The laboratory components of each comprehensive exam will be machine graded as soon as possible after completion of the exam. This means that all of your answers will have to be marked in pencil on machine grading forms (where you blacken a, b, c, d, or e). We provide answer sheets for all exams.
Human Anatomy will be assigned a two-hour and fourty minute lab exam period for each exam. Because of the limited amount of space in the lab, the laboratory portions of the exam are taken in shifts. Here's how it works: You will be assigned to one of four groups.
You will rotate through the laboratory exams according to the following
schedule:
|
Exam 1 |
Exam 2 |
Exam 3 |
|
|
October 7, 1996 |
November 11, 1996 |
December 18, 1996 |
|
|
Time |
|||
|
2:00 |
Group 1 |
Group 2 |
Group 3 |
|
2:40 |
Group 2 |
Group 4 |
Group 4 |
|
3:20 |
Group 3 |
Group 1 |
Group 2 |
|
4:00 |
Group 4 |
Group 3 |
Group 1 |
Generally the only acceptable reason for not taking an exam at the scheduled
time will be a death - your own. Seriously, it takes an enormous amount
of time on the part of the faculty to set up the laboratory part of the
exam. It is almost impossible to create a fair make-up test for a student
who misses the regularly scheduled exam. You will not be excused from the
exam except for reasons of serious (verifiable) illness, and this must
be cleared with both the Dr. Shulman's office and the Course Director (Dr.
English).
Students should assemble in the 3rd floor hall outside the elevator (in
the Anatomy building) prior to the beginning of their assigned exam period.
You must wear a lab coat. Gloves are not necessary as you will not
be touching any cadaver materials.
An instructor will meet you in the hall, remind you of the rules and strategies
for taking the exam and tell you when you can go down to the labs. When
you go down to the labs, you should spread out among the 28 or 29 stations
that have been set up (this includes rest stops). The attached map will
show you where the stations will be. Pick up an answer sheet and a pencil
at your first station. You will carry these with you throughout the exam.
(Instructors will provide you with replacement pencils as needed.) Mark
your name, the course name, etc. on the answer sheet. We also suggest that
you place a small mark on the answer sheet next to the question you are
starting at, so you will not lose track of where you are. (Remember to
erase this at the end of the exam so the machine will not read it.)
When everyone has gotten to their first station and had time to fill in
their name on their answer sheet, the instructor will start timing the
exam. You will have 55 seconds at each station. This is the maximum amount
of time we can give you and still get the whole group of students through
in the allotted time.
You will have to answer only one question at each station (except of course
at rest stops). This question will be printed on a file card placed on
a tray or counter next to the station. The instructors will endeavor in
every case to make sure that the structures tagged are clear, classic examples,
that they are displayed (as much as is practical) from beginning to end,
and that there are as many relevant cues as possible to orient you to the
dissection. You will be given practice laboratory type questions during
the in-class review sessions (October 3, November 17) so that you will
know what to expect. Here are examples of typical questions that might
appear at one station:
The tagged structure is the left phrenic nerve. It is clearly displayed
on its course through the thorax and you can follow it all the way to the
diaphragm.
Q1. The cell bodies of origin of this nerve are located:
a. in the paravertebral ganglia at cervical levels
b. in the paravertebral ganglia at thoracic levels
c. in the prevertebral ganglia
d. at spinal cord levels C3, C4, C5
e. in the brain stem
OR
Q2. The axons in this nerve are mainly
a. preganglionic parasympathetic, destined to innervate structures in the
gut
b. preganglionic parasympathetic, destined to innervate pacemaker cells
in the heart
c. postganglionic sympathetic, destined to innervate pacemaker cells in
the heart
d. sensory to the pericardium
e. somatic motor fibers which supply the diaphragm Answers: Q1. d
Q2. e
Notice we did not ask you what the structure is. (Although some questions
will be more straightforward identification questions.) We assume that
you know this is the phrenic nerve and now we want to know what you know
about this nerve. Both questions probably relate best to objective 8 on
Heart and Mediastinum, but knowledge of objective 5 on Thoracic Wall, Pleura
and Lungs and objective 5 on Heart and Mediastinum would also help you
to eliminate some of the incorrect answers.
For Q1 OR 2, if you knew that the tagged structure was the phrenic nerve
and you know that the phrenic nerve originates from C3, C4 and C5 and supplies
motor innervation to the diaphragm you probably found the answers relatively
straightforward.
You might have thought that this was the vagus nerve - if so, you could
have chosen answer e for Q1 or a or b for Q2. However, course objective
5 requires that you know the course of the vagus nerve in the posterior
mediastinum, and if you know that, you will realize that the vagus nerves
pass through a hiatus in the diaphragm entwined around the esophagus. The
tagged nerve seems to run right to the middle of the diaphragm. Therefore,
it cannot be the vagus.
Since we will have made every effort to clearly tag structures, there will
be no need to touch or move anything. Indeed, it is an ironclad rule that
in taking the laboratory exam YOU MAY NOT TOUCH OR MOVE TAGS, TAGGED STRUCTURES,
OR ANY PART OF THE CADAVER OR SKELETAL MATERIAL. This ensures that all
students taking the exam will have the same opportunity to see the same
material displayed in the same way and eliminates the possibility of tags
being moved or structures being torn.
If you look at the attached map you will see that there are going to
be 19 stations at dissected cadavers. These may be 19 questions relating
to structures tagged on your cadavers, but it is likely that some cadaver
stations may have skeletal structures tagged or structures tagged on isolated
organs (e.g. the heart). There are six stations in front of x-ray viewing
boxes. Therefore, 6 questions will relate to interpretation of radiographs.
Summary:
18 questions on cadaver dissections, skeletal materials, or isolated organs
6 questions on radiographs
25 questions total At the end of the exam: After you have answered your
last question you will be given an additional 55 seconds to look over your
answer sheet, review your answers, and erase any extraneous marks you have
made on your answer sheet. (Remember, a machine is going to grade this.)
There is no penalty for guessing, so you may want to take this opportunity
to fill in any questions you have left blank.
At the conclusion of this period, please turn in your answer sheet to an
instructor.
In case you're worried about the machine grading, please be assured
that in cases where a large number of students get a question wrong, we
recheck the answer to that question and if necessary regrade the question
by hand and make appropriate adjustments in scores.
Also, if you are afraid you can not remember all this, do not worry. Almost
everything will be repeated to you at the time of the exam. All you have
to do is make sure you get yourself to the right place at the right time.
Although we do not return your answer sheets to you, you may review
your exam (if you so desire) in Dr. English's office or in the office of
one of the other instructors by prior arrangement.
A key to the correct answers on the exam will be posted (with the designated
objective of each question) as soon as possible after the exam. A copy
of the key to each exam will also be available in the emoryCLASS section
of the World Wide Web. The Human Anatomy faculty likes to review all of
the answers to each exam before posting the key. This is to be sure that
we have been as fair as possible to the students taking the exam, but it
also slows the process of posting by about a day. Please be patient with
us.