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No biochem background. How do i approach this course? What do i do differently from anatomy?
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best way to study biochem
- Thread starter nycfella
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Read Lippincott.
N
njbmd
Use your course syllabus to preview the lectures by reading the lecture objectives. Review the subject matter of the lecture in Lippincott and then listen to the lecture. Study and learn your lecture notes (just like you learn anatomy) and make sure that you understand the things that have been presented. If you have access old exams, look to see how your professors question the concepts.
You don't want to learn Biochemistry in isolation or just rote memorize this stuff. You need to put this subject in context for example with hemoglobin A: How does the chemistry/structure of Hemoglobin A affect the manner in which it functions? What type of structure is Hemoglobin A? What is unique about the structure of hemoglobin A that makes it different from the other hemoglobins like F,A2, S etc. How does the structure of hemoglobin A change with the addition of oxygen? Can you describe the configuration changes chemically? These are the concepts that you would want to learn and be able to recall on an exam.
When you are looking at a pathway, what type of pathway are you looking at. What goes in and what comes out? Why does the body use this pathway? What are the control points and how do they work? What tissues perform said pathway? What happens in the pathway? Again, look at the overall picture and then fill in the details.
Don't sit and stare at papers for hours on end. Be active about your learning as much as possible. Walk and recite back to yourself or make notes with your highlighters in the margins of the pages. I aways wrote questions as I reviewed my notes and readings and then answered those questions when I reviewed my notes at the end of my study sessions.
If you are new to Biochemistry, you need to look at it daily and do a review of the previous weeks lectures on the weekend and keep reviewing as you move through the semester. You can't just listen to the lecture, study your notes and then put them away until the exam. The material won't get into your long-term memory if you don't review it regularly.
You don't want to learn Biochemistry in isolation or just rote memorize this stuff. You need to put this subject in context for example with hemoglobin A: How does the chemistry/structure of Hemoglobin A affect the manner in which it functions? What type of structure is Hemoglobin A? What is unique about the structure of hemoglobin A that makes it different from the other hemoglobins like F,A2, S etc. How does the structure of hemoglobin A change with the addition of oxygen? Can you describe the configuration changes chemically? These are the concepts that you would want to learn and be able to recall on an exam.
When you are looking at a pathway, what type of pathway are you looking at. What goes in and what comes out? Why does the body use this pathway? What are the control points and how do they work? What tissues perform said pathway? What happens in the pathway? Again, look at the overall picture and then fill in the details.
Don't sit and stare at papers for hours on end. Be active about your learning as much as possible. Walk and recite back to yourself or make notes with your highlighters in the margins of the pages. I aways wrote questions as I reviewed my notes and readings and then answered those questions when I reviewed my notes at the end of my study sessions.
If you are new to Biochemistry, you need to look at it daily and do a review of the previous weeks lectures on the weekend and keep reviewing as you move through the semester. You can't just listen to the lecture, study your notes and then put them away until the exam. The material won't get into your long-term memory if you don't review it regularly.
I was in your shoes just last year. I think Lippincotts was a godsend for me. The best way to study biochem is to integrate and correlate all the different pathways and apply them to real life (like during fasting, which pathways are active and so on.) Lippincotts does a great job with this because it re-enforces the topics again and again until you get a hang of the subject from a more wholistic perspective.
