Starting biochem. Advice for taking notes?

[Tappinfool66]

Hi all,

So I just finished anatomy and it's kind of bittersweet. I didn't enjoy it in the beginning but it grew on me later on and I'm sure I'll miss it.

But anyway, I'm starting my biochem (and genetics, cell bio and molecular bio) block this week and was looking for any advice you guys might have on how you took notes for biochem and if you felt that your methods worked or not. I know I could just wait and see how things go and adjust, but I felt like I wasn't studying right in anatomy and always felt kind of behind, so I'm trying to figure out the best way for me to study biochem from the start.

For anatomy, I used OneNote to annotate the slides from lecture presentations and just reviewed the presentations and my annotations to study for exams. I did not use flashcards. I'm wondering if I should take a different approach with biochem now that we'll have a syllabus for the course. Should I annotate the syllabus as opposed to the powerpoints? Should I try flashcards? My school recommends writing a one page summary of each lecture - should I try that? Should I join a study group?

Any and all thoughts, tips or advice are greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

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[LaCarnaval]

have you tired evernote?

 

[byaaaaaaah23]

I would annotate the slides because pathways will prob be the most important so you'll want to be able to refer to those.

 

[Tappinfool66]

have you tired evernote?

Nope, I've only used OneNote so far.

I would annotate the slides because pathways will prob be the most important so you'll want to be able to refer to those.

And then you mean just read the syllabus afterward for clarification? Do you think I should focus on studying more from the powerpoints or the syllabus?

 

[byaaaaaaah23]

Yeah that sounds like a good plan to me, if you are given notes I would definitely read them too. In class it will be nice to have the images in front of you though I think. I also loved Lehninger's Biochem if you're looking for a textbook.

 

[doc4lax]

I just finished up biochem block on Friday and start anatomy tomorrow. What worked well for me was to make condensed notes of the material, with the most important going into anki. Next, regular review and doing practice questions consistently hammered everything home. Good luck 😀

 

[Tappinfool66]

Yeah that sounds like a good plan to me, if you are given notes I would definitely read them too. In class it will be nice to have the images in front of you though I think. I also loved Lehninger's Biochem if you're looking for a textbook.

Good idea, thanks!

I just finished up biochem block on Friday and start anatomy tomorrow. What worked well for me was to make condensed notes of the material, with the most important going into anki. Next, regular review and doing practice questions consistently hammered everything home. Good luck 😀

Yeah, they recommended we start making 1-page summaries of each lecture to condense things a bit, so I might try that. I didn't use Anki for anatomy (how? I do not know) so I probably won't start now. Definitely hoping to do regular review with a study group and lots of practice problems. Thanks for your advice! And best of luck to you in anatomy! 🙂

 

[kmp0410]

I take my own notes. Condenses things for sure. 1-2 pages for lectures is a lot easier than 50 slides. Also, physically writing the notes has always been a valuable learning tool for me. I messed around with everything so far in school and definitely like this the best. Watch lecture on 2x speed, pause to take notes when necessary and I can have watched lecture and took notes for it in the regular lecture time (for the most part). Found this to be the most efficient way. When I tried going to class I always felt behind because then I would have to still go home and write my own notes.

At least for us, there was usually a few pathways you had to know, so condensing them and writing them in your own words made it more manageable.

Flash cards will definitely be helpful for some things I think. Definitely more so than Anatomy where a visual understanding seems to be most important. I always use flash card to hammer down the details.

But what I've noticed in the short time in med school. Theres a moment during every test studying period where you feel overwhelmed and like the info is hard to handle...but it usually comes together and you feel ok. Happy studying.