How to study for Medial School Anatomy

Anatomy requires not only understanding of the different structures of the body but also how each structure informs its overall purpose. For many students, anatomy can be one of the more difficult courses in medical school as spatial awareness is needed in addition to understanding what each structure does. 

Overview and Goals when studying for Anatomy 

Many questions on your tests may be simple 1 to 1 questions, as in the question will directly ask you what the blood supply or nervous supply for a muscle is. However, questions, for the most part, will be much more nuanced and will test your understanding in how structures relate to each other (for example, if you were to cut a few inches above the inguinal ligament, between which muscles would you find the inferior epigastric vessels?). The primary goal, therefore, should be to develop conceptional and spatial understanding of where things go and what they do as well aswhat happens when those things get cut or go wrong. 

Steps to studying Anatomy (in order)

Read through the lecture notes/lecture slides. Compare with reliable review texts and textbooks.

Write a few Anki flashcards on anything that requires rote memorization

Take a sheet of blank paper

...and draw out the relevant blood vessels/nerves for that section and their relationship to each other/the muscles around them. These were not good drawings by any means, as you can see in the pictures below, but they got the job done in figuring out relationships. I would also pencil in any details from the lecture notes that I thought would were relevant that I didn't make a flashcard on. 

For anatomy practicals

Schedule some time for about 2-3 days prior to the test, go in with a friend, and quiz yourselves over the list

What do I need to know for Anatomy?

For muscles

1. Know the innervation of each muscle

2. Know the primary blood supply for each muscle

3. Knowing the origin and insertion of muscles is helpful. However, it is not as critical as the above two. The majority of simple anatomy questions will relate to a muscle's innervation or blood supply. That being said, know, generally, where muscles are in relation to each other. 

For blood vessels

1. Know where that particular blood vessel stems from (for example, the superior thyroid artery comes off of the external carotid which comes off of the common carotid which comes off the aortic arch)

2. If that blood vessel comes from a trunk, know what the other blood vessels are that come from that same trunk (for example, the inferior thyroid artery comes off of the thyrocervical trunk which also is the root of the transverse cervical, the suprascapular, and the ascending cervical artery. The thyrocervical trunk is a branch off of the subclavian.

3. Know generally where they run, especially if it's pointed out often in class (the carotid sheath has the common carotid, the internal jugular, and the vagus nerve)

For nerves

1. Know what that nerve primarily innervates (as in the muscle section). Understand what would happen to the muscle if that nerve was cut

2. Know where that nerve came from. This is especially important for the brachial plexus, the branches of the facial nerve/branches of the trigeminal nerve, and the nerves of the pelvis)

Know the different fascial/body layers

For the abdomen, know the different layers and how those layers move as you go up or down the abdomen (how the different fascial layers move in relation to the rectus abdominus muscles, know how the different layers of your abdomen relate for direct and indirect hernias)

Know how structures relate to one another

For example, the phrenic runs on top of the anterior scalene). You'll get a sense, both in practice questions as well as in lecture, which relationships are important and which ones are not. I realize that this is a total copout but it's true.