The article analyzes the methodical problems of teaching the clinical anatomy in medical schools, discusses the peculiarities of the organization of competency-based training in the unity of classroom and independent work of students. Emphasis is placed on the existence of some discrepancy between the expectations and the learning outcomes, which is related to the students’ insufficiently high educational motivation, not always appropriate application of methods and techniques by the teachers. High educational results are possible with the joint efforts of all subjects of education. Interviews and questionnaires of students and teachers to identify reserves of improving the quality of knowledge (100 respondents) showed that the leading form of acquiring new knowledge is an interactive lecture. The perception of theoretical material depends on the structure, the visual richness of such lecture. The second place were given for practical work (models, albums, videos, etc.) and third – for independent work (solving anatomical problems, preparation of individual and group projects). Provided the students are internally motivated, the tasks are systematic and visible, these kinds of work will deepen knowledge and ability competencies (analyze, differentiate, organize). The authors’ attention is focused on the application of such training methods as scribing, mnemonic schemes, compiling a descriptive story and more.