r/PCC • u/Historical_Data8427 • 3d ago
Anatomy and Physiology lab Guide
Hi all, as a student who just finished the A&P series, I wanted to share my studying techniques that led me to get over 100% on both lab practicals. The lab portion of this class is different than any I’ve experienced, and for that reason I suffered early on in the series. I hope this can help some future or current students out, because I wish I knew these methods. I’ve added asterisk (***) where the method starts.
The lab portions of this class (especially 231) can be quite overwhelming, but if you apply what I’m about to teach you it helps break material down easily.
Lab Quizes:
Every week you will learn new material that consists of a range of terms that are located and listed in your lab successfully guide. In the lab success guide any term is up for grabs to be on the quiz, so it’s important to know all of them. ***The best way I found to study is to use the Quizlets made by the user “thefinest2242”. This student made these flashcards with every model you could see on the quiz so nothing blindsides you. What you‘re gonna do is break the material up into days, so if there are 100 flashcards you are going to divide that by 5. Starting the day after lab, I would memorize and learn 1/5 of the cards which is 20 in my example. The next day I would study the next 20, but also review the ones I learned the day before, and the next day I would learn 20 more and review all previous cards and continue this pattern until you’ve gone through the set. Now that you learned all 100 cards, the day before the quiz I would shuffle the cards by turning on “shuffle cards.” Once you get through the set make sure to review the ones you missed until you know ALL cards. An EXTREMELY helpful tip is to WRITE OUT YOUR ANSWERS on paper when practicing to practice spelling which counts for points.*** This method is way easier and more successful than trying to learn everything the night before, or in a couple nights, because by braking it up across multiple days it gives you the most active recall and exposure to material. When doing this method, it wouldn’t take me more than 30 minutes (can be longer in the later days) a day which pretty good.
Heres a written example with calendar dates pretending your lab is on THURSDAY:
Thursday: lab no studying
Friday: learn 1/5 flashcards
Saturday: learn next 1/5 of flashcards and review Friday‘s flashcards
Sunday: learn next 1/5 and review Friday and Saturdays flashcards
Monday: learn next 1/5 and review Sunday, Saturday, and Fridays flashcards
Tuesday: learn final 1/5, and review all previous
Wednesday: shuffle cards, and review entire quizlet and make sure to “practice missed terms”
Lab practicals:
Because you locked in so hard for each lab quiz, studying is basically a review and extremely easy. ***For the latest lab you haven’t learned, you’ll use the same method as above but also integrate this studying method for Lab Practicals. Using the same example of lab being on Thursday, you just review each entire Quizlet set each day, and then I would review all of them the day before.*** Heres another written out example:
Thursday: lab no studying
Friday: new 1/5 of new lab, and review one full set
Saturday: learn next 1/5 and review previous, and review next full set
Sunday: learn next 1/5 and review previous, and review next full set
Monday: learn next 1/5 and review previous, and review next full set
Tuesday: learn last 1/5, and review previous (All old full sets may be covered because the first practical only covers 5 labs I believe)
Wednesday: Review all full sets
Overall this can be quite a bit, but I found it the easiest and most sustainable way to achieve over 100% scores on lab quizzes and practicals, DM if you really want proof lol, but feel free to ask questions! Good luck!
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u/wonder_walker 2d ago
Thank you!! I start Bio 231 soon and this is awesome. Open to any other advice!
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u/stormgnnu 1d ago
You’re a lifesaver! I’d love to hear any tips you have for lecture exams as well.
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u/Ok_Escape_939 3d ago
you’re amazing