Which is harder: Genetics or Biochemistry?

[HCW212]

I know it may vary, but just want to hear your opinions or facts, haha.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[madonna]

biochem, by far. genetics is kind of a variation on a theme, its logical. prokaryotes are very easy, eukaryotes are more challenging but pretty easy still. i had a very easy prof for biochem and i did not learn anything but my friends with real teachers were all crying
good luck in both of them

 

[Jeesing]

I found biochem harder, there was just so much more material and memorization required to it. The actual course material in biochem was not that difficult to learn and about the same difficulty as genetics, just much more of it. I had 7 days to study for the final exam and i still found myself short on time, and basically barely studied one section i thought would have minimal question on the exam. Also there was alot of punnett squares in genetics, something i learned in high school and was very comfortable with so that made it easier for me.

 

[jackets5]

Took Genetics and it was terrible, teacher was real bad and boring. BUT taking Biochem now with a good prof and the class is very hard. the class average on the first 2 exams were both 40. A 60 or 65 will be an "A" for the semester. Biochem is by far the hardest class ive taken

 

[Nikki2002]

oh biochem....for the love of god

 

[drmota]

biochem is harder. i got an A+ in genetics with less studying than biochem, which I got a B+ in.
-mota

 

[zero2hero]

Biochem is def the harder of the two. Alot more memorization and tougher concepts than DNA polymerase and translation. Both classes are difficult, though if you miss a lecture or two for either of them you'll be more screwed in biochem. Got an A in both classes but you have to work ALOT harder to get it in biochem.

 

[pixie84]

at my school, genetics by far... i'm doing MUCH better in biochem than i did in genetics. but my school does have a notoriously difficult genetics class that singlehandedly deters people from becoming bio majors... so it all depends.

 

[Pewl]

I'd have to say genetics was a hell of a lot harder at my school. Biochem is just memorizing a lot of stuff, but some of the problems we had to do for genetics were ridiculous.

 

[modelslashactor]

as somebody who is currently trying to learn all the steps of bloody metabolism, I would say biochem is by far the bigger pain in the rear. I think in biochem what they are really testing is how good of a student you are, because you have to start studying for these exams at least a week in advance.

 

[Darth Asclepius]

It might depend on which biochem class. My biochem classes were at least 10x harder than my genetics class, but it was the 7 credit majors sequence and the professors prided themselves on being difficult. The people that took the 3 credit course designed for bio majors said it wasn't so bad. If you're trying to compare them, talk to people at YOUR SCHOOL who have taken both. They'll know best what you should expect since different schools make different classes difficult.

Also, it depends what kind of learner you are. Biochem is mostly memorization, but LOTS of it. Genetics is understanding concepts and solving problems. Once you master that, you can apply it to lots of different problems. I'm better at that than memorization, so I found genetics to be a lot easier than biochem (also why I thought pchem was easier than biochem). In med school, a lot of the great memorizers struggle with genetics but don't have much trouble with the biochem.

 

[coral]

I think biochemistry is the more difficult just due to the sheer volume of material you have to memorize and the fact that most people tend to get behind and get totally overwhelmed. Genetics is just a variation on a theme as mentioned above, with lots of increasingly complicated probability questions, although I am still bitter about getting a C+ in the course-- point-wise I had a B+ but because more than like 15% of the class had A's, I got bumped down ;( grrrrrh.

 

[novawildcat]

as somebody who is currently trying to learn all the steps of bloody metabolism, I would say biochem is by far the bigger pain in the rear. I think in biochem what they are really testing is how good of a student you are, because you have to start studying for these exams at least a week in advance.

LOL i remember learning and teaching myself all of the TCA cycle, glycolysis, and oxidative phosphorylation...........the night before the exam. ahhh the good 'ol days.

 

[Gavanshir]

LOL i remember learning and teaching myself all of the TCA cycle, glycolysis, and oxidative phosphorylation...........the night before the exam. ahhh the good 'ol days.

But I had all of that in BioII!

 

[penguinophile]

But I had all of that in BioII!

not like in biochem

 

[Shredder]

biochem undoubtedly

 

[Centinel]

Biochem.

 

[beanbean]

As other posters have mentioned, it really depends on your school and how the courses are structured.

Genetics was tough at UCONN because it was a large class, lots of material with exams based on the lectures not the book and exams were difficult to finish within the strict time limits. All of these factors were very professor-dependent. The actual material you learn is pretty logical and the concepts are straighforward if taught properly.

Biochem was the hardest class I ever took as an undergrad or post-bacc. There are two biochem classes at UCONN...the really-hard one and the not-so-hard one. Due to my post-bacc schedule I had to take the crazy-hard one. Part of what makes Biochem hard is that you need to memorize a great deal on info and integrate the information into fairly difficult concepts. Of course, the volume of material doesn't help. That being said, it was one of my favorite classes and I have never been more proud to get an 'A'. It was the one class that made me think: "If I can handle this, I know I can handle med school."

Both Biochem and Genetics are great to have for the MCAT and med school. The material blows by so fast in med school it is nice to have seen it before.