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The cardiovascular system is a vital organ system which is quite literally at the centre of everything. Comprised of the heart, blood vessels and the blood itself, it is divided into two loops which both begin in the heart. The pulmonary circuit is responsible for exchanging blood between the heart and lungs for oxygenation, while the systemic circuit directs blood to the other tissues of the body.
An intricate network of arteries, veins and smaller blood vessels allow for these processes to occur. In this article, we’re going to discover these major arteries and veins and help you to learn them with the help of diagrams and quizzes. Want to complete your cardiovascular knowledge? Check out our heart and blood quiz guides.
Download our arteries and veins worksheet belowFirst of all, what are arteries and veins? Let’s take a quick overview.
Arteries transport blood away from the heart and towards the tissues. Possessing thick muscular walls and small internal lumina (passageways), they are able to manage blood under high pressure. The arterial branches become smaller and smaller as they move deeper into the tissues, so that they can access all areas.
Veins do the opposite; they carry blood from the tissues and towards the heart. They contain thin walls and a larger lumen than arteries, since they hold blood at low pressure. Another feature of veins are valves which prevent the blood from flowing backwards.
Check out the video below to learn about the major veins of the cardiovascular system.
Learning all of the major arteries and veins of the cardiovascular system at once is a pretty large undertaking, so in the following sections, we’re going to focus on the arteries of the cardiovascular system.
Let’s now see how we can revise them with the help of cardiovascular system diagram activities.
Now that you’re familiar with the major arteries and veins of the cardiovascular system, it’s time for a practice test. Here at Kenhub, one method we love using at the beginning of the revision process (after watching a video tutorial, of course!) is labeling structures to train our active recall abilities.
Take a look at the cardiovascular system diagram below. As you can see, this diagram does not include all of the structures of the cardiovascular system. In this worksheet we’ll be focusing on the arteries of the cardiovascular system, but you can test your knowledge of the veins and organs using our interactive cardiovascular system quizzes further down the page.
How does it work? In this diagram of the cardiovascular system, you can see labeled structures. Spend a few minutes analysing the diagram, and trying to connect the location of the structures with what you’ve learned in the video. Once you think you’ve got a solid idea, it’s time to try our cardiovascular system labeling quiz.
Here you’ll be presented with a fill in the blank style diagram, in which you need to write the name of the structure which corresponds to the area indicated on the image. Ready to have a try? Download the diagrams of the cardiovascular system labeled and unlabeled below.
So you’ve watched a video, and taken our cardiovascular system labeling quiz. But have you really understood and memorized the topic? Could you still benefit from a bit more practice?
If you answered “yes”, look no further than our interactive cardiovascular system quizzes. Covering not just major arteries and veins but also the organs and tissues of the cardiovascular system, these quizzes will truly prepare you for your exam. With several different quiz types available, you can test your knowledge from every angle.
And if you want to learn a topic completely from scratch? These circulatory system quizzes will help you do that too! Powered by a clever algorithm, they remember which questions you’ve answered wrong and give you more questions on those topics accordingly.
Choose from basic and advanced identification quizzes, exam style question bank quizzes or intelligent mix - a combination of all of the above. You can even make a fully customized circulatory system quiz unique to your learning needs.
Ready to get started? Start quizzing now!
For more specific quizzes on the anatomy of the heart and the blood vessels, check out the following resources.
Are quizzes and labeled diagrams a useful anatomy learning method for you? Check out our free anatomy quiz guides on several more topics!
Layout: Molly Smith
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