Anatomy and physiology (A&P) is a science class where you get to learn about the human body and systems. In my school, it’s notorious for being one of the more ‘difficult’ science classes and tbh it might seem pretty daunting because it involves a lot of memorization and hard work, but it’s actually pretty great. I took A&P last semester so I compiled a bunch of tips for people taking it next year.
● know the layout of the class. every class is different but typically you would have a more lecture based section and a more lab based section (models, dissections). print out the syllabus and highlight the important stuff / write out your most important due dates.
● go in with the expectation to work hard. I have to be frank here: like any other science class, if you slack off, even a miracle won’t bring your grade up. go in with a positive mindset. it also doesn’t hurt to have genuine interest in the content of the class.
● show that you care. this makes a big difference. meet with your professor, ask them questions during office hours, and try to answer any questions they ask in class (even if you get it wrong, they will remember you for the effort that you put into learning).
● again, every class is different but your class will probably have some helpful resources for you to use. for example, in my class we used the textbook, lab manual, review sheets, lab sheets, powerpoint slides, and models / diagrams.
○ know what to study. with so many resources and limited time, it’s difficult and strenuous to study them all. it’s a good idea to ask your professor what you need to focus on. they don’t want you to fail so they’re going to direct you in the right direction.
○ for my class, studying the review sheets and lecture notes was helpful for class lecture exams and studying models / diagrams / lab sheets was helpful for lab practical exams.
○ you’ll also get a better idea of what to study after you take the first test. don’t be discouraged if you don’t do well at first. figure out where you need to improve and what resources to study the most. find a classmate who did really well and ask them what resources they focused on.
○ usually, powerpoints and review sheets are summaries, while textbooks go into detail about concepts. if you have trouble learning / understanding a new concept, try reading the textbook. if you understand the concept but need a concise way to remember it, refer to the summaries.
● know how to study. for me, reviewing my lecture notes, making review sheets, reviewing the information by saying it out loud, and teaching the concept to someone helped me the most. for anatomy and physiology, re-explaining the concepts to my professor and having them correct or add to my knowledge was also helpful. similarly, you should figure out how you study best and use a method that works for you!
● models and diagrams are helpful. since it is the human body and a lot of it is visual, especially for the lab portion of the class, you should pay attention to models and diagrams. knowing the structure of everything and being able to see all the parts is important.
○ I would attend office hours and tell my professor which models I had difficulty understanding. they would explain it to me, and later during the test, I would be visualize the model and remember what my teacher said about the different anatomical structures.
● practice the material in the test format. I was in a study group for A&P lab and we made a powerpoint with pictures we had taken of all the different models. in one slide, we would ‘tag’ the different parts of the model and add questions with arrows and textboxes. in the next slide we would have all the answers. this was the format of the practical exam so practicing the material in the same way helped us recall and regurgitate the information on the test.
A&P was one of my favorite classes and I still remember everything I learned and honestly, I didn’t suffer as much as I thought I would. You’ll be fine. Good luck! - hana from thoughtscholar
SOURCES + LINKS
Dr. Bradberry, Travis. (January 15, 2018). “How to make yourself work when you don’t want to.” Retrieved from: https://medium.com/the-mission/how-to-make-yourself-work-when-you-dont-want-to-f4f251a85514
MacLellan, Lila. (January 15, 2018). “How to stop procrastinating.” Retrieved from: https://work.qz.com/1159212/how-to-stop-procrastinating/
Sun, Michael. (February 17, 2014). “Psychological Skills: Changing your Emotions - An Intro to Cognitive Reappraisal.” Retrieved from: https://www.psychologyinaction.org/psychology-in-action-1/2014/02/17/psychological-skills-changing-your-emotions-an-intro-to-cognitive-reappraisal
-,’ types of people: school subjects ,’-
english: determined, messy buns, the smell of vanilla, old libraries, cold hands, sharp features, studying until midnight, witty remarks, black coffee, espresso
math: organized, classical music, theater plays, earphones, birds chirping early in the morning, green tea, morning showers, knows a lot of random facts
art: dancing in the rain, vintage cars, finding beauty in everything, soft smiles, road trips, competitive, fairy lights, horror stories at 2am, sunflower fields
history: oversized sweaters, into mythology, pretty handwriting, aesthetic journals, asks the questions others are afraid to, high motivation, chocolate
biology: logical thinkers, wants the best for their friends, traveling, spring, photography, morning walks through the forests, cute cottages, instruments
science: courageous, probably did the stupid thing, sneakers, sketchbooks, exploring the city at midnight, dogs, fights for equality, blasting music at 3am
self care ideas »
- eat more whole + natural foods
- drink more water + warm beverages (tea)
- let your self feel + release your emotions
- do not isolate yourself, but take time for yourself
- move more - walks, yoga - at the gym or at home or outside
- be mindful of how you treat your mind + body
- take time for your hobbies
- choose your surroundings wisely
- clean your space often; practice minimalism
- make small changes to your routine
- take breaks; spend time in nature
above all else, breathe.
cute things + cartoon recommendation:
hello sweet potatoes ✨
i’ve been quite off here and feeling unmotivated the whole week tbh idk what’s the reason I just feel I don’t belong somehow; but we’ll have bad days and weeks, right? I just wanna get over on it.
while I feel this blue im trying be more creative and I just found out about how drawing warm my heart and others things as painting or watching cartoons ( i feel like a child uh ) makes me happy.
I just put a cute sticker on the charge and I’m lazing around watching Steven universe ( so I had to draw it too)
Steven universe is far more one of my favorites cartoons and i high recommend it for anyone! when first cartoon network had realise the animation, steven helped me out with motivation and bad feelings ( as anxiety ) that cartoon remains in my heart… it’s a lovely story so please check it out.
I’m planning to get back my routine after this lil break; remember you must take breaks and pay attention to your feelings, contact a friend or a love one. don’t hide it all for you. always remember to keep away from distractions or tricky things that can lead us unfocusing moments to realize what we feel or what we want. I wish you a good week! loveyou 🤍
wholesome student life things that we should collectively start romancizing
- waking up and being genuinely thrilled to go to class because today is THAT CLASS you love so much you’d like it to never end
- coffee breaks with friends, chatting and joking about this particularly hard essay and the prof’s mannerism
- coffee breaks on your own, as you absent-mindedly watch the people around you, while thinking about what you’re working on
- finding this book you’ve been dying to read for so long, and borrowing it from the library
- the feeling of excitement that goes through you whenever you remember The Book is in your backpack
- understanding everything during demanding classes and being genuinely interested in the subject
- buying a New Special Pen and taking colorful notes that look super pretty
- not being able to shut up about your school projects (no your friends dont really care about the intricate details of what you’re working on, they don’t even have the same major as you, but they’re happy to hear you rant with such a burning passion)
- actually doing the extra reading and having your curiosity so piqued by what you’re reading that you go on and on and suddenly its 1am and what happened
- printing the project you’ve spent so much time and energy on and feeling the paper’s warmth
- actually submitting that project without feeling awful about it because you know you did your best and aren’t responsible for what happens next
- when you finally finish this Super Hard And Important Essay at like 3am, open the window and feel the cold night air on your burning cheeks and everything is dark and quiet and you can see the moon and you’re at peace with everything for a few minutes
- when this professor you admire says you did a great job and/or that you’re talented!!!!
- realizing two concepts that seemed so far away from each other and that you discovered in wildly different contexts are actually interlinked, then Realizing™ things and linking concepts/works/articles to each other at the speed of light & being super excited about it
- being so deeply immersed in your work that you didn’t realize two hours have passed
- finding the Perfect Spot at the library
- that Pure Joy moment when you FINALLY understand that super obscure sentence/text
- when you feel anxious because you’re not done with your homework & the deadline is super tight & your friend tells you they aren’t done yet either
- same but with an even more intense relief feeling when you realize you both haven’t even started yet
- when the professor starts a new reasoning and you can predict what the next idea/the final conclusion will be
- when the professor mention your favorite novel/author/fictional character in class and you feel like your internal screech of joy could shatter glass
- the Academic Salt™ that has you like 👀👀
- when the professor tears apart an author or scholar you hate and you’re like YES I WANT BLOOD GIVE ME BLOOD
- when you learn that Cool New Fact that makes you reconsider your whole life
- leaving the library after a long productive day and feeling like nothing is real but experiencing everything more intensely
- leaving the library at night after a long study session and everybody has left already and its just you and the long neon-lit corridors then stepping outside and smelling the crisp night wind
feel free to add your own!!!
- when you learned a thing that interessted you and two days later someone completly unrelated to your work will say “hey i wonder how this works?” and you’re so excited to explain it because you KNOW THAT
- when you’re anxious af for a class and the professor is actually super friendly and you feel confident enough to ask questions
- and suddently thank to this one professor EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE
- understanding that One Difficult Point and suddently you feel like you UNDERSTAND THE FABRIC OF THE UNIVERSE
- sometimes you can feel like you have too much in your bag but then one friend has a problem and they are pleasently surprised when you have Just The Right Thing
- Running half the campus because you’re so excited to see your friend and to eat with them !!!!!!!!
17.10.2019 | today marks the one hundreth anniversary of my uni’s french studies institute and to celebrate they gave us a longer weekend, so of course i had to make banana pancakes
hello ! i struggle with this sooooooo much like you have no idea! the ask polly i posted about “““laziness””” might help to suss out whether its fear-based avoidance. because i often feel it is that for me, when i try to do work or engage in “healthy daily habits” my heart is sometimes shivering and trembling. i’m scared of it
these are ideas that help me work through this:
- we learn and change the most when we feel calm, accepted, compassionate, relaxed. for this reason, it is counterproductive to rely on willpower alone (forcing ourselves against our natural impulses) to change and grow. understand and even allow for your procrastination, your sleepiness, your avoidance. make friends with them and speak to them gently!
- for this reason too, it is important to not only look forward to the future and everything we want to change, but look back at the past and feel grateful for everything you have already done! even if you have a longstanding habit of procrastination like myself, there is still some history of me doing my best to try to do good things for myself, implementing changes and directing my life. feeling grateful for myself makes it easier to connect with that future self in a loving way – what things can i do now, that i will feel warm and grateful about later?
- also re: future self, my friend showed me a future self journalling exercise that you can do to try to focus on building a kind of warm futurity, where it is about resolving to move towards possibilities, rather than feeling shame/pressure/anxiety. these were the prompts:
- my daily affirmation:
- today i will focus on shifting my pattern of:
- i am grateful for:
- three traits my future self will have:
- the person i am becoming will experience more:
- i have an opportunity to become my future self today when i:
- when i think about who i am becoming i feel:
- (these are from nicole lapera/the holistic psychologist! she does a lot of amazing work around reparenting and future self-journalling)
- building habits is not really a conscious process! which is another reason willpower only plays a small role, at the beginning, to change habits. what is important is that you somehow show yourself (from the very beginning!) that your habits are doing something, and that you build confidence slowly through not pushing yourself too much. example: if you were to learn piano, you would want to start with easier pieces that you genuinely enjoy, so you can feel the pleasure of completing something and the pleasure of the song. this pleasure would reinforce your want to keep learning and practicing, and you would begin to associate piano with that enjoyment, rather than with pressure.
- here’s a quick explanation of the cue-routine-reward cycle in building habits. it can also be easier to tack on new habits to old ones, which is why morning/evening routines can work really well
- when doing things we don’t enjoy, sometimes it helps to try to incorporate things into them that will make them pleasurable like listening to music or snacking. especially for tasks or chores you wouldn’t get a lot of intrinsic joy out of. for some reason i listen to blood orange when i want to get things done (i’m listening to angel’s pulse rn) and just from the habitual association, it snaps my brain open! i’m ready to work!
- lastly, “laziness” isnt real. people have reasons for being the way they are, and we are all doing our best in one way or another. this piece says it a lot better than i can. coming back to self-compassion and gentleness, it’s also important to uphold the value of rest, idleness, play, flexibility, slowness. learning to respect your own rhythms and limitations makes it easier to respect others too.
hope this helps XX
wholesome student life things that we should collectively start romancizing
- waking up and being genuinely thrilled to go to class because today is THAT CLASS you love so much you’d like it to never end
- coffee breaks with friends, chatting and joking about this particularly hard essay and the prof’s mannerism
- coffee breaks on your own, as you absent-mindedly watch the people around you, while thinking about what you’re working on
- finding this book you’ve been dying to read for so long, and borrowing it from the library
- the feeling of excitement that goes through you whenever you remember The Book is in your backpack
- understanding everything during demanding classes and being genuinely interested in the subject
- buying a New Special Pen and taking colorful notes that look super pretty
- not being able to shut up about your school projects (no your friends dont really care about the intricate details of what you’re working on, they don’t even have the same major as you, but they’re happy to hear you rant with such a burning passion)
- actually doing the extra reading and having your curiosity so piqued by what you’re reading that you go on and on and suddenly its 1am and what happened
- printing the project you’ve spent so much time and energy on and feeling the paper’s warmth
- actually submitting that project without feeling awful about it because you know you did your best and aren’t responsible for what happens next
- when you finally finish this Super Hard And Important Essay at like 3am, open the window and feel the cold night air on your burning cheeks and everything is dark and quiet and you can see the moon and you’re at peace with everything for a few minutes
- when this professor you admire says you did a great job and/or that you’re talented!!!!
- realizing two concepts that seemed so far away from each other and that you discovered in wildly different contexts are actually interlinked, then Realizing™ things and linking concepts/works/articles to each other at the speed of light & being super excited about it
- being so deeply immersed in your work that you didn’t realize two hours have passed
- finding the Perfect Spot at the library
- that Pure Joy moment when you FINALLY understand that super obscure sentence/text
- when you feel anxious because you’re not done with your homework & the deadline is super tight & your friend tells you they aren’t done yet either
- same but with an even more intense relief feeling when you realize you both haven’t even started yet
- when the professor starts a new reasoning and you can predict what the next idea/the final conclusion will be
- when the professor mention your favorite novel/author/fictional character in class and you feel like your internal screech of joy could shatter glass
- the Academic Salt™ that has you like 👀👀
- when the professor tears apart an author or scholar you hate and you’re like YES I WANT BLOOD GIVE ME BLOOD
- when you learn that Cool New Fact that makes you reconsider your whole life
- leaving the library after a long productive day and feeling like nothing is real but experiencing everything more intensely
- leaving the library at night after a long study session and everybody has left already and its just you and the long neon-lit corridors then stepping outside and smelling the crisp night wind
feel free to add your own!!!
- when you learned a thing that interessted you and two days later someone completly unrelated to your work will say “hey i wonder how this works?” and you’re so excited to explain it because you KNOW THAT
- when you’re anxious af for a class and the professor is actually super friendly and you feel confident enough to ask questions
- and suddently thank to this one professor EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE
- understanding that One Difficult Point and suddently you feel like you UNDERSTAND THE FABRIC OF THE UNIVERSE
- sometimes you can feel like you have too much in your bag but then one friend has a problem and they are pleasently surprised when you have Just The Right Thing
- Running half the campus because you’re so excited to see your friend and to eat with them !!!!!!!!
nothing fancy; kind of like my feb spread :)
sundays feeling like different dimensions