Should I skip Biochem?

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a lifesaving decision may one day come down to knowing what the rate limiting enzyme is in purine synthesis.
 
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knuckles said:
a lifesaving decision may one day come down to knowing what the rate limiting enzyme is in purine synthesis.
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Actually, I am interested in this question. From FA, only PRPP amidotransferase is the rate limiting enzyme, but from UW, both PRPP synthetase and PRPP amidotransferase are .
 
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I just got done taking the test. I didn't have much Biochem at all and the biochem I did have was covered in FA. The only reason to use another source is if you dont understand whats in FA.


As for skipping biochem it could actually work, since I spent a lot of time on it and didnt get many questions I think I might have benefited. But in the end way to risky.
 
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doc29 said:
you guys think FA and UW are enough for biochem?
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Yes.

I also used UCV Biochemistry, which is an amazing book in my opinion. I had trouble with all the metabolic disorders, and this book really helped me get those straight. However, if you don't have time for it, you can do without it and just stick to first aid.
 
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yes its enough.. everyone tells you what extra stuff they did but at the end of the day 90% of your test is going to be in first aid and/or uw in some form.

and the other 10%... well you probably wont get that right anyway lol
 
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thanks..i am working on UW biochem and gen these days..im ok with cycles and pathways, but cell cycle and cell signaling stuff are killing me
 
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PokerDoc said:
yes its enough.. everyone tells you what extra stuff they did but at the end of the day 90% of your test is going to be in first aid and/or uw in some form.

and the other 10%... well you probably wont get that right anyway lol
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If you had my test and only used first aid for biochem you would have gotten at least 15 questions wrong unless you were good at guessing.
 
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randommedstu said:
i want a 220..i feel like i'm spending way too much time on something that might be low yield
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Everything MIGHT be low yield, except path, pharm, and phys. That said, 40-50% of the test will be areas other than those 3. My test was literally 20% biochem. There were 8-9 qs in each block.
 
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My test was literally 20% biochem. There were 8-9 qs in each block.
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Holy crap, that sucks. For most people, I'd say UW and FA together are plenty to get most of biochem, and I doubt using any other sources is worth the time. Biochem is the subject most prone to ridiculous questions, so if they decide to screw you, there's not a lot you can do about it.
 
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MilkmanAl said:
Holy crap, that sucks. For most people, I'd say UW and FA together are plenty to get most of biochem, and I doubt using any other sources is worth the time. Biochem is the subject most prone to ridiculous questions, so if they decide to screw you, there's not a lot you can do about it.
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Yeah, well, rr biochem had the answers to almost all of them, there was only one I had to make an educated guess on. I think it's a good book for clinical correlations too, like all the stuff that goljan briefly mentions in the audio lectures but doesn't elaborate on is in there. I definitely don't think it's the MOST high yield thing to study but it also has all of the stuff on DNA polymerases and lab techniques too.
 
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:smack:
kunfu said:
The only reason to use another source is if you dont understand whats in FA.
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That's my reason. Gosh, I wish I could have someone come over and hammer those pathways and how they're linked into my head. I so suck and mugging up without understanding. That is why often even after reading FA I end up increasing my knowledge by zilch. Whatever little does register disappears soon enough.
 
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drizzt3117 said:
My test was literally 20% biochem. There were 8-9 qs in each block.
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My exam also had a very heavy biochem focus. You never know how much biochem you will be expected to know, so skipping it entirely is a bit of a gamble...

For one test form you might be just fine, but for another you may be shooting yourself in the foot.
 
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There is no definitive answer here, it COMPLETELY depends on your comfort level with biochem to begin with. For some people, FA is all you need to look at. For other people like me, an outside source is required (Kaplan or RR) to put the pieces together and really understand it. You don't need to ADD things to what's in FA probably, as far as subjects go, but to get a comfortable understanding of a lot of it, you may or may not need another source.

Whatever anyone says on here is generally based on their own comfort level. From what I've observed, this varies greatly. You'll need to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses as it pertains to this subject, and act accordingly.
 
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drizzt3117 said:
Everything MIGHT be low yield, except path, pharm, and phys. That said, 40-50% of the test will be areas other than those 3. My test was literally 20% biochem. There were 8-9 qs in each block.
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I can't endorse this sentiment strongly enough. There's a high degree of "luck" involved on your actual test in the sense that I think there's a fairly large question pool and you could see a lot of really random things. My test was incredibly diverse and I had a lot of questions in totally random things in FA which I thought would be "low yield".
 
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