So as a first sem. I went to class, studied, reviewed everything and...
I still failed the first Anatomy Lab Practical AND Mini 1! (not sure how many subjects I failed but the whole thing was 65/120 ~55%). Did anyone have this experience? Is there any way to recover?

You're not dead yet. You've got alot of work ahead of you though.

The anatomy lab thing is the easiest thing to fix. The lab used to be open 24 hours a day. If it still is, there's no reason you can't go in with an atlas (I liked the one with the real color photos, not the illustrated one) early in the morning before class or late at night. Nobody else is there and it's easy to move around to all of the bodies. Bring a friend but don't bring more than 2 friends. It gets too crowded if you do. They also have T.A. that are available. Most of them don't care if you're not a part of their group. Just show up.

As far as the mini goes, you need to figure out what you did wrong. You went to class. OK. Was it productive while you were there? Do you take notes or do you just sit there? I know when I went to class, I spent most of my time on the computer reading the sports page. It didn't really do me much good, so I stopped going. I found mediasite much more productive for me. I'm not suggesting that's what you should do. I'm suggesting that you need to decide if going to class is your best use of time.

If you don't understand something, get help. Don't wait till the week before the mini. The school offers peer tutors. Find a good one and use him/her.

Above all, put in the time. Find a system that works for you and stick to it. That's about all I can suggest.

i know there are disection videos available. they are very helpful. also it is good to first learn each an every artery, vein, nerve and once you know the tract and how they look, it is easier. you can use netters anatomy atlas for this. also for muscles. try to understand that direction the fibers run and the origin and insertion. try to memorize it and it will be a lot easier. if you are by ur self in the lab. take an individual artery or nerve on a cadaver and follow it from origin.
good luck

You should really evaluate your studying habits and the amount of time that you are putting into your classwork. Unfortunately med school is not going to get any easier and the work load keeps building so try to pinpoint the problems early and rectify them. Definetely start going to Cognitive skills sessions with KW and go to some peer tutoring sessions outside of class. This may help you in being a better test taker. Besides that, you should try to put in 4-6 of quality study sessions everyday outside of class. If you do this, you should be able to pull up all your grades. Best of luck

Thank you for all this input... I will follow all of these suggestions, and I'll try not to despair.