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BestDoctorEver

BestDoctorEver

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I am having a hard time with my biochem class and I want to know if there is an effective way to study for it... I am BARELY passing it now. I have two exams left and if I fail them, I will fail the class... Here is the way I study: I read Lippincott's book once or twice depending on the chapter, then I watch Kaplan videos and I do practice questions and make sure I understand every single answer. Unfortunately, that strategy did not work on my first two exams... I used to study like that in undergrad and it worked and now I have no idea what should be my next move. Can you guys/gals give me some suggestions? By the way, I have other review books (Kaplan, BRS, Goljan) that I don't even have time to touch...
 
You mention studying from review books and lippincott's text. Do you study the lecture notes as well?

What seems to work for me is studying from the lecture notes and if I don't understand something, I'll look at a text (I use lippincotts). After "learning" the material through one or two passes of the notes, I'll look at a review book to see if I missed anything.

Texts can often have too much minutiae , and review books often assume you have already learned the material once. You need to pass your class before you can get to boards, so I would focus more on your class lectures.
 
BestDoctorEver said:
I am having a hard time with my biochem class and I want to know if there is an effective way to study for it... I am BARELY passing it now. I have two exams left and if I fail them, I will fail the class... Here is the way I study: I read Lippincott's book once or twice depending on the chapter, then I watch Kaplan videos and I do practice questions and make sure I understand every single answer. Unfortunately, that strategy did not work on my first two exams... I used to study like that in undergrad and it worked and now I have no idea what should be my next move. Can you guys/gals give me some suggestions? By the way, I have other review books (Kaplan, BRS, Goljan) that I don't even have time to touch...
Click to expand...
Why are you going thru review books? You should be going thru and mastering your class notes. That + Lippincott's should be enough.
 
DermViser said:
Why are you going thru review books? You should be going thru and mastering your class notes. That + Lippincott's should be enough.
Click to expand...
This class is very intricate and our prof test us in all the minutiae that is in that Lippincott's book... For instance, we have to know the name of every single enzyme involved in every pathways, cascading reactions etc.. I am not good at memorizing stuff... I am a 'big picture' guy... I hope step1 won't be like that...
 
You need to just go to a big whiteboard and stay there for a long period of time and write out the pathways from memory. No matter how long you have to keep writing and erasing, just take your time and keep memorizing one step at a time until you can write the entire pathway all the way to the end. (This advice is if your main reason you aren't doing well is because you can't memorize the pathways[rote memorization] which it seems it is). Good luck on your next two tests!
 
BestDoctorEver said:
This class is very intricate and our prof test us in all the minutiae that is in that Lippincott's book... For instance, we have to know the name of every single enzyme involved in every pathways, cascading reactions etc.. I am not good at memorizing stuff... I am a 'big picture' guy... I hope step1 won't be like that...
Click to expand...
Then just use lippincott's and class notes.
 
BestDoctorEver said:
This class is very intricate and our prof test us in all the minutiae that is in that Lippincott's book... For instance, we have to know the name of every single enzyme involved in every pathways, cascading reactions etc.. I am not good at memorizing stuff... I am a 'big picture' guy... I hope step1 won't be like that...
Click to expand...
I know that I'm not in your class, but are you sure he means *all* of the enzymes and not JUST the irreversible ones? There are three of them in glycolysis, three in the TCA cycle, etc. That seems much more reasonable.
 
You really do have to draw them out a million times. I also wrote it all out on a wall, color coded different enzymes, it took forever, but helped. I could also look at the wall while doing questions, and it helped me memorize the enzymes even more that way
 
I feel the same way about my biochem class. Just keep writing the pathways out.
 
Awared said:
I know that I'm not in your class, but are you sure he means *all* of the enzymes and not JUST the irreversible ones? There are three of them in glycolysis, three in the TCA cycle, etc. That seems much more reasonable.
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We found that out the wrong way today after our second exam... We did ask before the test and he said that we have to know them, but we did not believe him...
 
Step 1: Learn all of the enzymes now, use the whiteboard as suggested above (since your prof is so anal)
Step 2: Forget all that crap for a long time
Step 3: Re-memorize the important (irreversible) enzymes and regulatory molecules for USMLE Step 1
Step 4: Forget all of that crap, forever
Step 5: Profit.
 
CrimsonKing said:
Step 1: Learn all of the enzymes now, use the whiteboard as suggested above (since your prof is so anal)
Step 2: Forget all that crap for a long time
Step 3: Re-memorize the important (irreversible) enzymes and regulatory molecules for USMLE Step 1
Step 4: Forget all of that crap, forever
Step 5: Profit.
Click to expand...
Can't wait for some pompous resident to call you out.

HOW CAN YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WON'T NEED?!?!111111
 
DermViser said:
On Biochem, CrimsonKing is correct.
Click to expand...

What, you mean you've never had a clinical reason to know which enzyme(s) of the Krebs cycle contain iron-sulfur clusters as part of their active site?

Yeah, there's definitely a lot of minutiae possible in biochem, but also a decent amount of useful knowledge although the ratio is definitely smaller.

Agreed with above: You need to be writing everything out from memory. Daily. Hourly. Every ten minutes if it takes that. You should be able to label the pathways with any and all minutiae in your notes. Write it all out from memory, go back and check your notes and add back things you missed, then look at it, erase it, do it all over again. Do this all day every day until there's nothing in the lecture you can't completely regenerate from memory. Then go ace your exam and move on.
 
operaman said:
What, you mean you've never had a clinical reason to know which enzyme(s) of the Krebs cycle contain iron-sulfur clusters as part of their active site?

Yeah, there's definitely a lot of minutiae possible in biochem, but also a decent amount of useful knowledge although the ratio is definitely smaller.

Agreed with above: You need to be writing everything out from memory. Daily. Hourly. Every ten minutes if it takes that. You should be able to label the pathways with any and all minutiae in your notes. Write it all out from memory, go back and check your notes and add back things you missed, then look at it, erase it, do it all over again. Do this all day every day until there's nothing in the lecture you can't completely regenerate from memory. Then go ace your exam and move on.
Click to expand...
LOL!

Yes, the type of questions that PhD Biochemists write are ridiculous when I look back. I had to convince (trick) myself that doctors needed to know Biochemistry in order to be a good doctor. If any class should be removed from the med school curriculum and just be taken in undergrad instead, so that other subjects get more time, it should be this one.

It's funny how Lippincott's is the savior of all Biochemistry courses to understanding. Why professors continue to use an actual textbook like Stryer, Lehninger, Devlin or whatever other book is beyond me. I agree with operaman. OP, buy a white board and some dry-erase markers and just starting writing it out again and again and again, and commit to rote memory. Erase, repeat till test day. Memory dump on test, score well, and then go drinking that night to rid yourself of such useless information.

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operaman said:
What, you mean you've never had a clinical reason to know which enzyme(s) of the Krebs cycle contain iron-sulfur clusters as part of their active site?
Click to expand...

How many practicing physicians realistically know this?
 
@DermViser Biochem is an 8-credit class at my school (the highest in MS1)... a 'C' in that class would definitely destroy my 'ranking'... Not that I care too much about that, but it does not look good to be at the bottom of your class when applying for residency. I just wanna be at least at the 50% percentile.
 
BestDoctorEver said:
@DermViser Biochem is an 8-credit class at my school (the highest in MS1)... a 'C' in that class would definitely destroy my 'ranking'... Not that I care too much about that, but it does not look good to be at the bottom of your class when applying for residency. I just wanna be at least at the 50% percentile.
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Instead of aiming for the bottom or middle - aim for the top. It's complete repetition of the material for Biochem - complete memorization.
 
DermViser said:
Instead of aiming for the bottom or middle - aim for the top. It's complete repetition of the material for Biochem - complete memorization.
Click to expand...
I have never been an ultra competitive person... May be that is my problem.
 
Whiteboard and rote memorization. Just keep writing the pathways and enzymes over and over, and over, and over... and over again.

Generally, I believe demanding people to memorize and regurgitate low yield material is a waste of time. That being said, there's probably not enough high-yield biochem to fill up 8 credit hours, LOL!
 
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