Anatomy, Histology, Embryology IV

It is very easy to forget about this subject during the semester, there are no histology lab lessons, 1 dissection and 1 45min lecture per week. It is also very tempting to miss these when you have to study for physio or biochem and more so because there is nothing new to learn. When the finals arrive, you will realise very quickly just how much material there is to get through, This really is a 4 topic course, anatomy, histology, embryology and cell biology and you are expected to know everything.

How to pass
Make sure you can say one or two sentences about every topic even if it is basic, knowing nothing about any single topic can lead to an instant fail.

If you have the Netter Anatomy Cards make sure you can identify every structure on every card, it may not be enough but it will give you a good base.

Don't focus on anatomy alone, it is only a part of the exam.

The lectures are generally useless but the histology ones can be of help.

Do the midterm exam at the earliest opportunity, best to get it out of the way early when the semester is still quiet.

Ask your teacher for guidance on what would be a good aim for you dissection, review it with your teacher frequently

When presenting your dissection talk a bit about the anatomy, embryology and histology.

Try to read up on the topics of the next dissection and use them for revision, its generally too fast to memorise during the class.

The 1st semester of histology should not be studied too hard, it is generally too basic to be asked questions about in the exam and is included in the material of the 2nd and 3rd semester.

If there are a list of layers, learn them e.g. tooth, hair, vessels, GI tract, cerebellum, cortex, retina, cornea etc.

Embryology can be asked at anytime during the exam, learn from which layer every structure in the body comes from.

Never mix up cilia and villi.

The electron microscope pictures from the 1st semester will return, they are all on the website, look through them and make sure you can identify everything.

Read through the bell biology topics from the 1st semester, you will have questions about it, this part was overlooked by many people.

I would not recommend writing anything down in the oral exams when given the opportunity, some teachers will read through your notes and will mark you down if they find anything wrong. They may not ask you everything you think you know so just talking will reduce the chances of you getting something wrong.

The exams
1 midterm:
 * Dissection of a body part over 2 weeks
 * Oral presentation of dissection with questions

Final:
 * 3 parts:
 * Anatomy:
 * Oral Exam
 * 3 -5 areas from anything in the last 2 years
 * Histology:
 * Oral exam:
 * 3 slides, identification and theory
 * 1 electron microscope image, identification and theory
 * 2 cell biology questions
 * Written exam:
 * 2 parts
 * Embryology questions, diagram labelling

Questions on anything from the last 2 years

All must be passed with more than 50% or a 2

Failure at any point in the anatomy or histology will result in retaking the entire test

Failure at the written test will result in the retake of just the written test if there is an average of 4 in the oral tests, else the entire test will have to be retaken

The difficulties
The dissection body part can be terrible or not preserved well enough, just have to do your best

The written exam is especially difficult, any topic can be asked and it is difficult to prepare for specifically.

The testing styles of the teachers are varied, some will ask for superficial knowledge of many areas, some will go into detail in only a few

The amount of material to memorise is enormous

Trying to memorise the same things for the 3rd or 4th time is very depressing

It is easy to forget about this subject during the semester and it will be very difficult to study everything in the exam period

Depending on the number of student taking the exam, it can last from 2 - 8 hours

Conclusion
If ever there was an exam where luck can play a big role, this is it. You could get topics and slides you know well with the nicer teachers... or not. All I can say it try to memorise as much as possible, most people will not be able to recount everything but try to say something, especially if it is unique about that particular topic. I found that only answering the questions asked helped me, you do not want to remind the examiner of anything or say something wrong that you were not asked about.