“Introduces human anatomy and physiology, including structural-functional relationships, scientific method, precise terminology, and related human conditions and diseases.”
SWCCD Catalog
Notes from the prof
This class is a 90-mile-an-hour, whirlwind tour of the human body — it’s quite a bit of material at a very fast pace. Because there are no prerequisites for the class, many students who enroll are not prepared for the amount of time and work required to do well. In my experience teaching this class, the withdrawal rate tends to be about 75-85%. And that’s generally true with other professors, too, so it’s not like I’m extra, extra tough. It’s just a difficult adjustment for many students in their first college-level science class.
That’s not to say students can’t do well. It just means you (as a student) need to really hit the ground running from the first day of class. And it’s a bit of a marathon with few breaks or slow parts. As with the upper division Human Anatomy class I teach, there are loads of resources available and I put in extra time outside of class to tutor and hold group study session in office hours to help you get through it.
Two other notes about this class: 1) Make sure it’s the right class for your major. If you’re planning to go into a nursing program, this is not the class you need. Check with a counselor before enrolling. 2) If you are planning to take this class to fulfill a “general education” breadth requirement, you might consider taking the Principles of Biology lecture and lab courses instead, which are a little less brutal than this one.
Student resources
Check out my YouTube playlists compiled just for A&P! The hardest stuff from class explained in the best videos I’ve found online. There are even some of my own recorded lectures from the Coronavirus “stay-at-home” campus closure.