3rd year Biochemistry - How tough is it?

[R35]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hey all. Coming up on third year, I plan on taking two third-year biochemistry courses for one of my elective credits (two half-year courses at 0.5 credits each).

However, I was wondering just how rigorous this course is. The two courses that are offered for third year are:

1) Metabolic Biochemistry
"Biochemical energetics, kinetic regulation of metabolic pathways. Carbon metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins; nitrogen metabolism."

and

2) Protein Structure and Function
"Relationships between protein structure and function. Topics include enzyme kinetics, protein engineering, genomics, and proteomics."

They seem interesting to take, but not at the expense of my GPA. I have taken organic chemistry I and II, as well as molecular & cellular biologies.

 

[Pacna]

How well did you do in the prereqs?

 

[gumdrops]

It depends on the school and what credit hours mean. Where I went to college, a 0.5 credit hour class was considered fluff no matter what the subject.

The second class honestly sounds much, much easier than the first. Sounds like they're giving you a surface-level intro to experimental approaches (each of those topics has many separate courses devoted to them in graduate school) whereas the first class sounds like they're covering real material.

 

[R35]

How well did you do in the prereqs?

I finished Orgo 1 with 79 and molecular bio with 86. I am taking Orgo 2 and Cell bio currently, and they are supposed to be easier (allegedly).

 

[R35]

It depends on the school and what credit hours mean. Where I went to college, a 0.5 credit hour class was considered fluff no matter what the subject.

The second class honestly sounds much, much easier than the first. Sounds like they're giving you a surface-level intro to experimental approaches (each of those topics has many separate courses devoted to them in graduate school) whereas the first class sounds like they're covering real material.

Uhm I'm not too familiar with credit hours. A 1.0 credit course is considered a full credit, and 0.5 is a half. A full course load at my uni is considered 5.0 credits per year, divided among whatever classes you take. So that could be 5 year-long courses or 10 half-courses, or whatever combination in between.

 

[Pacna]

I finished Orgo 1 with 79 and molecular bio with 86. I am taking Orgo 2 and Cell bio currently, and they are supposed to be easier (allegedly).

What was your grade? Was it an A? B? C? D? F? If your school uses a 4.0 scale, what did you get in those classes?

I've honestly never heard of a 0.5 credit class. I don't think my school had those. Do you meet once every other week?

 

[R35]

What was your grade? Was it an A? B? C? D? F? If your school uses a 4.0 scale, what did you get in those classes?

I've honestly never heard of a 0.5 credit class. I don't think my school had those. Do you meet once every other week?

79 = B = 3.3 GPA
86 = A = 3.9 GPA

A 0.5 credit course lasts one semester. Sept-Dec, or Jan-Apr, 3 lecture hours a week.

I got to a Canadian university.

 

[Cmdr_Shepard]

What was your grade? Was it an A? B? C? D? F? If your school uses a 4.0 scale, what did you get in those classes?

I've honestly never heard of a 0.5 credit class. I don't think my school had those. Do you meet once every other week?

It's a normal class. The school just defines credit differently.

At my university, 1.5 credits meant one normal course spanning one semester, meeting for 3 hours per week. Full course load was 5 courses per semester (7.5 credits/units per semester), and 15 credits/units per year.

Some other uni's define one normal class as 3 credits, meeting 3 hours per week and define a full year course load as having 30 credits/units.

 

[Pacna]

79 = B = 3.3 GPA
86 = A = 3.9 GPA

A 0.5 credit course lasts one semester. Sept-Dec, or Jan-Apr, 3 lecture hours a week.

I got to a Canadian university.

Okay. That would usually be a 3 credit class in the US.

So you performed fairly well with a curve on prereq courses. There's no reason to think that trend won't continue. I say go for it. In my experience, molecular bio was 3x harder than ochem, but that's likely variable even with schools in the US. Also, my biochem was 5 credits and one semester. Probably at the bottom of my top 10 hardest courses. Not so awful.

 

[gumdrops]

Uhm I'm not too familiar with credit hours. A 1.0 credit course is considered a full credit, and 0.5 is a half. A full course load at my uni is considered 5.0 credits per year, divided among whatever classes you take. So that could be 5 year-long courses or 10 half-courses, or whatever combination in between.

So a one-semester class, basically. The second class is covering emerging topics. Genomics and proteomics are relatively new fields in biology that are still evolving and changing. Thus the expectation for your knowledge leaving the class is going to be lower as well. The tests will likely be more along the lines of designing experiments and applying knowledge from papers rather than biochem, where there are pathways that you should know at the conclusion of any standard biochemistry course. There are more possible right answers when a field is still in relative flux, hence the tests probably being less knowledge-based and more conceptual. Having taken similar courses and helped with graduate course development, you are always better off grade-wise taking a class where the expectation of a concrete knowledge base is lower at the conclusion of a course than one where there is an established base.

 

[Anthrax]

Okay so I have extensive background in Biochem...so I can tell you what I remember from my experience.

Both classes are fairly your regular science classes. They are not too hard but you need to put in effort to do well. I don't think there is anything difficult understanding wise. But with metabolism, there is quite a bit of information to remember (pathways, enzymes, structures) so in this case, your studying skills are put to test. In metabolism, I think organized study is key. The more you organize your notes and information taught you, I personally think the more effectively you will be able to retain the knowledge.

With protein/enzymes, there is some basic math involved with protein kinetics. You might even see some stuff repeated from your molecular bio class. You will definitely see material repeated from your introductory biochemistry class.

 

[Anthrax]

So a one-semester class, basically. The second class is covering emerging topics. Genomics and proteomics are relatively new fields in biology that are still evolving and changing. Thus the expectation for your knowledge leaving the class is going to be lower as well. The tests will likely be more along the lines of designing experiments and applying knowledge from papers rather than biochem, where there are pathways that you should know at the conclusion of any standard biochemistry course. There are more possible right answers when a field is still in relative flux, hence the tests probably being less knowledge-based and more conceptual. Having taken similar courses and helped with graduate course development, you are always better off grade-wise taking a class where the expectation of a concrete knowledge base is lower at the conclusion of a course than one where there is an established base.

Yep agree with this regarding the subjects of proteomics and genomics. Both are emerging topics so personally I also felt the expectation was lower. I also remember my professor teaching/discussing/analyzing common application of proteomics and genomics, which was actually very interesting. Not a lot of concrete info. and mainly required understanding.

In addition, because the poster isn't taking a Proteomics/genomics course but rather it's part of another course then I would assume this subject is covered even less.

 

[Anthrax]

Also would like to add that energetics in metabolism is your basic thermodynamics that is taught in first-year general chem. Doesn't get more advanced than that.

 

[R35]

Okay so I have extensive background in Biochem...so I can tell you what I remember from my experience.

Both classes are fairly your regular science classes. They are not too hard but you need to put in effort to do well. I don't think there is anything difficult understanding wise. But with metabolism, there is quite a bit of information to remember (pathways, enzymes, structures) so in this case, your studying skills are put to test. In metabolism, I think organized study is key. The more you organize your notes and information taught you, I personally think the more effectively you will be able to retain the knowledge.

With protein/enzymes, there is some basic math involved with protein kinetics. You might even see some stuff repeated from your molecular bio class. You will definitely see material repeated from your introductory biochemistry class.

Thanks for the info! I usually take my notes on a laptop (except for chemistry & math courses, or courses where there are extensive diagrams). Does biochem teach a lot of diagrams as well, or is it mostly fact memorization?

 

[Cmdr_Shepard]

There are diagrams as well. And structures to memorize.

 

[histidine]

It's obviously going to vary school to school and professor to professor. At my school, biochem was considered the hardest class in the biology lineup mainly due to the large amount of memorization.

 

[Cmdr_Shepard]

Yeah, 3rd year biochem was considered the toughest class at my university too. There were a lot of people who took it, but then either failed or got low C's, and changed majors.

 

[DielsAlder]

I took one semester of biochem which was equivalent to the "Protein Structure and Function" course that you mentioned. The fact I took a course in molecular and cell bio a year before helped me out tremendously in that course. Metabolic biochem sounds interesting, but also would be a lot of memorization. Definitely take one of those courses if you are applying to schools which require biochem, like Umich or Mayo.

 

[masaraksh]

I majored in Biochem at McGill. My advice is, take those courses if you are really interested in the material. I LOVED metabolic biochem. But if you already have 1 semester of entry level biochem then you've probably 'checked off the box' as far as med schools are concerned.

 

[Anthrax]

Thanks for the info! I usually take my notes on a laptop (except for chemistry & math courses, or courses where there are extensive diagrams). Does biochem teach a lot of diagrams as well, or is it mostly fact memorization?

Yes, there are quite a bit of structures but if you have good studying habits you will easily get used to them. As you go through the course, you will see it becomes easier and easier to remember structures and pathways. Memorizing them isn't too bad. Just practice multiple times.

 

[Anthrax]

Also, I want to ask OP, does your school offer only one course on metabolism. See my university offered two courses on it, Metabolism 1 which focused on catabolic pathways and Metabolism 2 which focused on anabolic pathways. If your school only has one course, then I would expect it to have all material on metabolic biochem. together.

 

[R35]

Also, I want to ask OP, does your school offer only one course on metabolism. See my university offered two courses on it, Metabolism 1 which focused on catabolic pathways and Metabolism 2 which focused on anabolic pathways. If your school only has one course, then I would expect it to have all material on metabolic biochem. together.

It's only one metabolic course as far as I know. From the description I expect it to cover both anabolic and catabolic pathways.

 

[LuckandthenSome]

Metabolics went from my most hated class the first time I took it to one of my favorites the second time. The difference? Studying haha. Don't try to rote memorize the pathways, draw them out often.

 

[Anthrax]

Metabolics went from my most hated class the first time I took it to one of my favorites the second time. The difference? Studying haha. Don't try to rote memorize the pathways, draw them out often.

Yep, this is what worked for me as well.