We weren’t graded on the quality of our dissections, but the exams were based on how good the dissection was. We would have a set of assigned anatomical structures to expose and/or dissect in a given unit, and then the practical exam used our dissections. They would stick a pin in something and you had to write in the name of the structure, what nerve/nerve root innervated that structure, what was it’s blood supply, or what structures should be above or below it, etc. The year before mine got absolutely screwed on one exam because almost no one finished all the assigned dissections, so the professor just stuck a pin on the outside of the cadaver with one of the questions above.

Personally, I was obsessively meticulous about my dissections and when my tankmates (other students assigned to the same cadaver) messed something up, I would get very frustrated with them. I would come in on weekends to carefully expose and clean individual arteries and nerves for hours at a time. The main anatomy professor kept asking me what kind of surgeon I wanted to be, but I’m a horrid little gremlin that likes night shift and hanging out in hospital basements, so I want to go into emergency medicine.