A new “How To Study” series!! Part 1 of ???
see part 2: How To Study Physics
How to study BIOCHEMISTRY (from yours truly, a biochem major at ucla)
(but also note that i’ve only taken one biochem specific class so far but this class was general biochemistry so hopefully the tips and tricks i learned from taking this class will apply to higher levels of biochemistry!)
Biochemistry is a VERY dense subject, it requires a good background in general chemistry (such as acids and bases, thermodynamics) and a strong biology background (hence BIO cheMISTRY) (who would have ever guessed)
Anyways I like to think that biochem is not exactly a strenuous subject in that you won’t need to rack your brain to solve application problems, but it DOES require a LOT of memorization which is arguably less painful, but is still scary.
General Memorization Tips
Start early! The earlier you start your studying, the more time your brain has to process the information which means it will get more comfortable with it and you’ll probably be able to remember it more easily later.
BABY STEPS, don’t try to memorize like 600 terms in one sitting. You’ll probably get them mixed up. The brain doesn’t work that way (for most of us!). Instead, start with the first ten things, get them down really well, then move on to the next ten, then try to get all twenty together. And then the next ten, and then a cumulative self check, and so on. I think this was the best way to start. You have to find how much information you can retain in one sitting!
Make use of free time, try to recall things when you’re waiting in line for food, for the bus, for the shower to warm up, etc. Jogging your memory at all times helps make it more solid.
Make whatever you’re studying your phone/laptop background so it’s of easy access to you! I made the amino acids my iPad lockscreen when I was trying to memorize all of those!
Seriously flashcards help
Memorizing the 20 Amino Acids (and their structures…) in one week
My first quiz in my biochemistry class was to be able to remember all 20 amino acid names, three letter abbreviations, one letter abbreviations, and structures at physiological pH. It was scary lol I had to memorize all that in oNE WEEK (evil)
Grouping them into their respective types can help you in the long run when you may be asked which amino acids are present in polar/nonpolar environments.
I started memorizing the negative and positive amino acids first (there were the least of them lol). I used the cumulative batches method where I memorized the negative ones completely and then moved onto positive ones, and then did a cumulative self check. When I felt comfortable with those I moved onto nonpolar, then aromatic, then polar (idk why i did that order tho)
Most of the one letter abbreviations are the first letter of the name of the amino acid, especially in the nonpolar cases. I remembered the names and abbreviations of the nonpolar ones by just remembering GAVLIMP (read down the column!)
Glutamic Acid is GLU, E (which just spells glue)
Arginine is ARG ARRR ® like a pirate (lol)
Glutamine is Q and that’s weird so that resonated with me
Glutamine and Asparagine are similar to Glutamic Acid and Aspartic Acid in structure!
The nonpolar amino acid structures kind of build upon the previous one, which is also how I remembered those structures
I mainly took advantage of photographic memory in this case because whenever I was asked to recall a certain amino acid, in my head I would think about where that amino acid was on this poster I made. That helped my brain keep everything organized!
Memorizing Fatty Acids/Certain Carbohydrates
Whenever you have to identify or name things, flashcards are the best!! I remember I made flashcards for everything on this page and me and my friends quizzed each other while waiting to be seated at korean bbq lol
Photographic memory again!! Write out all the stuff you gotta know onto one piece of paper (try to limit it to just one side) and study from that. It’s like organizing how your brain will remember stuff (kinda like you knowing exactly where something is in your drawer because you organized it that way)
Memorizing Pathways or Cycles
Glycolysis was the first pathway I had to remember, this one took me the longest because we were required to remember the structures, the names of the enzymes, the cofactors, LITERALLY EVERYTHING in one week it was a STRESS MESS
On this poster I have the detailed version that includes structures on the top and then a brief overview on the bottom that just has the names of stuff. I thought this helped (not sure how)
If you have taken organic chemistry in the past, then memorizing the structures may come a little easier to you because the names of the structures are super close to IUPAC naming so you can deduce from there!
It’s important to run through this IN ORDER over and over and over. Write it out so your hand gets a feel for it.
GOING IN ORDER IS JUST SO IMPORTANT because it conditions your brain to follow that order and you’ll notice that everything builds upon the other (the brain loves patterns and order so this will expedite memorization)
We also had to track carbons, so color coding would have helped in this case too! Color code each carbon so it’s clear where everything goes.
I think biochemistry is also a subject that requires a lot of time and effort, so make sure you give yourself time to study for it. Make a good study group as well so that you have many other people to correct you if you make mistakes, and you can correct them on their mistakes! I also think that catching errors or learning from previous errors is the BEST way to remember the RIGHT information because it shakes you; no one likes to be wrong!
But also remember that everyone has their own habits, find the study tricks that work best for YOU! The more you study, the more you discover what benefits you more. Keep an open mind and a good attitude towards the subject you are working on, and remember that so long as you try your HARDEST you’ll be proud of yourself in the end!!!
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