ochem vs. biochem

[DoHzA]

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I ABSOLUTELY DESPISED ORGANIC CHEMISTRY!
call it a poor professor, a whack subject, or just plain hard...anyway I hated it.

I'm only takin your time cuz i wanna know if biochem is the same style course...is it an asskicker...same sort of concepts??? just as hard? harder?

just curious

who knows the answer?

🙄

 

[scubadiva]

You just love these "vs." threads don't you? j/k

uhhhh...yeah our professor sucked @ss big time. remember we had 3 professors over the course of a semester cuz they didn't know who was going to take over our class.

Not to mention that stupid professor (asian lady whose name i will refrain from using here) who hated me since i wasn't a chem or bchm major and since I wasn't a guy (last i checked, i'm still not a guy). anyway, she really had her favorites ~ mainly the guys. so if you were a girl in her class, tough. just glad i made it through.

sorry for not sticking to the topic (again) 😉

 

[Herpeto]

I may have a skewed view in your opinion, because I really enjoyed Organic Chemistry, so keep that in mind. I have taken 3 semesters of Biochemistry of which I truly enjoyed 2 semesters. The first semester left a bitter taste in my mouth due to the fact that my professor would grade tests based on the individual who wrote down the most information for a question as 100% and then compared everyone else?s to that individuals. The last two semesters were very enjoyable. I liked using molecular modeling programs to visualize how interactions took place and how different pathways were interconnected in our body. Depending on the level of Biochemistry, there will be many pathways you will have to memorize and show how they interconnect. The great thing is that if you have a strong Biochemistry background now, it will make it easier to work through medical school. It is vital that you understand Biochemistry completely as there are hundreds of diseases associated with insufficient production of enzymes, lack of proteins production etc...


Herp

 

[Amy B]

I didn't like Organic, even though I taught organic lab for a year, BUT I loved Biochem. In my opinion it is nothing like organic. That is, if you have it taught by a biology prof verses a chem prof. It really makes a difference in the way it is taught.

So if your school has different sections taught by chem dept and another section taught by biology dept, I would highly recommend the bio prof.

 

[deleted9493]

I think it totally depends on the student. If in organic you learn the basics(moving electrons and the general characteristics of certain molecules), I think it can become somewhat repetitive...not to diminish the cognitive challenges to be met in the course.

Biochemistry entails more memorization, but can be more interesting because alot of times you'll learn in greater detail that which you've learned in previous science courses. As a result, I think alot of biology will make more sense to you after taking it.

That being said, biochemistry is a different style course...it is probably going to be tough but it makes sense when taught appropriately. The ease/challenge of the course will be highly dependent on your learning style.

 

[speter33]

I loooooved Orgchem I, never took biochem. Although orgo was the hardest class I ever took it was also the most rewarding. For some reason I find it closely related to biology, unlike physics and chemistry

 

[Robz]

I absolutly loved organic chemistry...actualy thought about changing my major to chem but then realize I probably wouldn't like the other classes as much. I loved ochem more than biochem but I have to say it was sweet to learn all the molecular interactions of glycolosis and kerbs cycle. Made all those day/nights in the library with organic have some meaning to me.

 

[DOtune]

biochem was much easier.. loved it and hated ochem.. but i guess it just depends on the particular student's preferences.

 

[Elysium]

I thought organic 1&2 were a bitch. I just don't like chemistry and could never really make myself care about Sn1 rxns and all that other nonsense.

Biochem was a bitch (and a lot of memorization - in our course we had to memorize 70 structures - all the amino acids, all the conformations of glucose, hextose, fructose, aldose, etc), but it was way more interesting intellectually. I think you'll like it more.

 

[mamitch4]

I didn't particularly enjoy O. Chem... definitely liked Biochem more-- the second time around. My first professor and textbook left a little to be desired.
In Biochem you learn about the different types of biological molecules: amino acids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, etc. Then you learn about all the metabolic processes in which these molecules participate. Lots to memorize, but very interesting when you start to see the big picture: how our bodies work at the molecular level.

 

[WillowRose]

I double-majored in Chem & Bio, so BioChem was a "two-fer" class for me. I also had Organic 1 & 2. By far, BioChem was easier and more enjoyable. Organic was very difficult for me because I had a hard time visualizing the 3-d structures of the molecules and just couldn't make heads or tails of those reactions half the time. I made it through with good grades, but it took everything I had to do it!

Biochem was taught by my bio prof (one of the best profs I've ever had). I think it definitely makes a difference, though when we fired a chem prof after fall semester, the same prof took over the organic chem classes. Seems like he had an MD from Hopkins. Don't know why he was teaching bio in Podunk.

Anyway, biochem is much more a matter of memorizing details from processes that you probably learned in earlier bio classes. It does help to make all those other classes make more sense. If you have some background in organic, that will probably help, but I didn't think it was anywhere near as hard as organic. And the nice thing about memorizing all those amino acids is that you really only *have* to memorize the R chains! LOL

Good luck to you. It's not easy but at least it's not calculus! (UGH)

Willow~