Biochem twice

[helbetsol]

Hi guys,
I wanted to ask whether it is advised to take biochemistry twice. My school offers two kinds of Biochem classes. One in biology, the other in chemistry department. I did really bad on my organic chem so I wanted to show admissions that I can do well if I take upper level courses in chemistry. I'm also changing my minor for the same reason and Im going to take additional classes. As bio major it is requirement to take biochem in biology. I know learning it twice (btw the chem course has more depth I heard) will help me do well on the MCAT. What should I do.
Thanks
Any help would be appreciated.

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[eteshoe]

Just take the Chem version. No point in wasting a course slot doing the same work twice. Just approach the class with a plan to succeed

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Taking it twice is stupid because:

1) Taking chem vs bio biochem will not "prove" your good at chemistry.

2) No adcom will be aware that there are 2 variants of biochem offered at your school.

3) MCAT biochem is not so difficult as to justify taking the class twice. Even taking it once you will cover far more material than will be tested on the MCAT.

4) No point risking your grades in a hard class for no reward

Take the bio version for your major, and try not to overthink this lol

 

[JustAPhD]

The chem version of biochem is sure to have a fair amount of OChem in it. You didn't do well in OChem when you took it, so why risk you doing poorly in chem biochem?

 

[jih]

At my university biochem was vastly different from ochem in terms of the skills and knowledge taught and tested for. It is more of a straight memorization class than a problem solving class like ochem. In any case taking two semesters of biochem won't really help you, especially if they are both intro classes.

 

[Lannister]

In addition to what others have mentioned, I just wanna say that my school does the same thing, and the chemistry biochem is absolutely useless for the MCAT. The only relevant thing we learned was amino acids and a little bit about proteins. I had to teach myself everything else. This probably varies by school, but just thought I'd mention it.

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[Sardinia]

@helbetsol My biochemistry experience has been that it is arguably one of the most varied taught courses depending on professor and concentration. You are almost guaranteed to need to dedicate significant time to chunk out sections you have not covered in another section. Perhaps it is due to the multi-disciplined nature of the field that the course itself can be sub-specialized to suit the needs of the professor teaching it.

- Had to take biochem thrice. Will likely have to take it a fourth time.

 

[aldol16]

It really depends on your school and professors. The chemistry-based biochem could emphasize a lot more things that are not emphasized in the biology-based one, for example X-ray diffraction with proteins, lots of physical chemistry with proteins, methods for separation and characterization of proteins, etc. If you wan to do well on the MCAT, you would do well to take a look at the course description and syllabi and choose the one that focuses more on topics that will appear on the MCAT.

 

[helbetsol]

Thanks Guys!!