Curious if all'y'all's have any feedback on how far to take memorization of biochemical molecular structures.
I'm running out of time due to my Sept 23 MCAT, and I really don't have much time (or memory space) to keep working on those. Initially, I'd intended to memorize all structures, reaction types, enzymes, etc., for all metabolic pathways. However, in some of them (e.g. urea cycle), it's getting tenuous as to whether I have time.
How far should I take this? Is it sufficient to simply know the Big Ones (Krebs, glycolysis) in terms of structures, and other than that, just know the general process, linkages with other metabolic processes, general equations, ATP generated/burned, etc? Doesn't seem a good tradeoff to spend more time memorizing the structure of citrullyl-AMP, at the cost of skipping additional practice exams or be rusty on high yield stuff like acid-base chemistry, biochemical experimental techniques, or the details of the renal system.
It hasn't been clear to me either from forum feedback, nor from the test prep books (I'm working off of TPR) what type of questions might be asked in the biochem arena.
Any thoughts gratefully appreciated....
- Tom
I'm running out of time due to my Sept 23 MCAT, and I really don't have much time (or memory space) to keep working on those. Initially, I'd intended to memorize all structures, reaction types, enzymes, etc., for all metabolic pathways. However, in some of them (e.g. urea cycle), it's getting tenuous as to whether I have time.
How far should I take this? Is it sufficient to simply know the Big Ones (Krebs, glycolysis) in terms of structures, and other than that, just know the general process, linkages with other metabolic processes, general equations, ATP generated/burned, etc? Doesn't seem a good tradeoff to spend more time memorizing the structure of citrullyl-AMP, at the cost of skipping additional practice exams or be rusty on high yield stuff like acid-base chemistry, biochemical experimental techniques, or the details of the renal system.
It hasn't been clear to me either from forum feedback, nor from the test prep books (I'm working off of TPR) what type of questions might be asked in the biochem arena.
Any thoughts gratefully appreciated....
- Tom
