Anatomy and Physiology
Anatomy questions on the exam rarely ask you to label a diagram; they ask you to reason from structure to function. Build your review around four systems.
Muscular system. A muscle fiber contains myofibrils built from sarcomeres, the functional unit bounded by Z-lines. Inside a sarcomere, actin (thin) and myosin (thick) filaments slide past one another; calcium binding to troponin exposes binding sites and ATP powers the cross-bridge cycle. Type I fibers are oxidative and fatigue-resistant and are recruited first; Type IIx fibers are fast and glycolytic and are recruited as force demand rises (Henneman size principle).
Nervous system. A motor unit is one motor neuron plus the fibers it innervates. Proprioceptors are a favorite trap: muscle spindles detect change in length (stretch) and trigger a stretch reflex, while Golgi tendon organs detect tension and inhibit contraction (autogenic inhibition).
Connective and skeletal tissue. Tendons attach muscle to bone; ligaments attach bone to bone. Know flexion/extension, abduction/adduction, and internal/external rotation and the plane each occurs in.
Cardiorespiratory and endocrine. Cardiac output = heart rate x stroke volume. Cortisol is catabolic; testosterone and growth hormone are anabolic; insulin drives storage. These frame recovery and adaptation questions.
Trap to watch: items that swap the roles of spindles and GTOs, or that ask which fiber type is recruited first (always the slow, low-threshold units).
Rule of thumb: if a muscle is lengthening while producing tension, the action is eccentric, the action linked to most soreness and most strength gain.