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Cardiovascular & Circulatory System Cheat Sheet
A printable reference covering heart chambers, blood flow, vessels, blood components, blood pressure, and pulse for grades 8-12.
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The cardiovascular and circulatory system moves blood through the body to deliver oxygen, nutrients, hormones, and heat. It also removes carbon dioxide and other wastes from cells. This cheat sheet helps students connect heart anatomy, blood vessels, and circulation patterns in one clear reference. It is useful for reviewing diagrams, comparing vessel types, and understanding how the body maintains homeostasis. The heart works as a double pump with pulmonary circulation carrying blood to the lungs and systemic circulation carrying blood to the body. Blood flows in one direction through chambers, valves, arteries, capillaries, and veins. Important measurements include heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, and blood pressure. Understanding these ideas helps explain exercise response, disease risk, and how body systems work together.
Key Facts
- Blood flow through the heart follows this order: body, vena cava, right atrium, right ventricle, pulmonary arteries, lungs, pulmonary veins, left atrium, left ventricle, aorta, body.
- Pulmonary circulation carries deoxygenated blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs and returns oxygenated blood to the left side of the heart.
- Systemic circulation carries oxygenated blood from the left side of the heart to body tissues and returns deoxygenated blood to the right side of the heart.
- Cardiac output is calculated as cardiac output = heart rate x stroke volume.
- Average resting heart rate for many teens and adults is about 60 to 100 beats per minute, though trained athletes may have lower resting rates.
- Blood pressure is written as systolic pressure over diastolic pressure, such as 120/80 mmHg.
- Arteries carry blood away from the heart, veins carry blood toward the heart, and capillaries allow exchange of gases, nutrients, and wastes.
- Red blood cells carry oxygen using hemoglobin, white blood cells defend against disease, platelets help clot blood, and plasma carries dissolved substances.
Vocabulary
- Atrium
- An atrium is an upper heart chamber that receives blood returning to the heart.
- Ventricle
- A ventricle is a lower heart chamber that pumps blood out of the heart.
- Valve
- A valve is a flap-like structure that keeps blood moving in one direction through the heart or veins.
- Capillary
- A capillary is a tiny blood vessel where oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients, and wastes are exchanged with body cells.
- Hemoglobin
- Hemoglobin is an iron-containing protein in red blood cells that binds and transports oxygen.
- Blood pressure
- Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against artery walls during and between heartbeats.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Confusing arteries with oxygenated blood is wrong because arteries are defined by carrying blood away from the heart, not by oxygen level. The pulmonary arteries carry deoxygenated blood to the lungs.
- Reversing the right and left sides of the heart is wrong because diagrams show the heart from the patient’s perspective. The right side of the heart appears on the viewer’s left in many front-facing diagrams.
- Saying veins have no pressure is wrong because veins have lower pressure than arteries, but they still move blood back to the heart using valves, muscle contractions, and breathing movements.
- Mixing up systolic and diastolic pressure is wrong because systolic is the higher pressure during ventricular contraction, while diastolic is the lower pressure during relaxation.
- Forgetting capillaries in the circulation pathway is wrong because exchange with body cells happens mainly across thin capillary walls, not in large arteries or veins.
Practice Questions
- 1 A student has a heart rate of 72 beats per minute and a stroke volume of 70 mL per beat. What is the cardiac output in mL per minute?
- 2 If a person’s blood pressure is 118/76 mmHg, identify the systolic pressure and the diastolic pressure.
- 3 Put these structures in the correct order for blood returning from the body to the lungs: right ventricle, vena cava, pulmonary arteries, right atrium.
- 4 Explain why capillaries must have very thin walls for the circulatory system to meet the needs of body cells.