Tips for Success

If you’re new to online courses, or if you just need a quick refresher, be sure to take a look at these video tutorials!

Prerequisite

There are no prerequisites for this course.

Course Learning Outcomes

This Medical Terminology course will provide a foundation of medical terminology, definitions, abbreviations, and common symbols used in university pre-med courses, nursing programs, and healthcare careers.  The course content is organized and associated with anatomical regions, planes, and movements. Students will build medical words from word parts, apply the terminology in real-life situations, and learn more about the medical perspective on the human body.

As students complete the course assignments, they will increase their knowledge, improve a 21st-century skill, and develop an attribute.

Knowledge: Medical Terminology

In this course, knowledge refers to the subject matter and content students will learn while completing the readings, practices, quizzes, and application projects.

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to meet these goals:

  1.  Analyze the importance of medical terminology in the context of healthcare.

  2. Comprehend the meanings and origins of medical terms by breaking them down into their component parts, such as prefixes, suffixes, combining forms (CF), and word roots within a medical term.

  3. Apply memorized medical terms, word parts, symbols, abbreviations, and initialisms commonly used in healthcare.

  4. Practice using medical reference books and reliable sources of information used in healthcare.

  5. Explore health profession occupations and the skills required for success.

21st-Century Skill: Communications – Communicate in Diverse Environments

Students will gain skills in Communicating in Diverse Environments as they complete this course's assignments. This skill is part of Communications. 

Attribute: Kindness

This course focuses on developing the attribute of kindness in the context of medical terminology. 

Course Materials

Students must buy these materials and technology to complete the course: 

  • Venes, Donald. Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary (Non-thumb-indexed Version), 24 Edition, 2021; F.A. Davis Company. ISBN-13: 9780803659049.

    • This text was used extensively during course development. Students should learn to use it and refer to it often.

Back to Top

Assignments

The due dates in the course are only suggestions to help the students pace themselves. You do not need to complete application projects, quizzes, and exams by the due date set in the course.

Application Projects

Application projects are assignments that ask students to apply concepts and terminology they learn in each module. 

Study Guides

Study guides help students focus on the information they need to know for the quizzes and final exam.

Module Quizzes

Module quizzes are computer-graded multiple-choice assignments containing questions about the content in each module. The quiz questions will represent the material and the flashcards in each module. They consist of multiple-choice questions that will test understanding of the lessons and terminology learned in each unit.

Midcourse Quiz

This computer-graded quiz will cover the material up to the midcourse quiz. The questions on the midcourse quiz will be similar in format to the questions on the final exam.

Final Exam

The final exam consists of 100 questions that cover all of the concepts taught in the course.

To prepare for the final exam, students should review all of the flashcard activities, study guides, and module quizzes. Questions on the final exam will cover all of the material in the course.

Flashcard Activities

Terminology lists prepare students for module quizzes and the final exam. Flashcard activities are available to practice and test understanding of the terms. Students should practice and review the course material before taking the quizzes and continuing to the next module.

Grading

Your grade in this course will be based on these assignments and exams:

Assignments and Exams
Assignment or Exam Grading Percent of Total Grade
Study Guides Computer-Graded 5%
Application Projects  Teacher-Graded 35%
Module Quizzes and Midcourse Quiz Computer-Graded 35%
Final Exam* Computer-Graded 25%

* You must pass the final exam with at least a 60% to earn credit for the course.

Grade Scale

Your letter grade is calculated according to these percentages.

A 93% - 100%
A- 90% - 92%
B+ 87% – 89%
B 83% - 86%
B- 80% - 82%
C+ 77% - 79%
C 73% - 76%
C- 70% - 72%
D+ 67% - 69%
D 63% - 66%
D- 60% - 62%
F (fail) 0% - 59%

Getting Help

Please use the help menu in this course to contact Academy of America or your instructor. You can find information about tutoring available to Academy of America students on the Tutoring website.

The Resources page offers a wide variety of services to support you:

  • Academic success skills coaching such as time management, study skills, test preparation, motivation, and more.

  • Course-specific support that includes live tutoring and on-demand resources.

Come find out how we can help you achieve your goals.

Course Policies

For information about how long you have to complete the course, resubmitting assignments, retaking exams, and other questions, please see Academy of America’s Policies.

Back to Top