Biochem help

[white-rose]

Hi all,
I wanted to know if we need to learn the structures of things like purines, pyrimidines, etc. If yes, are there any more structures, cycles, etc that are important.
I have just started preparing of Step1 and have started with biochem since I'm weakest at it. :confused: I don't have any USMLE books as yet. But I have a pdf version of high yield (biochem) which I'm using as a guide.
I would really appreciate your replies.
Thanks! :p

[wcb22]

pick up lippincott biochem, and read the whole thing. and seek to understand. if you want the absolute most high yield info, the stuff that cannot be left out, do first aid first.

know the whole glycolysis, HMP shunt, TCA cycle, fatty acid syn, pathway. all these pathways are connected, and draw the whole thing out. once you start "getting" biochem, it becomes a very neat science. you will see everything is connected.

biochem is about understanding, not memorization.

[fruity]

oh yes ......i totally agree with that .......coz if u just memorize it, at the end of it everything will be sooooooooo messed up , u won't know what to do.......so the best advice anyone can give you is try to understand it .........and yes the lectures do talk about stuctures .......by the way wcb22 how many days did u take for biochem ??

[wcb22]

i got my undergrad in chemistry, and i took a biochem course, so med school biochem wasn't so bad. every now and again i review pathways, do recall on clinical scenarios, diseases, etc, in prep for step 1.

[jameslynton]

What WBC22 said about review is correct. There are several good review books in Biochemistry - wbc22 - pointed on Lipincott - it is very good - also the Kaplan paper q-bank has two 50 block review questions in it. They will point out what you don't know and where to review. Also lange has a Biochemistry q-bank that is pretty good.

My additive statement would be to review Biochemistry and integrate it with pharmacology of the drugs and where they interact in the above pathways wbc22 pointed out. Also look at Biochemistry pathology also. So I would have my Pharm and Path book out while doing Biochemistry. Just my .02

[microphage]

biochem for step 1 was so low yield. I memmorize the entire lipincott's book. big whoop. the 100 or so pages of biochem in Kaplan were more than enough for step 1. No structure questions were asked, they didn't even care if u knew what glucose was let alone glycolysis.

btw, don't blow off anatomy and biostats...

[wcb22]

exactly... don't blow anything off, because you'll just be lucky enough to get a lot of those questions you are weak at on your exam. just when you start getting good marks in one subject, start moving on to that weak subject. don't spend too much time on your strengths, be well rounded. i'd rather be getting 70-80% on all subjects, than have 60s in a couple, and 80s in a couple, and 70-80 the rest. just keep an eye on your weaknesses.

like james said, biochem is such an integrative subject. you will understand pharm, path, a lot better when you know biochem. it's like mathematics, you may not use it so much because you have a calculator, but if you "wire your brain" with a good understanding of math, those synapses help you connect a lot of other things in life.

it's the same with biochem... even if you don't see any questions on biochem on step 1, you will have benefitted greatly from really understanding it. not only that, but in my experience, those students who really grasped biochem did well on their steps. i think it's because biochem requires a real understanding, and it trains your brain not to memorize, but to understand, AN ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY attribute for doing well on step 1.

[white-rose]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. I honestly have little idea about the kind of questions used in USMLE step 1. But I have been reading alot of the posts by the members and I found alot of info that I didn't find elsewhere.:p

I am not the type of person who can by-heart. I have always been trying to understand and study so that's fine with me. I would love to be good at biochem because I'm so weak at it. And that's why I wanted to start with it. But as you all know, sometimes it gets overwhelming when there's so much to know and understand. I've started from the nucleotides and genetics section as I loved genetics in school.

I will truly take all your suggestions seriously! Wish you all the best of luck for your scores!