Crushed on 2nd biochem exam

Hello all,


I need a little advice/encouragement, or whatever really. I am currently in a BA in biochem program. We just had our 2nd exam for one of my biochem classes, which I …um…just plain stunk it up. I got an A on the first exam and the class average was around 64%. It’s around the same for the 2nd exam, and I got 66%, but I am seriously doubting my ability to truly comprehend the subject matter. This is leading me to seriously question whether or not I would handle the rigorous med school curriculum, which I’m sure would be slightly more demanding than what I’m currently going through. I’m not the brightest academic but I think I can hold my own. I just takes me a little more time to understand the work than say…the ‘typical’ premed student. I’ve completed all my pre req’s reasonably well, and even though I could change degrees to something a little less demanding, I just want to be cautious of not jumping into water a little too deep for me. I just feel that alarm bells are ringing for me in relation to what I’m doing now and how hard the med school curriculum is. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Listen – biochem was seriously the hardest course in medical school. If you are taking that class as an undergrad where you need to know that crap in detail, you’ll be way ahead of the game in medical school.


Basic medical biochem - fasted vs fed state for glycolosis/gluconeogenesi s/ETC and all that stuff. Fatty acids, heme synthesis, lipids and that’s about it…(help me out here guys, I’ve purged it since biochem). Secret - you almost never use it in detail, just the concepts…


DO NOT let an undergrad biochem class keep you from your dream. Yeah, it’s rough but think memorization in medical school, not detailed knowledge. Believe me, after the biochem class, you didn’t need it except for Step I study and they can have those points…



I found the medical biochem course I took at a local medical school to be VERY detail oriented, and far from memorization.


I say really make an effort to “get it” now, so it will be just a tad easier when you get to med school.


FYI, next to Physio, Med biochem is the most commonly flunked course in med school from what I understand.

I’m going to have to echo those comments. Undergraduate biochem is a unique species. The course I took was oriented to identify students who could be successful as biochemists. I’m currently taking Medical Biochem & Genetics and doing well despite having finished the UG course with an average in the low 70s - an A on the transcript since most of the class did considerably worse.


I would definitely suggest visiting with your professor given your performance on the last exam. You may eventually need to re-evaluate your major if that’s the degree you are working toward, but I wouldn’t give up on MS admissions based on an isolated difficulty in this course.


Likewise, any knowledge you walk away with in classes that “mirror” MS classes will benefit you in some way when you cross that long and narrow bridge that is “the basic science years”.