Question:
I'm feeling a little flustered with 110, and I was wondering if you could help somehow. This first week is all about the skeleton, and its pretty overwhelming. There are so many terms and locations, projections and things. And so much information from the slides, video lectures, and textbook. I'm just not really sure how to figure this all out. This is stressing me out, and I don't want to start panicking already in the first week of school.
Response 1:
Hey, I know anatomy itself can be extremely overwhelming. The good thing is that it’s by far the heaviest course you take in first year. So if you feel like you are dedicating A LOT of time to anatomy, that’s okay, that’s actually fully expected. Coming into pharmacy school I hadn’t taken anatomy yet, and I too was shocked to see the sheer volume of things to memorize. I think what strategy worked for me was to go through all the slides and get the main picture the first time around. Don’t try to memorize it all in one session. After the first time, go through the same slide decks in the next few days focusing on learning it more in-depth. This time you would have seen all the content before so it’s not as overwhelming. In addition, I do encourage creating a discord and doing some group studying. Just you and some new phriends going over the content together. Asking each other questions, and just being with someone can make it a lot more doable. In that same light, divvying up the slide contents with friends and each of you creating notes for separate topics can be a good way to fast track your note-taking instead of doing all of it by yourself. I hope that helps, and keep your chin-up, what you’re feeling is normal, and it’s probably not just you.
Response 2:
I felt the same way when I was starting 110 (and pharmacy school in general), as did many of my classmates, so know that you are not alone. When I get overwhelmed, I find it helpful to take a step back and breathe deeply until I find that my mind has cleared. Once I am feeling more centered, I like to come up with a game plan. There is a lot of content to work through, so I would break it down into smaller steps. For example, I would make a checklist including each lecture we had to watch that week, and then schedule each individual lecture into my week. Try to space out your learning over the week to give yourself time to process the information instead of trying to watch many lectures in one day.
To help prioritize your time, think about how you like to learn. Regardless of your learning style, I would highly recommend at the very minimum reading through the lecture slides because this is what is heavily tested. If you find you learn best by listening to somebody explain the material, then I would suggest watching the lecture videos. If you learn best by reading about a topic, then read the recommended textbook readings. The material in the lecture videos and textbook does tend to overlap quite a bit, so only doing one of the two is generally sufficient. Our professor did include a few questions on each midterm/final that were exclusive to the textbook readings, but for me the hours of textbook readings for one or two more marks on the exams weren’t worth it because reading from the textbook is not how I learn best.
One resource I found really helpful for learning the anatomy portions of the course was AnatomyTV, which can be accessed through the library. I didn’t learn about this resource until well into first year and I wish someone had told me about it sooner. It allows you to explore all the various body structures and systems in 3D from different perspectives. I found the search feature especially helpful because some of the smaller structures can be tricky to find!
Pharmacy school is hard enough without factoring in learning online, so I really feel for your cohort. In general, but especially in the current situation, prioritizing your wellbeing is essential. Take study breaks, partake in your favourite hobbies, get involved in extracurricular activities, and take care of yourself. If you ever want to chat, our team of peer mentors is here to help!
Response 3:
Don’t worry you are not alone. I had never taken an anatomy course before I got to pharmacy school and I remember the panic of realizing we were spending only 2 lectures to learn the entire skeleton. You are not alone!
My advice to you has 2 parts, the first part is similar to the answer above, figure out how you learn. There are lots of online tests to determine your “learning style”. If you are an auditory learner listen to the lectures multiple times & talk through the material out loud! If you are visual you may need to write out notes, test yourself by labelling a skeleton a few times or draw on a whiteboard. But take time to figure out your learning style and cater how you study to how you learn.
Second, don't hesitate to make group chats and discuss topics with friends. I know this might feel tricky or weird because you are starting fully online but reach out to people from your phrosh group & see if anyone wants to have a zoom study session where you talk through the material or quiz each other. Chances are there are lots of people feeling the same way you are so there is no reason to stress about it alone!
& Finally we are always here to help, there are lots of peer mentors who can chat with you further & there are many supports you can access through faculty. If you need more support check out the resources linked in our bio on Instagram or send us a private message!
Helpful Anatomy Resource:
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