<p>The biochem course I'm taking now covers so many different, random topics that are mostly not connected with each other. (ex. proteins and factors involved in pro/eukaryotic transcription and translation and their mechanisms, drawing recombination models (Meselson Raddling, Holliday, etc.), detailed mechanisms of lytic and lysogenic cycle, how plasmids are "selfish" and additional proteins involved, etc etc.)
This isn't one of those biochem courses that involve understanding of orgo. It just mostly dumps you with loads of info and makes you memorize them. There is some understanding to do, but very little compared to what we need to memorize.
The exams were totally ridiculous because the prof randomly chose to test only 10% of what's covered. I realized that some profs could really be unreasonable. I'm scared for the final.
Is this how a biochem course should be taught? :(:(:(:(:(</p>
<p>This is how medical school is taught.</p>
<p>^ that's horribly depressing.</p>
<p>That's how my classes are taught- and I'm only a sophomore.</p>
<p>The last test had me drawing translocation crosses- that was a pain in the arse.</p>
<p>Study hard. At some NY med schools, Biochem I and II are treated as weeder courses. So, study hard and cover everything in the curriculum. Ask the prof and older students for old tests and practice.</p>
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At some NY med schools, Biochem I and II are treated as weeder courses.
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<p>Med schools don't have weeder courses. It's not in their favor to have students fail out.</p>
<p>Sounds kind of like my biochem class that I'm taking right now. For our next exam, we have to memorize all the steps of glycolysis, TCA and Calvin cycles, fatty acid synthesis, gluconeogenesis, structures of all substrates and intermediates, names and mechanisms of most of the enzymes. And like your class, my teacher will probably only test us on 15% of it. But it does seem to require an understanding of orgo (which is definitely helping me out since I had an awesome orgo teacher).</p>
<p>Guess how I'm spending my weekend?</p>
<p>We learned all the cycles in 4 days in med school and I mean all the cycles (glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, FA synthesis, beta-oxidation, alpha-oxidation, gamma-oxidation, TCA, oxidative phosphorylation, nucleic acid synthesis, nucleic acid breakdown, urea cycle, pentose phosphate pathway, glycogen synthesis, anaerobic respiration). And that was when we only had 2 hours of lecture per day. Now we have 4 hours of science per day and it's double the pain.</p>
<p>If I had to put an estimate on it, I'd say that the med school schedule is the equivalent of taking around 6 science courses + 1-2 non-science courses (since you do have ethics/communication/sociology classes in med school). It's good to get semi-used to the workload in college although I personally don't think anyone can get a good idea of the rigors of med school in undergrad. Just as with undergrad, if your goal is to do well, then you can have a relatively easy time in med school. If your goal is to make AOA (be in the top 15-20% of your class), then it is a lot of work. For my class at least (average college GPA was 3.8), the means on tests refuse to drop below 80% so you essentially have to score 90%+ on every exam to be in AOA-contention.</p>
<p>norcalguy, is medical school that much harder than college? I bet you guys do nothing but study all the time, right? I hear how lots of med students hate medical schools. I'm pretty worried.</p>
<p>It depends on your goals. I think it's pretty hard to fail med school. Some of my classmates already know they're going into peds or family medicine and they are perfectly happy with being in the bottom 1/3 all the time. I think I would only have to study slightly harder than I did in college to pass my classes.</p>
<p>However, I'm thinking about some competitive specialties right now and I would also like to keep my options open. So, I came into med school with the mindset that I would try to compete for AOA which would require me to be in the top 25% of my med school class. There's a huge difference b/w not failing (typically only 1-2% of the class fail any one test, which you can just remediate) and having to score in the top 1/4 of the med school class and that requires a lot of hard work. No matter how hard they make the tests in med school, our means simply don't get below 80% very often. That means if you want to be near the top of the class, you'll have to score 90% (raw score) consistently. The sheer volume of material is enough to drive anyone nuts.</p>
<p>Although, to clarify, you don't <em>need</em> AOA to qualify for any specialty, even the most competitive ones. But, it is a very important factor along with recs, USMLE score, and research, especially at a pass/fail med school like the one I'm going to.</p>
<p>but if it's pass/fail, then how do they know you are AOA?</p>
<p>Because they keep track of your test scores internally.</p>
<p>So, the top 16% will get AOA, everyone else will get a pass (whether you're in the 30th percentile or 80th percentile). There is no notation of percentiles on your Dean's Letter except when you've been nominated for or accepted into AOA. This means that it is not particularly harmful to your application if you're not in AOA since the vast majority of students (many of whom will do very well) won't get into AOA. But, it is that much more beneficial if you can get into AOA.</p>
<p>NCG: The pressure that you get would be unimaginable (especially since you're aiming for AOA). How do you cope with it? What do you do to relieve stress? Do you ever feel like giving up AOA and just settling for the bottom 1/3 because you're really stressed out?</p>
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but if it's pass/fail, then how do they know you are AOA?
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<p>and not all med schools are on a strict pass/fail system... in fact I would venture a guess that the majority are not</p>
<p>and to ysk1, many students use large doses of EtOH in between tests :)</p>
<p>There are almost no true P/F schools since 98% of US med schools have AOA. Mine is about as close as it gets since our rank is not noted on our Dean's Letter (in contrast to some other P/F schools).</p>
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NCG: The pressure that you get would be unimaginable (especially since you're aiming for AOA). How do you cope with it? What do you do to relieve stress? Do you ever feel like giving up AOA and just settling for the bottom 1/3 because you're really stressed out?
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<p>I was talking about this with my parents yesterday. Right now it's still pretty early and everyone is still giving their 100% effort (judging by the near 100% lecture attendance we still have). I personally don't go to lecture very often but I'm always impressed by the attendance the few times that I crawl up at 8AM to go. However, I'm sure we'll begin to separate ourselves out as the year goes on and everyone will no longer put this kind of pressure on themselves. Right now, I'm in the top 10% of my class, but if 2/3's of the way through the school year, I'm in the middle or in the bottom half of my class, I think I might dial back the intensity a little bit. In the end, if I get the average USMLE score at my school (which is around 233) and no AOA, I can still get into a good residency. There's no shame in "settling" for the 50th percentile.</p>
<p>You are a great kid NCG. I hope my DS makes time to talk to me during his 1st year.</p>