Study Anatomy 101

What is Anatomy?

Anatomy is the sum of all your parts. It’s the body you call home. Most of us don’t give a moment’s thought about our hands, or feet, or any part of the body but they are so much more complex than the eyes can see. For instance, the surface area of a human lung is equivalent to a tennis court. Also, did you know that your stomach lining blushes when your face does? These are some of the many topics discussed in anatomy – the study of the collection of all the wonderful and weird body systems working together to function properly.

Anatomy graduates can choose from a wide range of careers. If you want to know where your heart beats or how many bones you have, read about anatomy. If you are wondering how many gallons of saliva your body produces in a lifetime, study anatomy. Keep in mind, every time you blink, or you sniff air, or take a step, anatomy is present.

Discoveries made by anatomists provide fundamental information to an understanding of every living organism’s system, as it is integrated to other disciplines such as Physics, Chemistry, Zoology, and of course – Physiology. While students of anatomy learn about the structure and the relationship between body parts, those who study Physiology learn about the functions of all those parts. Together, anatomy and physiology exist to unravel the mysteries behind the structure of living species, how body organs work, and the great secrets of living.

Careers in Anatomy

Anatomy opens up many career options in the science and healthcare field. Jobs that are related to anatomy include Anatomist (of course!), as well as Anthropologists, Biomedical Engineers, Physicians, Nurses, Microbiologist, Health Promotion Researcher, Pathology Technician, Toxicologist, Veterinarian, Archaeologists, and Paleontologists to name the most common ones.

Learning Anatomy

Without a doubt, studying anatomy is a pain in the ischial tuberosity. Why? Because there exist an overwhelming number of names, spellings, and medical jargons to memorize in order to make it through the study of anatomy. Aside from a lot of memorization, one needs to understand the foundational overview, or background study, as well as real-life connection to be successful in the process of learning. Also, the use of other supplementary tools such as online crash courses or reviews, are necessary to assist with the learning process in retaining the intricate details of anatomy as efficiently as possible.

Anatomy courses may vary slightly, but in essence, most study sessions involve an understanding of the anatomical root words and their derivation from their classical origins to help fix their spelling and give a hint on their meanings. You may also benefit from reading about physiology to support explanations of anatomical positions.

Your target is to learn different concepts and techniques while swimming in a sea of unfamiliar terms which, whether you like it or not, must be mastered to be successful in the field! Brainscape is one of the most beneficial supplementary tools to achieve this goal.

Anatomy in Brainscape

Brainscape's web and mobile study platform will introduce you to thousands of study cards, decks, and classes for anatomy -- beginning with the top study guide for anatomy below. These study tools (Brainscape-certified subjects) are authored by top experts at our partner organizations to help you gain admission to a medical school or be an expert in the field. Some study notecards are created by students mastering in a variety of programs (perhaps someone like you) to help you choose a career path!

Aside from that, with Brainscape, you can also create your personal study tools like smart flashcards or study decks! Authoring your own will be yet another technique to master anatomy or other challenging subjects in the academe.

Learn Faster in Brainscape

One of the many benefits of using Brainscape is the unique application of a study technique called Confidence-Based Repetition (CBR). CBR uses cognitive science to optimize learning through ‘spaced repetition’ – allocating appropriate study time to maximize your brain’s potential in a given fixed amount of study time.

Each time you see a study notecard (a.k.a. flashcard), the system enquires how well you knew the answer, on a scale of 1-5. Based on your response about your confidence rating, Brainscape determines how frequent the card appears (with 1s coming up repeatedly and 5s hardly ever) until you give a report of a higher rating.

Brainscape's study technology helps you curate your own stream of learning on a constant, ongoing basis. Aside from Spaced Repetition, this system makes use of other major cognitive science techniques: Metacognition and Active Recall.

With Metacognition, you are forced (in a good way) to reflect upon how well you understand the concept in order to deepen a memory trace. Researchers show that Brainscape's accuracy of assessing your knowledge strength can even improve over time.

The process of Active Recall means "actively" retrieving the correct answer in mind, in contrast to simply "identifying" the correct answer amongst a series of multiple choice options. This principle of retrieval effort boosts the connections between neurons, and practices you to be able to remember things longer, even outside of class, in the real world.

Thousands of research in the last few decades proved the efficacy and success of Active Recall, Metacognition, and Spaced Repetition, but not one person has applied these learning principles as effectively as Brainscape does.

So, why not maximize your learning potential? Start with Brainscape today!

How to Get Started

Whether you plan to create your own study flashcards or not, the best possible way to enjoy the benefits of this amazing platform – Brainscape, is to try browsing some of the classes identified below. You may dig deeper into any of the classes prioritized for anatomy below to see how the anatomy classes are structured into decks.  You may also check the preview of the decks in each class to determine if they may be able to assist you for what you are looking to learn.  Once you have selected one or more classes that may fit your needs, jump in, and use those flashcards!

Brainscape hopes the very best with your study of anatomy and other perplexing subjects you may be facing.  And, for our last suggestion -- don’t forget to enjoy!