tips for bio-chem

[eddie269]

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Hey guys, my first semester of bio-chem will start tomorrow and I am very excited (yes, excited). Anyways, I really want/need an A in the class so for everyone who has taken a semester of bio-chem, please list your tips and suggestions for doing well.

My friends told me to NEVER be behind, and in fact, read ahead if possible. What do you guys think?

 

[dgroulx]

Hey guys, my first semester of bio-chem will start tomorrow and I am very excited (yes, excited). Anyways, I really want/need an A in the class so for everyone who has taken a semester of bio-chem, please list your tips and suggestions for doing well.

My friends told me to NEVER be behind, and in fact, read ahead if possible. What do you guys think?

Learn each class of enzyme and what it does to functional groups of a molecule. Then when you learn molecule, enzyme, next molecule, enzyme, etc, you can understand what is happening. In undergrad, I had to draw things like the Kreb's cycle with the chemical structures of each molecule. I only needed to know the name (not structure) of the enzyme. But, when you know what the enzyme does, it is easier to draw the structure. It also helps if you've taken organic I first.

 

[pokey83]

Learn each class of enzyme and what it does to functional groups of a molecule. Then when you learn molecule, enzyme, next molecule, enzyme, etc, you can understand what is happening. In undergrad, I had to draw things like the Kreb's cycle with the chemical structures of each molecule. I only needed to know the name (not structure) of the enzyme. But, when you know what the enzyme does, it is easier to draw the structure. It also helps if you've taken organic I first.

I honeslty wouls suggest getting all the amino acids down first. Knowing then help so much throught the year.
Also this is a lot of work, but i made a HUGE poster of the all the pathways that we went over in class up ahead using the book. Connect them the way they are supposed to be and color co-ordinate them. Then all you have to do look at it each time, rather then having it so small in your book or notes. Made it easier for me to study.
But yea eznymes and amino acids very important.

 

[DHG]

Just go ahead and memorize the 20 amino acids. There fall into five groups. Do this first, knowing the group and the structure of each. Flash cards are good for this. There are only 20 and it won't take you long.


I bought a LARGE pad of sketch paper and a dry erase board. These were so helpful because I am the kind of person that has to write to memorize. And a 8x11 sheet of notebook paper is NOT good for writing out pathways.

Having a poster of pathways is a good idea, and making yourself is an even better idea. I'd suggest doing each new pathway poster the day before you start it in class. It won't make sense at that point but it will be fresh in your mind when you start that section, and you'll have your poster to refer back to.

Our school offered two biochem classes: Biochem of Macromolecules and Biochem of Metabolism. I don't know what your class focuses on, but Macromolecules was learning the classes of enzymes and compounds and some basic interactions, also there was a lot of talk about reactions at physiological pH, so know your acid-base stuff well. There was also a lot of enzyme kinetics in this class, so review your chemistry (if you did any kinetics in chemistry this will help you)... while metabolism was the electron transport chain, and ALL of metabolism (urea cycle, TCA cycle, lipid metabolism and synthesis, etc, etc, etc).

I miss biochem... it was tough, but a very neat class. I enjoyed it. BTW, as an econ major, you may have an easier time visulaizing the complicated web of interactions that biochem is going to throw at you. Everything is dependant on everything else, a lot of the time. You should have had good practice thinking in that mode in econ 👍

 

[bananaface]

I never had to actually memorize the AAs in my biochem class. Sad, hm?

Understanding what all of the enzymes do is definitely key, as noted by Dana. Also, make sure that you understand what all of the acronyms and abbreviations actually stand for.

 

[Moxxie]

Eveyone has some really great suggestions about how to study for biochem. I'm also the kind of person that has to write things in order to memorize things, and I also used DHG's white board/big pad of paper trick.

Another thing that I did was come up with my own short hand while taking notes. I underlined enzyme names with a squiggly line, put a box around final products, and intermediates were written in a different color. This way when I went back to my notes I could organize them more quickly. I'm really bad at drawing structures quickly, so I made sure that I got the correct name of the molecule so that if I missed a bond or a methyl group or something I could look it up later.

Good luck! Biochem was more work for me than o-chem, but I understood it better and enjoyed it more.

 

[DHG]

Eveyone has some really great suggestions about how to study for biochem. I'm also the kind of person that has to write things in order to memorize things, and I also used DHG's white board/big pad of paper trick.

Another thing that I did was come up with my own short hand while taking notes. I underlined enzyme names with a squiggly line, put a box around final products, and intermediates were written in a different color. This way when I went back to my notes I could organize them more quickly. I'm really bad at drawing structures quickly, so I made sure that I got the correct name of the molecule so that if I missed a bond or a methyl group or something I could look it up later.

Good luck! Biochem was more work for me than o-chem, but I understood it better and enjoyed it more.

That color coding thing is a great idea for your pathways... I started doing something similar on my pathway posters toward the very end, and wished I had done it all along. Great idea.

 

[meg]

I never had to actually memorize the AAs in my biochem class. Sad, hm?

Better than me.. I had to memorize them, but didn't. Thank god for the curve. 😳

 

[38ctk]

How to remember the classes of AA and which AA interact with each other

GIVLAMPFW ED HKR QNCYST --> GIVe a LAMP of Five Watts to ED HiKeR on QNCY STreet

GIVLAMPFW = nonpolar
ED = negatively charged AA
HKR = positively charged AA
QNCYST = polar

G = glycine
I = isoleucine
V = valine
L = Leucine
A = alanine
M = methionine
P = proline
F = phenyalanine
W = tryptophan

E = Glutamic acid
D = aspartic acid

H = histidine
K = lysine
R = arginine

Q = glutamine
N = asparagine
C = cysteine
Y = tyrosine
S = serine
T = threonine

RECORD LECTURE. THERE IS A LOT OF MATERIAL TO COVER AND YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO GET A LOT OF THE THINGS THE PROFESSOR SAYS.

 

[tcid]

Honestly, I didn't do so well in biochem until I started to find the material more interesting and actually kept up with the lectures by simply rewriting the lecture notes. But this was when we were going over more genetics-related material, ie DNA replication, transcription, and translation. I don't think this would work with the metabolism-related material, since it's just way too much. Unless you're a really good reader, reading the book throughly will also take too much time, and there may even be things in the book that you don't need to know. This will depend on your prof and book, though.

Ditto on recording the lectures. You probably won't need to listen to the entire lectures again, but if you jot down the times (ie 20:14) when the prof is going over something you think you need to hear again, you can just fast forward to that time. A huge majority of my biochem class were P1's, and there were a large collection of recorders placed at the table in front of the classroom everyday. As a joke, my prof one day said at the beginning of class, "First of all, I have a large selection of recording devices for sale..."

 

[pAwSN]

Biochem is better than Ochem...Rewrite notes and study ahead..It's hella interesting.

 

[dgroulx]

I never had to actually memorize the AAs in my biochem class. Sad, hm?

Understanding what all of the enzymes do is definitely key, as noted by Dana. Also, make sure that you understand what all of the acronyms and abbreviations actually stand for.

I had to memorize all the AAs by their structure in biology I. Of course, I went to an easy community college for that course.

 

[bananaface]

I had to memorize all the AAs by their structure in biology I. Of course, I went to an easy community college for that course.

😱 😛

 

[ButlerPharm.D.]

Buy Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews: Biochemistry. My class did not utilize a book instead we were to use "online resources to supplement our notes"...I bought this book and used it the whole semester, everything was covered and I ended up with an A in the class. Personally I thought Biochem was easier than Organic.

 

[nypharm]

I agree with everyone who said that biochem makes more sense than orgo - I did terribly in orgo and I too needed an A in biochem to show that I did in fact understand chemistry - I worked hard but got an A in it, and chem courses are usually the ones that bring down my GPA, so don't worry, you can definitely do well!
I don't know how your course works, but in mine there were weekly quizzes which really forced me to keep on top of the work - even if you don't have these I'd recommend trying to study (or at least make up study sheets of reactions) a little bit every week, because theres both a lot to understand and to memorize, and I think it would be too much to save until right before exams. Also as other people were saying there is throughout the course stuff from general chem (pH, Henderson-Hasselbach equation, delta G equations) so if you forgot or don't fully understand that stuff, I'd recommend reviewing chapters on those from general chem. Sorry this post wound up being so long, hope it helps.

 

[DrugDealer]

I bought a LARGE pad of sketch paper and a dry erase board. These were so helpful because I am the kind of person that has to write to memorize. And a 8x11 sheet of notebook paper is NOT good for writing out pathways.

Having a poster of pathways is a good idea, and making yourself is an even better idea. I'd suggest doing each new pathway poster the day before you start it in class. It won't make sense at that point but it will be fresh in your mind when you start that section, and you'll have your poster to refer back to.

I don't know why it never occurred to me to buy larger paper—last semester I was constantly trying to cram signaling pathways and feedback loops onto notebook paper.

I stopped at Michael’s on my way home from class today and bought a “floor pad” for little kids. It’s huge and has a cute little handle, and I can’t wait to draw out some metabolic pathways for Monday’s biochem exam. I’m such a nerd…..

 

[sdn1977]

Previous posters gave you great study tips!!!! The only thing I'd add is NEVER go on if you don't understand what you just went over. In other words, if you find yourself drawing the pathway or memorizing cycle, but don't know why it works...stop right there & go back & learn the why. You'll have lots of memorizing, but sometimes when you lose a fact in part of your brain during the stress of an exam, if you can work your way back with understanding, you can find that one bit you temporarily lost. Have fun & good luck - its a great class!

 

[eddie269]

Thanks guys, second week into biochem and I think today was the first day it got "hard." Introduced the amino acids but I am very eager to get started. I work out a lot and consume a lot of protein so knowing how these proteins (and amino acids) work would be nice. I hope it relates to my nutrition somehow.

Off to study!

 

[bananaface]

Good luck. Way to stay on top of things. 🙂

 

[scintilla]

Learn each class of enzyme and what it does to functional groups of a molecule. Then when you learn molecule, enzyme, next molecule, enzyme, etc, you can understand what is happening. In undergrad, I had to draw things like the Kreb's cycle with the chemical structures of each molecule. I only needed to know the name (not structure) of the enzyme. But, when you know what the enzyme does, it is easier to draw the structure. It also helps if you've taken organic I first.

yeah and somehow it does help if you are good in biology..i think.. 🙂

 

[aya01]

I had to memorize all the AAs by their structure in biology I. Of course, I went to an easy community college for that course.

Agh, me too! Except I didn't go to a community college for biology I. It was insane. On top of the amino acids, we had to memorize all the structures in glycolysis, the Kreb's cycle, and some other random pathways.

Not like I really remember them now, though.

 

[n0estoy]

yeah, always stay one step ahead of the professor by reading ahead. that's prolly the only way you'll get that A, trust me i took 2 semesters. oh yeah, and like the above post states, know glucose metabolism backwards and forwards.