Undergrad. Biochem. -VS- PodMed. Biochem.

[MaseratiGT]

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Hey everyone!

Ok...so...I have a lot of hate in my heart when it comes to Biochem. That might be because ALL of my exams had singe marks on the corners from being written in the fires of hell. (I did pull of a good grade in undergrad by eating, breathing, and doing nothing but Biochem for an entire semester).

I'm curious...for those of you who took biochem as undergrads...how did it compare...from topics...to the biochem you took as a PodMed?

I understand that the work load is more intense...I'm wondering about topics...are they similiar to what you learned in undergrad?

 

[j0ez0r]

i love drawing the pathways!

 

[MaseratiGT]

i love drawing the pathways!

The pathways make me heave.

 

[meats]

Biochem kicked my butt in undergrad!! I worked so hard for the B!!!!
Yeah, I love it but at the same time, I'm terrified to take it in med school!

Great thread BTW (at least we can pre-vent lol)
Any advice from those that are taking it right now in pod school???

 

[MaseratiGT]

Biochem kicked my butt in undergrad!! I worked so hard for the B!!!!
Yeah, I love it but at the same time, I'm terrified to take it in med school!

Great thread BTW (at least we can pre-vent lol)
Any advice from those that are taking it right now in pod school???

Pre-venting is ALWAYS a good thing. I'm not sure that I'll have "Vent" time during school...so I'll get it all out now.

 

[165007]

I am also scared about BIOCHEM. I also made a lousy B. Man, I had an A before the final.

 

[MaseratiGT]

So people...are any of you guys going to start studying pathways, kinematics, and the structures of amino acids?

Just thinking about it makes me vomit a little in my mouth.

If you are going to...what are you studying?

 

[j0ez0r]

i could be completely wrong but ive heard podmed biochem is less concentrated on pathways than say undergrad was. Im sure kinematics is strongly focused on as well as some of the structures. I would bet all equation type problems are also focused on.

We need a pod student to help us out here!

 

[meats]

So people...are any of you guys going to start studying pathways, kinematics, and the structures of amino acids?

Just thinking about it makes me vomit a little in my mouth.

Ouch! those words hurt!

Starting with the A.A structures...that might not be a bad idea...had them momorized at one point last year

 

[jonwill]

Hey everyone!

Ok...so...I have a lot of hate in my heart when it comes to Biochem. That might be because ALL of my exams had singe marks on the corners from being written in the fires of hell. (I did pull of a good grade in undergrad by eating, breathing, and doing nothing but Biochem for an entire semester).

I'm curious...for those of you who took biochem as undergrads...how did it compare...from topics...to the biochem you took as a PodMed?

I understand that the work load is more intense...I'm wondering about topics...are they similiar to what you learned in undergrad?

The biochem at DMU exhausted my knowledge from my undergrad biochem in a week or two. It took a lot of work but I ended up getting a B.

 

[MaseratiGT]

The biochem at DMU exhausted my knowledge from my undergrad biochem in a week or two. It took a lot of work but I ended up getting a B.

jonwill - I always appreciate honesty...I really do...but you have just ruined my life. Well, maybe not my life...but my summer. Ok...so I initially crapped a brick with the "week or two", but I'll get over it. 😀

Actually, thanks...if you were out in two weeks...I think I might want to review the notes I have from the course, to really get a better footing on some material.

This will be "The One" for me. Thanks again jonwill!

 

[meats]

jonwill - I always appreciate honesty...I really do...but you have just ruined my life. Well, maybe not my life...but my summer. Ok...so I initially crapped a brick with the "week or two", but I'll get over it. 😀

This will be "The One" for me. Thanks again jonwill!

you are so not alone buddy!

 

[Feli]

I think a lot depends on how hard/easy undergrad biochem was for you. I tought that it was harder in undergrad since it was the first crack at it and it was more chem based since it was the course for chem majors (heavy on structures, reactions, pathways, valence groups and charges, etc).

I like biochem in general, and pod school biochem seemed a lot more physio and pathology focused to me (esp diabetes, hypertension, gout, etc), which makes sense since we'll be health care professionals and not lab chemists. I'm not saying it was easy, but I stayed more focused and did a little better in pod school biochem than I did in undergrad.

In the end, biochem is a pretty small % part 1 of your board exam, so pass it and move on. You always want the best marks possible, and basic sciences all overlap somewhatr... biochem knowledge will help as a background in physio, pharm, path, etc. Every class is in the curriculum for good reason, but gross and lower anat are much bigger portions of your board exam and probably more critical to long term pod knowledge base.

Here's a related thread...
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=415459

 

[UW66]

For those of us who pussied out and never took it as an undergrad.....are we in trouble?

 

[Feli]

For those of us who pussied out and never took it as an undergrad.....are we in trouble?

No, but it might take you a bit more time to grasp the material.

In the end, everyone's different, but it's the same strategy in any class: keep up with the pace of the course and don't get behind. Sure, that's easier said than done, but a demanding curriculum is all about time management and deciding how much effort you need in each class to get the grades you want. You're never gonna look back and say "wow, I studied way too much for that class."

 

[MrFeeties]

I was a biochem major as an undergrad and I think its like comparing apples to oranges. Medical biochemistry is much more functional and you learn a lot more about specific diseases and disorders. por ejemplo, wtf is 'hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase'? it's a term our biochem professor could barely pronounce, but if you think about it in terms of purine breakdown metabolite -> xanthine oxidase -> allopurinol -> treatment of gout, well then it means something. You learn more about vitamins and cofactors, metabolic diseases and things that I would say lead into pharmacology and clinical medicine than you do cellular metabolism pathways.

As an undergrad, I had to know all the intermediates for all the metabolic pathways and be able to draw out all the structures and 'push electrons' for all the bioenergetics, carnitine/beta oxidation, urea cycle, even for steroid pathways! At Scholl, I think we charged through all that stuff in less than a week and the important things to know were inputs, outputs and products. Much more useful! I got a better grade in biochem here than I did in undergrad. And I didn't have to take pchem this time!

 

[165007]

I was a biochem major as an undergrad and I think its like comparing apples to oranges. Medical biochemistry is much more functional and you learn a lot more about specific diseases and disorders. por ejemplo, wtf is 'hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase'? it's a term our biochem professor could barely pronounce, but if you think about it in terms of purine breakdown metabolite -> xanthine oxidase -> allopurinol -> treatment of gout, well then it means something. You learn more about vitamins and cofactors, metabolic diseases and things that I would say lead into pharmacology and clinical medicine than you do cellular metabolism pathways.

As an undergrad, I had to know all the intermediates for all the metabolic pathways and be able to draw out all the structures and 'push electrons' for all the bioenergetics, carnitine/beta oxidation, urea cycle, even for steroid pathways! At Scholl, I think we charged through all that stuff in less than a week and the important things to know were inputs, outputs and products. Much more useful! I got a better grade in biochem here than I did in undergrad. And I didn't have to take pchem this time!

PCHEM was hell.
OMG, that class was so freaking hard.

12 hours to do like 6 problems with a group of 15+ people. lol

 

[meats]

PCHEM was hell.
OMG, that class was so freaking hard.

12 hours to do like 6 problems with a group of 15+ people. lol

and i'm SOOO glad i stayed away from it!! kudos to you! 👍

 

[Creflo]

i was in your same boat the summer before my first year (worried about biochem), and it turns out that biochem is not that much into what i consider the hard chemistry stuff (orbitals, electron interactions, organic chemistry,etc.). it does take effort, but not so much more than any other first year class. i mean, there are some biochem books out there that are like reading a foreign language, but med school biochem is more like the lippincott biochem book, so you guys should be all right.

 

[evander]

biochem was tough, but entirely doable. I was worried going into it because I had never taken the course, but I worked hard and came out with an A. I also know people who had previously taken it and felt like they didn't need to study: they didn't do so hot! Don't worry about studying too much before school starts; you never know what the professor will focus on. The pathway questions on exams are usually straightforward; the more difficult ones were relating the chemistry to the human body.

 

[TheBee]

I took Biochem as an undergrad and it was totally useless. The woman who taught it had a heavy German accent, and even though I was a German minor, I had a really tough time understanding a thing she said. She was also more concerned with her research than teaching, so a lot of her ppts consisted of images from her lab, rather than useful info.

Beyond that... I was searching through Scholl's website (where I'm going in the fall!), and found some info to self-teach yourself biochem. You can find it here: http://www.rosalindfranklin.edu/scp...m/orientation.protected.info/orient.index.cfm
It seems like the most basic stuff, but probably wouldn't hurt to glance over before the fall.

 

[NatCh]

For those of us who pussied out and never took it as an undergrad.....are we in trouble?

You're gonna die!!!

Just kidding, but I found the class challenging. It was not as challenging for me as microbiology was, but challenging nonetheless.

It's been awhile since school and I accidentally hit the Ctrl-Alt-Delete buttons on my brain right after Residency, but the way I remember it the first two years of Pod school was mostly about bulk memorization and secondarily about comprehension. Be able to word-associate lots and don't get too hung up on understanding too deeply WTF is really going on. Comprehension comes later, when (if) you actually apply the info during the process of caring for a patient. I wonder what percentage of material I learned in Pod school I actually use now? Maybe 20%? 10%? Residency is when you get the hang of how to treat patients. School is more akin to military Boot Camp.

Here's a funny story from Residency (well, I think it's funny):
I was on Internal Medicine rotation, the most heinous month of my life, and late one night the senior Medicine Resident was pimping me on metabolic acidosis. At that hour I could barely function, let alone discuss the topic cogently. All I could remember was the mnemonic "MUDPILES" had something to do with anion gaps, but hadn't the slightest idea what it really meant. She asked me something that sounded like, "[blah blah blah] anion gap?"

I looked at her thoughtfully, nodded my head slowly, and said, "mudpiles..."

She shouted out, "YES!!! Strong work!"

As if I knew what the heck it meant...



Hey, if I can get through pod school then so can you guys. You'll be fine; just work your butts off!

Nat



MUDPILES

The causes of a metabolic acidosis can be classified on the basis of a normal or elevated anion gap.

• An elevated anion gap is created by inorganic (eg, phosphate or sulfate), organic (eg, ketoacids or lactate), or exogenous (eg, salicylate) acids incompletely neutralized by bicarbonate. Frequent causes of an elevated anion gap metabolic acidosis is represented by the mnemonic MUDPILES:

• • Methanol
  • Uremia
  • Diabetic ketoacidosis
  • Paraldehyde
  • Iron, isoniazid (INH)
  • Lactic acid
  • Ethanol, ethylene glycol
  • Salicylates

From: http://www.emedicine.com/PED/topic15.htm

 

[MaseratiGT]

You're gonna die!!!

Just kidding, but I found the class challenging. It was not as challenging for me as microbiology was, but challenging nonetheless.

It's been awhile since school and I accidentally hit the Ctrl-Alt-Delete buttons on my brain right after Residency, but the way I remember it the first two years of Pod school was mostly about bulk memorization and secondarily about comprehension. Be able to word-associate lots and don't get too hung up on understanding too deeply WTF is really going on. Comprehension comes later, when (if) you actually apply the info during the process of caring for a patient. I wonder what percentage of material I learned in Pod school I actually use now? Maybe 20%? 10%? Residency is when you get the hang of how to treat patients. School is more akin to military Boot Camp.

Here's a funny story from Residency (well, I think it's funny):
I was on Internal Medicine rotation, the most heinous month of my life, and late one night the senior Medicine Resident was pimping me on metabolic acidosis. At that hour I could barely function, let alone discuss the topic cogently. All I could remember was the mnemonic "MUDPILES" had something to do with anion gaps, but hadn't the slightest idea what it really meant. She asked me something that sounded like, "[blah blah blah] anion gap?"

I looked at her thoughtfully, nodded my head slowly, and said, "mudpiles..."

She shouted out, "YES!!! Strong work!"

As if I knew what the heck it meant...



Hey, if I can get through pod school then so can you guys. You'll be fine; just work your butts off!

Nat



MUDPILES

The causes of a metabolic acidosis can be classified on the basis of a normal or elevated anion gap.

• An elevated anion gap is created by inorganic (eg, phosphate or sulfate), organic (eg, ketoacids or lactate), or exogenous (eg, salicylate) acids incompletely neutralized by bicarbonate. Frequent causes of an elevated anion gap metabolic acidosis is represented by the mnemonic MUDPILES:

• • Methanol
  • Uremia
  • Diabetic ketoacidosis
  • Paraldehyde
  • Iron, isoniazid (INH)
  • Lactic acid
  • Ethanol, ethylene glycol
  • Salicylates

From: http://www.emedicine.com/PED/topic15.htm

CRAPS BRICK

Oh my goodness! I'm not cut out for "Boot Camp." As the starter of this thread, I think I should propose that instead of the term "Boot Camp," we are to call our podiatric medical education something from the following list of terms:
1. Party On South Beach If You Go To Barry For 4 Years
2. Osmosis Of Information Through Our Pillows While We Sleep For 4 Years
3. Biochemistry Is No Longer A Science In Podiatry School For 4 Years

Por Ejemplo -
*Patient Z - "Ah! Your a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine?!"
*Doctor - "Why yes I am! I went through the very challenging 'Party On South Beach Because I Went To Barry' curriculum."

I'm actually going to try the osmosis thing. I'll sleep with my undergrad. Biochem book under my pillow tonight and report back what I learned.

Thanks to everyone who has been posting on this thread. None of you have made me feel any better...especially you NATCh...but I've been having a good laugh over the past few days.

 

[evander]

I took Biochem as an undergrad and it was totally useless. The woman who taught it had a heavy German accent, and even though I was a German minor, I had a really tough time understanding a thing she said. She was also more concerned with her research than teaching, so a lot of her ppts consisted of images from her lab, rather than useful info.

Beyond that... I was searching through Scholl's website (where I'm going in the fall!), and found some info to self-teach yourself biochem. You can find it here: http://www.rosalindfranklin.edu/scp...m/orientation.protected.info/orient.index.cfm
It seems like the most basic stuff, but probably wouldn't hurt to glance over before the fall.

The Bee:
The self study info on the Scholl site is simply to ease the adjustment into your new classes. None of that material will be tested on _directly_, HOWEVER, it is good to know. It keeps you from trying to memorize something new when you have about fifty other things you are about to be tested on.

I studied the material hard during the month before school; the most beneficial part of it was to get me into study mode before getting blasted by the pace of my classes. Knowing the material came in handy in a few cases though.

Regarding NatCH's comment, I agree that some of this stuff will be of little use _directly_ in your future career, but comprehending it thoroughly will earn you a good grade-->good residency-->good opportunities. Depending on the type of student you are, bulk memorization could work but comprehension will serve you better and more consistantly.

 

[NatCh]

Regarding NatCH's comment, I agree that some of this stuff will be of little use _directly_ in your future career, but comprehending it thoroughly will earn you a good grade-->good residency-->good opportunities. Depending on the type of student you are, bulk memorization could work but comprehension will serve you better and more consistantly.

There was no way I was going to be able to comprehend fully everything they threw at us. Some classes I just did all I could to not get escorted off the property. That probably explains my mediocrity, har.

 

[meats]

CRAPS BRICK

Oh my goodness! I'm not cut out for "Boot Camp." As the starter of this thread, I think I should propose that instead of the term "Boot Camp," we are to call our podiatric medical education something from the following list of terms:
1. Party On South Beach If You Go To Barry For 4 Years
2. Osmosis Of Information Through Our Pillows While We Sleep For 4 Years
3. Biochemistry Is No Longer A Science In Podiatry School For 4 Years

Por Ejemplo -
*Patient Z - "Ah! Your a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine?!"
*Doctor - "Why yes I am! I went through the very challenging 'Party On South Beach Because I Went To Barry' curriculum."

I'm actually going to try the osmosis thing. I'll sleep with my undergrad. Biochem book under my pillow tonight and report back what I learned.

Thanks to everyone who has been posting on this thread. None of you have made me feel any better...especially you NATCh...but I've been having a good laugh over the past few days.