Rapid Review Biochem

[joe6102]

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So I'm taking Step 1 in 6 weeks, I have my study plan down, but I keep hearing good things about RR Biochem. I was planning on just doing FA with Lippincott when needed. Is it worth reading? The $35 is not much of an issue, but I'm hesitant to take time from path and pharm for a low-yield subject. Thoughts?

 

[blz]

So I'm taking Step 1 in 6 weeks, I have my study plan down, but I keep hearing good things about RR Biochem. I was planning on just doing FA with Lippincott when needed. Is it worth reading? The $35 is not much of an issue, but I'm hesitant to take time from path and pharm for a low-yield subject. Thoughts?

I initially annotated my FA with lippincotts. I also read RR biochem recently and I found it a lot better than lippincotts. If I had to do it agian, I would have just used RR biochem. Don't get me wrong, lippincotts was more than enough to understand biochem. So either method is a good way to learn biochem.

 

[anesthesiarocks]

So I'm taking Step 1 in 6 weeks, I have my study plan down, but I keep hearing good things about RR Biochem. I was planning on just doing FA with Lippincott when needed. Is it worth reading? The $35 is not much of an issue, but I'm hesitant to take time from path and pharm for a low-yield subject. Thoughts?

where did you get the idea biochem was a low yield subject? it's 10% or so of the test.

 

[joe6102]

where did you get the idea biochem was a low yield subject? it's 10% or so of the test.

It's one of those first-year subjects that is not heavily tested, like anatomy. I'd put it behind path, phys, pharm, behavioral, micro, and maybe even neuro. But that's not the point.

 

[anesthesiarocks]

It's one of those first-year subjects that is not heavily tested, like anatomy. I'd put it behind path, phys, pharm, behavioral, micro, and maybe even neuro. But that's not the point.

both anatomy and biochem are tested very heavily. First aid devotes 43 pages to biochem......about 12% of the total text(the text starts on page 61 and goes to 436). I don't think 12% of step1 is insignificant.

As for anatomy, it depends on what you count as an anatomy question. If you only count "true" anatomy questions as anatomy, then I'd guess you're right. But if you count things like a brachial plexus lesion causing you to not to something with an arm muscle as anatomy(as you should since knowing the anatomy means you get the question right), then anatomy is also 10% or so of the test.

Thats 22% of the test right there...I dont consider that "low yield".

 

[joe6102]

both anatomy and biochem are tested very heavily. First aid devotes 43 pages to biochem......about 12% of the total text(the text starts on page 61 and goes to 436). I don't think 12% of step1 is insignificant.

As for anatomy, it depends on what you count as an anatomy question. If you only count "true" anatomy questions as anatomy, then I'd guess you're right. But if you count things like a brachial plexus lesion causing you to not to something with an arm muscle as anatomy(as you should since knowing the anatomy means you get the question right), then anatomy is also 10% or so of the test.

Thats 22% of the test right there...I dont consider that "low yield".

Good for you. Now what does everyone think of RR biochem for my situation? Thanks in advance.

 

[Medikit]

I didn't really like RR biochem but I'm a biochem major so I don't know how that effects things. I felt it just wasn't needed.

 

[KNightInBlue]

Good for you. Now what does everyone think of RR biochem for my situation? Thanks in advance.

best thing to do - go to ur bookstore, pick up a copy of RR biochem and BRS biochem, read the same chapter, for example, nucleotide synthesis in both of them - see which one you like


from recent exam experiences, I dont think biochem is low yield - apparently they're tying it in to a lot of questions all over the place. I thought RR biochem was good for this - tying in clinical nuggets to the basic science info

 

[shivasHeroLike]

yeah, RR biochem does indeed do a good job integrating concepts with other subjects

 

[aesop]

I tried to read RR biochem and ended up switching to kaplan biochem which I thought was a much easier and more enjoyable read. I would recommend kaplan if you can get your hands on it

 

[DarlynVMD]

RR Biochem is the way to go... it has integrations everywhere you look.... just do what the above poster posted, go down to your local medical bookstore and pop it open, read a chapter or two and compare it to another book you might have in mind for this same subject. But after reading the first two chapters of RR Biochem, I put down Lippincott's (and trust me, I love Lippincott's). You can get through the entire book in 2-3 days, and follow it with High Yield Cell & Molecular Biology to hammer in some concepts that you'll come across at the end of the RR Biochem review book, you'll see how they overlap.

Enjoy

 

[WACAT]

I highly recommend RR biochem over Lippincott's as well. I took Step 1 last Friday and had more biochem than micro or pharm questions. It was NOT low yield!!! I was shocked at the number of questions and the details. However, all of the answers were in RR. There is no way that first aid was enough for my test. Your's might be different, however. I would devote at least 2, maybe 3-4 days on biochem and review it again a day or two before the test. It is a still heavily tested subject.

 

[Roy7]

So I'm taking Step 1 in 6 weeks, I have my study plan down, but I keep hearing good things about RR Biochem. I was planning on just doing FA with Lippincott when needed. Is it worth reading? The $35 is not much of an issue, but I'm hesitant to take time from path and pharm for a low-yield subject. Thoughts?

I liked RR a lot thought the graphs were great (much more so than lippencott). I went through Kaplan Biochem (I prefered this to BRS/Lippencott) then filled in the stuff I thought was missing (poryphorias, tyrosine metabolism) w/charts graphs from RR. I did think the genetics/molecular section was pretty weak in RR but I'm not familiar w/lippencotts.

And I didnt think biochem was low yield at all (on my exam I had 3x the biochem compared to the pharm - and the pharm was fresher from class). Worthwhile trade off.