Students who are looking to enter the healthcare field to become holistic or sports massage therapists, beauty therapists, reflexologists or estheticians will need to study anatomy and physiology as a prerequisite to their course. In order words, it is essential to carry out this course before you can qualify in these areas. You need to have an understanding of how the human body works, the names and functions of muscles and bones, the functions of each organ, hormone and gland, the relationship between each body system plus much more. The amount of work involved, coupled with the difficult technical terms, makes this subject challenging to say the least.
The anatomy and physiology syllabus is generally broken down into 12 systems including the skin, cells, skeletal, muscular, endocrine, cardiovascular, lymphatic, nervous, reproductive, digestive, repiratory and urinary systems. When you are revising for your exams, it is important to take each system and learn it separately, this will avoid any confusion between systems. Always have a good study guide, one that contains a large amount of relevant sample questions, quizzes and puzzles. A structured revision plan is also vital as it ensures that you remain focused throughout your studies.
Once you have all of these, then you can start to fully prepare for your exams.I have been teaching anatomy and physiology for several years now and as a result, have developed a study plan that has resulted in the best results possible for students. I would recommend students to follow this plan as much as they can as it will increase your knowledge in a very short time.
First of all, before you start any revision, you need to have a good written plan in place. This will consist of the subject area to be covered, for example, the components of a cell, the date you are going to start studying this area and the date you will finish. Using an excel spreadsheet would be ideal for this. Once it is typed up, print it off and make sure you have it in a place that you will always be able to see it, for example, on the wall over your desk.
When you start studying an area, take a bundle, about 20 or 25, of multiple choice questions from your revision guide. I would recommend using multiple choice questions as this is the format that most examining bodies use for their exam papers. These type of questions are great to study with as there is no room for error with them, you have to choose the correct answer. Write them out on an index card and carry them with you at all times. This means that you can take them out when you have any spare time throughout your day and learn them. At the end of that day, go over the questions and test yourself on what you have learned. If there are some questions that you are still unsure of, add these to your next bundle the following day and continue learning them.
If you repeat these for 5 days, you will have learned approximately 100 questions. That is an amazing achievement and one that will definitely give you the confidence you need to pass your anatomy and physiology exams. Repeat this system as often as you can. I know it might sound simple but I cannot stress how effective it can be. Imagine after one month of studying from Monday to Friday each week, you will be able to answer 400 multiple choice questions!