I try to be positive most of the time. But, let me tell you…Week 14 is the absolute worst during third trimester! The good news is after this week, anatomy is done, since the written exam and the lab practical both happen during Week 14. However, that also means it is a very intense week of anatomy exams. I figured this would be a good time to talk about the awesome tutoring resources available to students. 

The tutoring services at National are phenomenal! To be a tutor for a course, the student must earn an A or B (usually a high A) in a course, and must also TA for a trimester (if TA’s are needed in the course such as with anatomy courses). Every week the school offers a free tutoring session with the tutor where you can ask questions or get clarification of a tough concept or topic. The tutoring sessions are not meant to be a second lecture. I find them very helpful. 

Students are also able to book private sessions with the tutor. These sessions are only $20, and I find them incredibly useful in reviewing before an exam. One of the biggest things I do in a private tutoring session is ask the tutor to quiz me. This helps me to make sure I am on track with my studying and am not overlooking anything of importance. I have found this to be the most useful in the anatomy lab, where ideally, I focus on a different cadaver during each session. This is helpful, because I usually know how to identify everything on the cadaver I dissect, but sometimes the anomalies or differences on other cadavers are difficult to identify.  Having a tutor quiz me through some of these differences helps show me where to focus my studying. 

Here is a picture of my entire anatomy group with our current anatomy tutor, Gianfranco Calafiore (the one in the middle and in the green scrubs). Gianfranco is about to graduate from the DC program and has been a tutor for this course for more than two years. He is an incredibly useful resource, as are many of the tutors. I highly recommend checking out the tutoring services for any course you may be struggling in.

 Photo from left to right: Jeff, Vad, Me (Lindy), Gianfranco, Kelsey, Mike, Miko

To show that we can still have some fun even when we are at our wits end, Jeff performs in a stand up comedy show at the Comedy Shrine in Aurora (go check it out…it is super fun and very affordable). Jane and I went and checked it out one night. Also, Vad bought a giant duck and named it Buck the Duck, in honor of Buck’s Fascia.

He declared Buck’s last name is Dartos after the Dartos muscle. You will understand the humor of that once you get to Viscera anatomy. Trust me, it had us all rolling on the floor!