

First Aid book is very good

[CharlieBrown]

I just finished 1st term in May, and here's my tips on getting thru Gross:

1. Pre-read about 15 minutes per lecture the night before. Anatomy throws a lot of unfamiliar words at you, so you'll have to get comfortable with them quickly. The more times you go over them, the more you'll understand what the profs are talking about in lecture.

2. Attend all the lectures, regardless of how bad a professor may be. The profs write the test questions, so what they have to say in class is extremely high yield and important stuff. The profs move quickly, but don't let that get to you. Try to understand their main points; the small details and terms you can learn (and memorize) later. I know it's exhausting, but try to stay focused throughout the entire hour. THe more times you hear stuff, the more likely it'll get into your memory, and i remember more than a few questions on the exams where i vaguely remembered a professor talking about the answer, so it will help you in the long run.

And be sure to pay especially close attention to the Autonomics lectures and Dr. Haig's clinical lectures. For me, those lectures were the ones which tied all of anatomy together. Everything makes much more sense if you understand them. And at least half of the exam questions were of these type.

3. Post-read the same night or the night after. Get the stuff down into your head any way you can. Write the important stuff out on paper; even if you don't look at the notes again, simply writing it down will help solidify it in your head. Go over mnemonics, visualize the stuff, check the stuff out in your Netter as you go over the notes, see the stuff in lab. For me this took at least an hour or two per lecture. And at the end of the week, go thru the notes again. Refamiliarize yourself with the stuff. I guarantee you'll be glad you put in the work come exam time.

Additional Tips:

-Spend some time going thru the pictures in Netter. Read every label, see where it's pointing to, see what's near it. You don't have to memorize everything, but just looking at it will help fill in the bigger picture.

-Try to visualize where structures are in relation to everything else and how a problem with one thing will affect the adjacent structures.

-Go over the Clinical sections in the Moore book. The profs LOVE to test on this stuff, and if you know the clinical applications then that means you understand the material.

-Simply talking stuff out with other students will help your understanding immensely. You will know stuff that they don't know, and vice versa. Things that i wouldn't have known if not for a study group I was able to get right on exams. So i can't overemphasize the importance of it.

-Don't ** your way thru the dissections. If you learn your dissection well and go over the other group's dissection with them, then you'll be well-prepared for the lab exam.

My two cents regarding other materials: Chung has great questions which are a fairly good indication of what the exams are like, although I thought the exams were a bit more difficult. I didn't get to see the old notes but i hear that it saved a lot of time for a lot of people. Instead of searching for the answers through books, you could just look at the notes. However, i think that by not giving you all the answers and making you search for them yourself, you do get a better understanding of anatomy in the long run. And most importantly, the Chung should only be used as a supplemental text; Don't use it as your only study book! I know of a good number of people who used only Chung and got totally screwed on the tests. It's a review book, that's all, so you still have to learn the stuff first.

And finally, the anatomy profs expect you to be on top of your anatomy game. To them, there's no exuse for not knowing the material they've gone over. And if you don't know what they expect you to know they'll let you know, more often than not by criticism. Don't take things personally; it's not like they dislike you or have it in for you (Remember, there are 300+ other 1st termers just like you). They're trying to motivate you to shape up, so study harder and show them that you can learn the stuff. And besides, in your rotations and in residency the attendings are going to be much more tougher than Dr. Brahim will. So take any criticism in stride and simply do better.

Sorry for the long post. I hope this helps anyone that reads it. Anatomy is tough, but don't neglect the other classes. Time management is the key, and there will be times where you'll have to study other subjects although you won't know everything you need to know in Anatomy. If you've had study or test problems in the past, take any advice that DES or upper termers can give you and seriously take it to heart. With so many people de-celling and flunking out, it's a bit of a sink-or-swim academic environment, so you'll have to learn how to study effectively quickly. Just work hard and study smart, and you'll be fine.

[qballs]

Nahhh man nahhh....

If you can't stand reading the little Moore, I don't think you will enjoy reading the big Moore. Its really inefficient to just read a textbook and try to passively absorb information. That is the BIGGEST mistake people make in medical school. There are people who literally spend hours everyday trying to memorize the course companion and little Moore. Then they take their first anatomy midterm and get hammered and then they go complain how they studied so hard and they still got worked. Worse yet, they will go De-cel cuz they think they just "need more time to really learn the material".

If you really wanna ACE anatomy, you have to actively learn the material. What I did when I took anatomy was the following:

Pre-Read (30 minutes to 1 hour at most) Don't get bogged down on details, just try to get the big picture of the area. Learn the names of the important structures.

Go to lecture (This is the most important thing to do because they practically give away a few questions every lecture)

Read the your notes/go to lab/have your friends teach you the area they dissected/teach your friends the area you dissected. My roommates really helped me out because they were in a different dissection group.

Do the university of michigan website questions/ chung's/ old exams after every section. Don't wait till 2 days before the exam to do questions. Just do them every week. You learn so much just by doing questions and more importantly you learn what is clinically important. These are the areas in anatomy that will be tested on the boards so you are also indirectly preparing for the boards. I cannot stress how important it is to do questions and how valuable it is in helping you learn anatomy. Many times I would do these questions and I would get 30-40% of the questions wrong the first time I did them. However, when I would do these questions, I would have my little moores and netters next to me so I could look up structures I never knew existed.

I ended up with the highest grade in anatomy my semester.

Anatomy isn't hard, you just find out what is important.

Oyea if you still wanna buy the old course companion, you can email him at ------@sgu.edu. I don't think its any better than the one you have now but maybe it might work for you.

Moderators note: personal contact info of 3rd person edited out for privacy as indicated by ----

[stateofequilibrium]

Oh God, I love the University of Michigan's webpage. Actually, the University of Arkansas has much tougher questions in my opinion. But they're all linked through the same page. Good stuff! :D

[drnick07]

I ditto CharlieBrown and qballs.

You certainly don't need Chung, color atlas, or McMinn's, but some people find them helpful. Sometimes seeing the same thing again, but in another context, helps to remember it. I read baby moore alot, because i liked to learn anatomy in a "story" context, not just from outlines and random facts. That kept me interested in it long enough to learn it. I had a hard time knowing how to organize what we were learning into a form i could use. I also drew alot structures and diagrams. I'm a visual learner who has to do something with the material to learn it, so thats why i basically made my own netter. That also helped me to bring alot of different things together to see how they related - like the trigeminal nerve structure, its functions, and related blood supply.

As future 1st termers you will get ALOT of advise from upperclassmen. But one size does not fit all. Find out what works for you, and find it out before midterms if you can. From reading this forum you will develop a list of study strategies. Use that as your toolbox and choose from it what works for you, just as a carpenter uses a circular saw but plumbers don't (the opposite for a pipe wrench.) For many (myself included) midterms are a wakeup call that what you're doing is not working. You'll save yourself alot of grief if you can learn that beforehand and make changes.

[snitzle]

Oyea if you still wanna buy the old course companion, you can email him at ------@sgu.edu. I don't think its any better than the one you have now but maybe it might work for you.

Moderators note: personal contact info of 3rd person edited out for privacy as indicated by ----

Hey "qballs"... who is the "him" you're referring to? Could you PM me with that email address since it got blanked from your post?

Thanks!!!