Double Fisting Science Classes

(lol i hope the title made you smile)

My fourth semester, the last one before I applied to the nursing program. Two science classes to take on, anatomy and physiology. And to add to the chaos, the TEAS test (we’ll talk about that next).

I had a lot of anxiety going into my fourth semester. Two science classes meant double the stress, the time studying, and the likelihood of failing both classes. No breaks. From chem to microbio during the summer, and now two science classes. The hustle was real ya’ll.

I started studying for anatomy before class even started because I had a quiz on the first day. Already keeping me on my toes. At first, I was having trouble because the terms were so foreign to me and I couldn’t picture it so I didn’t understand it. The amount of information we had to retain was insane. We had labs every week with 3 practicums, 7 pop quizzes so we were always studying the slides, and 4 big exams. Scary right? That was just anatomy. I had physio too. More labs, quizzes, and exams. It was nonstop and I had no idea how I was gonna do it, but I did.

The biggest bulk of my stress from fourth semester stemmed from anatomy.  The class I took was essentially all memorizing. Still, it was the best class and probably my favorite. What was great about anatomy was that it was very visual, and hands on. Labs were really interesting, especially with the cadavers. I had a great SI instructor and she did a great job helping us find catchy ways to memorize different parts. I used a lot of flashcards, drew a lot, went to lab office hours, and read the slides over and over again to the point I could picture it in my head and read it verbatim. Understanding the millions of names of body parts. Every strand of muscle, every nook and cranny of a bone, and each curve and turn of an artery and vein had a name. 

There was also physio to think about, but honestly, physio wasn’t that bad. Luckily, I had a really great professor and he made the class simple enough to understand and memorize. I didn’t take the SI for this class because I heard it wasn’t as necessary compared to the other classes, especially with the professor I had. But I still had to get an A in the class so there was still a good amount of studying and stress involved. In my opinion, anatomy was a much tougher class compared to physio.

I excelled in anatomy because I found out I was amazing at memorizing. My professor also had some extra credit questions during her exams and practicums that I used to my advantage. By the time finals hit, my grade was so high that it was calculated that if I didn’t take the final I still would’ve had an A. Sorry, tooting my own horn here. Toot. Take all the extra credit you can get to give yourself wiggle room when it’s time for finals. I still have all my homework, lab reports, and notes from that class, like a mini trophy of my hard work and endurance.

I would say that anatomy and physio are the best classes to double up on, they’re completely doable together. Anatomy is the study of the human body parts and physio is the study of how those human body parts functioned. They go hand in hand and are repetitive. I remember learning the eye like three times. Lol. You can literally study for anatomy while studying for physio. I had really great professors for anatomy and physio and they both made the class interesting while being educational. Both were exhausting classes, but really fun. 

A fellow reader asked me for some advice on how to help her deal with two sciences and I remembered doing credit/no credit classes (CR/NC). What are credit/no credit classes? Well let me tell you how much of a blessing and a hack it is. You can turn your GEs into CR/NC classes and it helped me focus on my science classes. Doing this is super helpful to just “not care” as much for those classes, literally just doing the bare minimum, but there are limitations to it. For undergrads, you can do up to 24 units, with 12 upper-division units, and can only do 8 units per semester. Choose your GEs wisely, but it’s super simple to do. All you need to do is register into the class and submit a ‘grade option change request’ form, which needs approval from your major advisor. I wish you can do CR/NC to microbio, but if the college requires the classes you can’t do it. Sad face. What’s great is that this will not affect your GPA and all you need is a “C'“ or higher to get the credit. I did this for two GE’s while taking my sciences and it definitely helped me get my A’s. I’ll place the link on more info how to do it here!

I would have never thought that I would do as well in anatomy as I did. I was absolutely surprised. I had some doubt in the beginning of the semester, but the amount of stress I was under actually pushed me. Some stress is good, but too much can be draining. It’s all about balance.

You may have no idea what you’re getting yourself into but you may surprise yourself. Find what your weaknesses are so that you can work on them and use your strengths to push yourself forward and help others. You’ll see how far you’ll go and how much you can push yourself for greatness. Don’t doubt yourself!

<3 Mags

thank you em!