Neesie Posted February 3, 2011 Author Posted February 3, 2011 I am in the same program, just a year ahead of Neesie. Many programs do require A&P as a prerequisite. This program does not, but it is also a longer term program to allow for that. The program offered by this college is one of the toughest in this province, mostly because the didactic portion is done on line and distance learning, and you spend several weeks on campus every few months to do labs and skills work. There is a great deal of self-notivation required. Before anyone hacks this program to bits, part of the reason I chose it was because it fit into my schedule, and partly because it has an incredibly good pass rate with the provincial registry exam, which a number of the other colleges do not. Now, that being said, I can relate to Neesie on this one... A&P is difficult, and it is the foundation that a number of other courses depends on. Knowing how cells work, and then being able to explain how a drug enters or affects a cell is hugely important. If only I haad known how important acid-base balance was when I took university chem a hundred years ago, I would have paid more attention! Neesie, some things I did to assist me through the course were: - I bought the Anatomy and Physiology coloring book, and worked on the pages of areas that I was struggling with - I also subscribed to a site called audible.com, and downloaded the audio version of the A&P text. The downloaded version is like a Coles notes (or Cliffs notes, for those of you in the US), where each chapter is summarized into a short version, and then there are review questions.... I downloaded it to my iPod and every time I was in my car, I listened to it. That was a huge help to me, as wading through hundreds of pages in the text overwhelmed me sometimes. - there is a website called www.purposegames.com. If you go to that site, and search "anatomy" a number of simple quizzes come up... from "name the skeletal bones" to "name the bones of the skull" to "name the parts of the brain" to "put together the parts of the kidney".... it seems mindless, but it is a nice change from just reading, and is just a different way of testing your knowledge. You can do it! Annie Thanks everyone for your input and confirming that A&P is hard! LOL Annie, I did download the vango notes that you suggested. It has helped somewhat. Like you said it is nice to listen rather than have to read all the time. Nice change. Right now I am just having a struggle/fight with cells and chemistry. I think once I get onto the rest of the stuff it will be better. I will actually be able to see what I am talking about. It is much easier imagining and arm than a cell. I think the memorizing will be hard - too much diet coke consumption over the years. My brain is in exit only mode!!! Things leave and it is very hard to get anything to go in and stay.
Blade Posted February 3, 2011 Posted February 3, 2011 I just spent 6 weeks in A& P for the prerequisite to my Medic class, now we are doing A & P again, the first time we took it I used you tube and my ipod as a study method. youtube UC Berkley they have a bunch of lectures with their teacher that explain a lot, you can also download them to an ipod for free thru Itunes U. Good Luck! Thanks everyone for your input and confirming that A&P is hard! LOL Annie, I did download the vango notes that you suggested. It has helped somewhat. Like you said it is nice to listen rather than have to read all the time. Nice change. Right now I am just having a struggle/fight with cells and chemistry. I think once I get onto the rest of the stuff it will be better. I will actually be able to see what I am talking about. It is much easier imagining and arm than a cell. I think the memorizing will be hard - too much diet coke consumption over the years. My brain is in exit only mode!!! Things leave and it is very hard to get anything to go in and stay.
MedicAsh Posted February 14, 2011 Posted February 14, 2011 Take an actual A&P course. Then look into an advanced A&P (or in some places called Psysiology). I also took Microbiology and Chemistry. It helps.
chbare Posted February 14, 2011 Posted February 14, 2011 Take an actual A&P course. Then look into an advanced A&P (or in some places called Psysiology). I also took Microbiology and Chemistry. It helps. Unfortunately, neither of those options will help right here, right now. The OP is currently struggling and needs help. While your suggestions are great for pro-active people and people who continue expo facto, neither will help the OP out of his/her current situation. Plus, you need a minimal level of mathematics and writing skills to take a proper chemistry course and will need to take chemistry, biology or A&P to get into the microbiology. Take care, chbare.
nikwho Posted February 22, 2011 Posted February 22, 2011 My paramedic class also integrated a quick down and dirty A&P section as opposed to making it a pre req. Its up to the school or lead instructor. I ended up finding some good stuff on youtube. A buddy in class found and reccomended me to a series of videos. Search UC Berkly anatomy and phisiology. Its videos of classes that were posted. Its rough, but it'll be over soon! I thought that I struggled with A&P and now we're into pharmacology and I am struggling more with that. :-( start looking around here: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=UC%20%20berkeley%20%20anatomy%20and%20%20physiology&search=Search&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&spell=1
LegendaryPunk Posted March 24, 2011 Posted March 24, 2011 I think the memorizing will be hard - too much diet coke consumption over the years. My brain is in exit only mode!!! Things leave and it is very hard to get anything to go in and stay. Memorizing is hard - but not impossible. What are your study habits like? Do you need to have somebody speaking to you? Flash cards? Rewriting the material over and over? Can you sit and cram for extended periods - or do you need a five minute break every half-hour? You said you have a difficult time visualizing cells as opposed to arms - this is completely understandable! You've known what an arm looks like for years. How many actual cells have you seen? I spend a lot of time searching through Google images and other image databanks, in addition to drawing lots of pictures in my notebook. A crash course in A&P can be very frustrating - it's a TON of new material. Don't be discouraged if you're not scoring 100% on all your tests - you'll be exposed to this material constantly throughout the program, and it will continue to build upon itself. That being said, the material and concepts you'll be exposed to later in the course will be MUCH more difficult if you don't have a strong grasp of at least the fundamentals.
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