This is the same conversation that happens every semester between A&P students all over the world. Yes, you need to know all of it. You're building a foundation here and you will never be able to figure out how muscles attach and work if you don't know the names of the bones and the location of their markings. Is this an impossible task? No! Will it be a very difficult task if not approached in a (calm) organized manner? Yes! It will take a lot of your time, but you can do it. Here is a great way to begin:
1. Learn the names of the bones one section at a time. Start with the cranial bones of the skull, then move on to the facial bones. After learning the facial bones, go back to the cranial bones to review, then revisit the facial bones. Move on to another section and repeat until you have learned all of the bones in the skeleton. Comforting Thought: While there are over 200 bones to know, many of them are duplicates so if you learn one you have learned two or more!
2. Once you know the bones, learn the general definitions for all of the bony landmarks. What is a fissure? A foramen? A fossa? If you don't know what you're looking for, how will you recognize it when you see it? If you know the meaning of the terms that you are learning, they will stick in your head more easily as you memorize the bone markings.
3. Go back over each individual bone to learn the required list of markings for that particular bone. Use the same methodical procedure that you used when learning the names of the bones. Start with a bone in the cranium, then move on to the next one. Continue examining new bones and their markings, while reviewing those that you have already gone over. Before long, you will have studied each bone and you'll just have to review.
Here are links to two great videos that offer study tips for learning the bones:
Skeletal System Study Tips (Part 1)
Skeletal System Study Tips (Part 2)
One thing to remember: repetition is the mother of all learning and is the best way to learn human anatomy. The more time you spend looking at the material, the better you will learn it. A good gage for whether you are studying enough is when you start dreaming about human bones and their names. Happy studying!
