Anatomy & Physiology B/C

[supersai12]

Hey guys,

I am trying to study for Anatomy and Physiology B/C for the NC state competition. For Regionals my partner and I touched many topics but did not go too deep into them. We got 1st place in an invitational tournament and 2nd place in the regional tournament . I just want to know what to study for the three systems for States. How deep should we go? We are trying to place top 3 in states.

Thanks

[hmath729]

Hey guys,

I am trying to study for Anatomy and Physiology B/C for the NC state competition. For Regionals my partner and I touched many topics but did not go too deep into them. We got 1st place in an invitational tournament and 2nd place in the regional tournament . I just want to know what to study for the three systems for States. How deep should we go? We are trying to place top 3 in states.

Thanks

Hi dude! First of all, I apologize in advance for the lack of help that I would be able to offer, since we have not done as well as you guys have! (still medaled, though) The rules are the rules, and they are a great starting point. I would recommend going into the section of bone fractures, how to classify such, etc. If I had to take a guess, State will meld topics from all three systems into one station/subsection... Check origin/insertion of muscles, how they work with skeletal, maybe even sensory receptors in skin as part of the action/reaction stuff... Good luck and happy studying!

[hmath729]

Yea, this event is very tough, in terms of the content you have to know. If you want to do well in this event, you have to not only memorize the stuff, but actually understand what/why it happens. For example, when you are exposed to UV light, why do you get tanner? (It's because your skin produces more melanin). Also, the training handouts are a good place to start studying from. They provide all of the basics for the event. Next, you should have an anatomy textbook. I bought my first one for $2 at a book sale, and it's been priceless to me ever since. Anyways, start taking notes in a notebook about the deeper subjects of the topic. For example, for bone composition, you should not only know what osteons and Haversian canals are, but also what launcae (think that's how you spell it :/) and Volkmann canals are and what their function is. So, hope you medal, and good luck!

I'm guessing that you meant lacunae? (gaps in bone matrix) Sorry to nitpick.

[sciolyFTW_aku]

I also find Wikipedia extremely useful for advanced integumentary system and specific muscular topics (muscle contractions especially).

Dude, for Nationals, my partner and I used Wikipedia so much...

[sciolyFTW_aku]

Yea, this event is very tough, in terms of the content you have to know. If you want to do well in this event, you have to not only memorize the stuff, but actually understand what/why it happens. For example, when you are exposed to UV light, why do you get tanner? (It's because your skin produces more melanin). Also, the training handouts are a good place to start studying from. They provide all of the basics for the event. Next, you should have an anatomy textbook. I bought my first one for $2 at a book sale, and it's been priceless to me ever since. Anyways, start taking notes in a notebook about the deeper subjects of the topic. For example, for bone composition, you should not only know what osteons and Haversian canals are, but also what launcae (think that's how you spell it :/) and Volkmann canals are and what their function is. So, hope you medal, and good luck!

I'm guessing that you meant lacunae? (gaps in bone matrix) Sorry to nitpick.

Sorry to double post, but yea, I meant lacunae. Sorry, my spelling sucks

[PianoDoc]

Speaking from experience, reading textbooks is the way to go. There are many resources online that provide plenty of valuable information. One such resource that I've found to be particularly useful is the OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology textbook. It is available for download for FREE, and it covers the basics of what you ought to know in relatively decent depth. Just google it and do some clicking. I recommend that you read at a relaxed pace, taking in as much as you can and constantly reviewing what you read to make sure that you really understand what you just read. Don't be afraid to google anything that you are confused about, especially anatomical images. Speaking of images, zygotebody.com and innerbody.com have great 3-D models that can really help you understand the anatomical portion of this event. Tests rarely go too in depth with physiology, but you can learn a lot of that stuff from textbook reading. I also recommend looking at the rules for this event to see what you ought to be focusing on as you read (although you should read everything in the textbook on the systems). For specific textbooks, Saladin and Tortora/Derrickson (and OpenStax) are good for basic information, while any flipbook/Google Images/anatomical atlas (Netter/Thieme) can teach you anatomy through constant and eclectic repetition. I've spent only about 100 hours so far this year in this event (and my partner has done about the same) and we've managed to get first at many big invitationals (MIT/WSU). Ultimately, it comes down to passion for this event. As boring as it may at first, you'll eventually start to develop interest for the vast network of intricacies that is the human body. And medalling is pretty awesome.

[sciolyFTW_aku]

Speaking from experience, reading textbooks is the way to go. There are many resources online that provide plenty of valuable information. One such resource that I've found to be particularly useful is the OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology textbook. It is available for download for FREE, and it covers the basics of what you ought to know in relatively decent depth. Just google it and do some clicking. I recommend that you read at a relaxed pace, taking in as much as you can and constantly reviewing what you read to make sure that you really understand what you just read. Don't be afraid to google anything that you are confused about, especially anatomical images. Speaking of images, zygotebody.com and innerbody.com have great 3-D models that can really help you understand the anatomical portion of this event. Tests rarely go too in depth with physiology, but you can learn a lot of that stuff from textbook reading. I also recommend looking at the rules for this event to see what you ought to be focusing on as you read (although you should read everything in the textbook on the systems). For specific textbooks, Saladin and Tortora/Derrickson (and OpenStax) are good for basic information, while any flipbook/Google Images/anatomical atlas (Netter/Thieme) can teach you anatomy through constant and eclectic repetition. I've spent only about 100 hours so far this year in this event (and my partner has done about the same) and we've managed to get first at many big invitationals (MIT/WSU). Ultimately, it comes down to passion for this event. As boring as it may at first, you'll eventually start to develop interest for the vast network of intricacies that is the human body. And medalling is pretty awesome.

Could you please tell us how were the tests for the invitationals you went to? We still haven't had regionals, and my Coach didn't want us to go to any invitationals, so right now I'm kinda blind on the difficulty of the tests... Thanks!

[Uber]

Could you please tell us how were the tests for the invitationals you went to? We still haven't had regionals, and my Coach didn't want us to go to any invitationals, so right now I'm kinda blind on the difficulty of the tests... Thanks!

Didn't do as well as pianodoc, but at MIT, the test was 330 questions long (297 multiple choice/short answer and 33 free response), but the free response was usually multi-part. The test was thorough, but not hard per se. For me, the hardest part was muscle labeling, because I often couldn't see the muscle origin and insertion. You won't finish unless both you and your partner are really familiar with the information. For state, however, I doubt the tests will be that long, and the average length at invitationals I've seen is around 100 questions, usually a multiple choice section with basic (for me) information and one page front and back of short free response.

[sciolyFTW_aku]

Could you please tell us how were the tests for the invitationals you went to? We still haven't had regionals, and my Coach didn't want us to go to any invitationals, so right now I'm kinda blind on the difficulty of the tests... Thanks!

Didn't do as well as pianodoc, but at MIT, the test was 330 questions long (297 multiple choice/short answer and 33 free response), but the free response was usually multi-part. The test was thorough, but not hard per se. For me, the hardest part was muscle labeling, because I often couldn't see the muscle origin and insertion. You won't finish unless both you and your partner are really familiar with the information. For state, however, I doubt the tests will be that long, and the average length at invitationals I've seen is around 100 questions, usually a multiple choice section with basic (for me) information and one page front and back of short free response.

Thanks! I think my partner and I will be able to tackle about 350-400 questions in 1 hour if they let us split up the test

[PianoDoc]

Could you please tell us how were the tests for the invitationals you went to? We still haven't had regionals, and my Coach didn't want us to go to any invitationals, so right now I'm kinda blind on the difficulty of the tests... Thanks!

Didn't do as well as pianodoc, but at MIT, the test was 330 questions long (297 multiple choice/short answer and 33 free response), but the free response was usually multi-part. The test was thorough, but not hard per se. For me, the hardest part was muscle labeling, because I often couldn't see the muscle origin and insertion. You won't finish unless both you and your partner are really familiar with the information. For state, however, I doubt the tests will be that long, and the average length at invitationals I've seen is around 100 questions, usually a multiple choice section with basic (for me) information and one page front and back of short free response.

Thanks! I think my partner and I will be able to tackle about 350-400 questions in 1 hour if they let us split up the test

MIT's test this year was rather similar to that of last year, at least in terms of format (you can find last year's test on their website). The test was easy but very lengthy, and my partner and I barely managed to finish in time. The test was split into 3 sections, with each system being one section. They basically covered everything on the event rules, with none of the questions really going too much in depth. The muscular system section had soooo many labeling questions. I spent at least a solid 25 minutes just labeling as fast as I could, thinking all the while that the winner would be whoever could write faster lol.

Wright State's test was very very short. The majority of the questions were very easy, but about 15% of them were obscure and difficult. My partner and I had to make lots of educated guesses, and for one of the free response questions we basically brainstormed for 15 minutes what to put down.

Solon and Mentor invites this year had tests written by some lady. Those were very short, with like 15-20 questions per system and a 4 station thing with teams being called up. Those were both really easy, and the differences between top teams were minute.

Kenston had an intense station rotation. There were about 10-20 questions (occasional labeling with pictures or models) per station. I think there were 15 stations total, with 3 minutes per. That test had a great mix of question difficulty.

Sylvania Northview had a 200 long question test, consisting mostly of multiple choice and a few extended response. The test was kind of meh since a lot of questions were really ambiguous in terms of what they were asking for.

Overall, however, most of what you needed to know was basic/medium information from textbooks. There is rarely much information about diseases/conditions, and most of what is asked about is outlined in the rules.

Best of luck at whichever competitions you guys have coming up.