Your undergraduate biochemistry experience

[studpremed]

---

Members don't see this ad.

So I finally finished my two semesters of biochemistry and I want to know how other people's experience in biochemistry. Now that the new MCAT requires biochemistry I think it will be great to have us all talk about our experience in the class and our study habits. Biochemistry is by far the most difficult class I have ever taken in my undergraduate. It was a combination of general chemistry, biology, and organic chemistry in one intensive class. There is absolutely no way to study for this class a couple of days or a week in advance if you want an A so I would highly recommend you to start studying the material the day you learn the material because once you fall behind it is very difficult to catch back up.
My advice besides studying in advance is to do as many practice problems as possible and look for old exams. One way I study was to use the old exams as I review the material to help learn the material and keeping me on track of what I need to know. When it comes to reading the textbook, it is highly dependent on the professor. My class was taught by four different professors. Two of my professors put all the info that would be on the exam on the powerpoints while the other two just read off slides that were based on the textbook.
That's as much as I can think about advice wise lol. But please let us all share our experience so we can help those that may struggle in this class in the future.

 

[samac]

I memorized figures 2 days before the exam.
Bam A in biochem and advanced biochem. This is so school dependent I don't know how to give advice here lol

 

[Imperius]

Really depends on the instructor/institution...

First term biochem - awesome instructor, clear presentation, good tests: loved that class
Second term biochem - terrible instructor, insane tests (class average on the final was 42%...like why the hell write a test that hard?): hated that class

I feel that you should study with it the same as any other class...personally, I review concepts until I understand entire pathways, and then explain them to my peers, friends, whoever. Biochem just can take more time to understand because it's more in-depth than gen bio.

 

[Dandine]

I was in a one-semester class rather than a biochem-major two-semester class, but relevant regardless.

At my school there was a clear option for professor, but it was very difficult to get into that section (read: not me). The class I ended up in required lots of slide-reading and memorization, and I studied with several people, especially around finals time when I was juggling between study groups. Explaining things to people helped me remember stuff come exam time, but looking back I probably should have focused more on things that I knew off the bat I needed to study more rather than going through everything with other people.

Long story short, tiring experience, but it did help me feel more confident about my approach to studying the way a med student would because of the large volume of information.

As for tips, I think that what made biochem hard for me was the memorization, so the best way to go in general is to break things down in ways you'll remember. Create flashcards. Make up mnemonics. Draw until you see the images in your head. Doesn't matter. Find a way to get the information in your head and, even more importantly, how to use it for problems.

Videos are helpful too. I like this guy. Amazing biochem playlists, imo.

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC9dwpPww39UZt8vYE_UoZoA

 

[neuro17]

Easily one of the hardest courses I've taken. Especially because it was curved.