Having Trouble Understanding Biochemistry

[socrates89]

I'm using Harper's Biochemistry and find it difficult to understand.

What are we suppose to memorize? I don't know where to draw the line between what were suppose to memorize/understand the concept of?

I've heard that Lippencott's is better but not in as much depth if you study all of Harper's throughly you won't have trouble on the USMLEs regardless the book my school is using in Harpers Biochem.

So can someone help me out as to how i should approach studying for Biochemistry??

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[sendwich]

I'm using Harper's Biochemistry and find it difficult to understand.

What are we suppose to memorize? I don't know where to draw the line between what were suppose to memorize/understand the concept of?

I've heard that Lippencott's is better but not in as much depth if you study all of Harper's throughly you won't have trouble on the USMLEs regardless the book my school is using in Harpers Biochem.

So can someone help me out as to how i should approach studying for Biochemistry??

everything.





sorry, i couldn't resist. 🙂

 

[MSHell]

My school used Harper's as the basis for the biochem course too. However, I purchased Lippincott's as well. I liked the tables and the summaries better. I found it more "user-friendly". But you will need to know everything, regardless of which book you use.

 

[MastahRiz]

Harper's is what you need to memorize, but if you can't memorize from there or feel like you would memorize better if you understood the subject better, then read from Lippincott to get the understanding, and then go back and read out of Harper's to memorize.

It sounds like double the work, but it's not. If you thoroughly understand something out of one book first and then read the same thing from another book, even if it is in more detail, you'll still only spend about a quarter of what you're spending now on the second book.

 

[soonereng]

Harper's is what you need to memorize, but if you can't memorize from there or feel like you would memorize better if you understood the subject better, then read from Lippincott to get the understanding, and then go back and read out of Harper's to memorize.

It sounds like double the work, but it's not. If you thoroughly understand something out of one book first and then read the same thing from another book, even if it is in more detail, you'll still only spend about a quarter of what you're spending now on the second book.

I would agree that Harper's has more detail in it, but I still preferred Lippincott. I only used Harper if I wanted a better written-out explanation. Most of the same information is in picture/chart form in Lippincott rather than in prose. I am a graphic/visual learner so that worked better for me.

Given all the above, my school gives out a syllabus with all the material we are supposed to know so that's what I memorized from.

 

[WiscDoc]

Do you guys really HAVE to know everything in biochem or is it because you WANT to (for some silly reason like step 1)? Our prof's are pretty good about telling us what to learn and what is just "fluff." We don't have to use text books, as they give us comprehensive notes, and from these notes, they still point out what we should know and what not. Don't get me wrong, it is still hard and a lot of info, but I feel like the whole "know it all, everything is fair game" was much more undergrad style than med school style...

 

[Re3iRtH]

Do you guys really HAVE to know everything in biochem or is it because you WANT to (for some silly reason like step 1)? Our prof's are pretty good about telling us what to learn and what is just "fluff." We don't have to use text books, as they give us comprehensive notes, and from these notes, they still point out what we should know and what not. Don't get me wrong, it is still hard and a lot of info, but I feel like the whole "know it all, everything is fair game" was much more undergrad style than med school style...

Really? To me its basically the other way around.

 

[Slide]

In a perfect world where medical students had ample time to study to their heart's delight and had the ability to learn an unlimited amount of information, knowing Harper's would be the best thing to do. Realistically, though, the best way to get the high-yield info is via Lippencott's/BRS. My feeling is that anything more detailed than what those books cover pertains more to the hard basic science for those who want to specialize in that subject.

And whatever you've heard about Harper's and USMLE is correct, but not for the reasons you state; if you do a search on the extent on biochem on the Step 1, the questions asked can be easily deduced using "medical common sense" and a brief glimpse through BRS or Hi-yield.

 

[MSHell]

Do you guys really HAVE to know everything in biochem or is it because you WANT to (for some silly reason like step 1)? Our prof's are pretty good about telling us what to learn and what is just "fluff." We don't have to use text books, as they give us comprehensive notes, and from these notes, they still point out what we should know and what not. Don't get me wrong, it is still hard and a lot of info, but I feel like the whole "know it all, everything is fair game" was much more undergrad style than med school style...

For us, anything in Harper's was fair game. Using Lippincott's only, if memorized cover to cover, would grant you a pass, usually not more. So yeah, everything had to be memorized and, in this case, was not an exaggeration.

That said, thank God it is over.

 

[Blade28]

I just drew the flow diagrams in Lippincott's Biochem over and over again (same strategy as during undergrad).

 

[nka1985]

Jeez, we were just told everything in our syllabus was fair game. Not that the syllabus was short-it was something like 900 pages for eight weeks, but we were always told to just use textbooks as a reference if we were confused or wanted more detail. Most people didn't even buy the books.

 

[Re3iRtH]

I just drew the flow diagrams in Lippincott's Biochem over and over again (same strategy as during undergrad).

Hey blade, you are moonlighting as a gen surgery resident?!?
Aren't the residency hours enough for you? 😉 Your wife must
object 😀

 

[WiscDoc]

Can somebody tell me then, should be reading review books for "extra info" that might help for step 1, or will the boards focus on big picture stuff? I think I would rather learn more now than to find myself not knowing enough in 1.5 years (for step 1)... all of our courses have recommended text books, but the profs seem pretty good about giving us an "all you need to know" course-book that is very consice, and can get you a high A, not just a pass. 😱thoughts?

 

[Blade28]

Hey blade, you are moonlighting as a gen surgery resident?!?
Aren't the residency hours enough for you? 😉 Your wife must
object 😀

We only moonlight during our research years - otherwise, you're right, we would go WAY over on hours!

And I'm way too young to be married. 🙂