How does the Step I test biochemistry? For example, First Aid has a list of the different lysosomal storage diseases such as Tay-Sachs disease, Fabry's disease, and so forth. For each of these diseases, First Aid lists the deficient enzyme, the product that accumulates as a result of the absence of the enzyme, and clinical manifestations of the disease. For example, in Fabry's disease, the deficient enzyme is alpha-galactosidase, the accumulated product is ceramide trihexoside, and the clinical symptom is renal failure. My question, to those who have taken the Step I is: Do we have to memorize those three components? It appears that we do since all that info comes from the bible, First Aid, but still it seems tedious to do so? I mean, will the step I ask: In Fabry's disease, what is the name of the deficient enzyme?
If you want to score a few extra points, it wouldn't hurt to memorize those diseases. In my experience, the questions were clinically-based. They would give the "classic" signs and symptoms, and then you would have to figure out what disease it was. Beyond that, you would then have to pick out the deficient enzyme. I had only like 1-2 biochem questions like that on Step 1.
My experience was similar to that of *************s - no esoterica, but rather a clinical scenario asking you to name the mostly likely disease state or missing enzyme. If you know the stuff in First Aid you should do fine...I was really pleasantly suprised at the little amount of basic science Biochem on my version of Step 1. Best of luck to you.
