I'm taking anatomy & physiology in the fall. What should I expect?

Question

What should I expect? I know it will be hard

I'm taking anatomy & physiology part one in the fall and anatomy & physiology in the spring.

What is the difference between the two?

What will part one deal with and what will part two deal with?

Answer 1

I'm sorry, but having done a similar course (I'm in Oz) it's going to be mega hard, take advantage of all lab sessions and tutorials/workshops, and if you can get extra study sessions with tutors or with other students, grab it with both hands.

Anat and phys part one will (probably) deal with the upper limb and trunk and basic physiology (eg: cells, how systems work together, maybe some cardio, when I took it we learnt about action potentials and impulses and how they work).  Part two will (probably) deal with the lower limb and the 'systems' (eg: gastrointestinal system, urinary system, circulatory system etc) and then advanced cells stuff (when I took it, we did some very basic neuroscience and the body's defence system - ie: learning about fever, the histamine reaction etc).  Keep in mind that your course might be different to mine.  Hope that's helpful!

Also, if you've done high school biology, you'll have a very basic understanding of everything before you get there, which is great - it gives you a slight head start (you cover what you would have learnt in high school biology in about a week) - don't panic if you haven't though, I didn't and I still did ok.

Answer 2

Anatomy will require a lot of memorization of three dimensional structures (the body) as well as two dimensional structures (the tissues).

Physiology deals with the functioning of these structures.  

The proportion of time spent learning these will be different for each structure.  For example, there are lots of nerves and muscles in the leg to memorize in anatomy.  In the physiology portion, you will study how the muscle contracts, but it will be the same for all of the leg muscles.  On the other hand, the anatomy of the liver is quite simple, but its physiology is quite complex.  The brain has both a complicated anatomy and an even more complicated physiology.

Nevertheless, enjoy the course.  It will help you understand your own body.

Answer 3

expect that this course will be a bit difficult..but if you really are a smart one then this will be as easy as eating peanuts...hehe

anatomy is all about the structures (e.g. cells, tissues, organs,organ systems)  and physiology is about the functions of these structures.. these two go together.

In anaphysio, you will be having some lab sessions...it's enjoyable...

Answer 4

Expect to do a lot of memorization.  There are so many terms to learn in A&P.  I suggest making your own dictionary - every time you experience a word you don't know in class or while reading, write it down and then later take the time to look up and write out (by hand) the definition and some examples.  Then, you'll have learned the new word and you'll have a reference handy if you need reminding.

Different schools break up A&P between I & II differently.  But, it's likely that you cover about half of the different body systems in I and the other half in II.  Like, perhaps you do skeletal, muscular, integument, nervous, respiratory in I and digestive, urinary, reproductive, endocrine, and circulatory in II.