Medical Biochemistry for Biochem Noobs

If you're like me and never took biochemistry as an undergrad, and spent a good amount of time in the foetal position dreading what biochemistry in medical school was going to be like, don't sweat it!

Biochem has a reputation of being a beast in undergrad, and so does p-chem (p-chem isn't necessary and more like something you do if you're a masochist), but here's a way to handle it without needing anything more than a couple of books and what's in your med school curriculum.

1. Hit biochem everyday, even if it's just 30 minutes (shoot for 2+ hours a day, everyday if you're weak on it).  And that's a rule for any other subject you're weak on or is just a beast in whatever block you're in.  1 hour a day minimum everyday for your hardest (or just most material-laden) will pay off.
2. Find a classmate to train with:  pretty obvious, but if you can teach it, you know it!  Plus, some quizzing helps of course.  Testing your recall is the most important thing in medical school.
3. Diagrams!  They're the key to learning everything in biochemistry to neuronal pathways.  If you draw it, you know it, and I think you retain the knowledge for longer too.

So that's cool and somewhat insightful, but what if I need more resources and I'm struggling? 

First Aid is great, it's got a nice glycolysis pathway and has clinical correlations to tons of biochemical processes, but if you're studying for your Step, it's lacks a whole lot of detail in other subjects, especially immunology.  First Aid is a good "refresher" and companion during med school, but don't rely it solely to help you ace any one certain class or the Step.  That's because it's super condensed and is superficial in some places (otherwise the book would be 30931919 pages long).





Lippincott's is alright too, I used it a lot, but mainly as a reference. They could totally improve on some diagrams (especially electron transport chain, for example), so if you're totally confused after studying the diagrams and can't make sense of then, it's not you.  I so far haven't gone back to Lippincott's, and not all schools use it, but if I go back to it, I'll review some more.  What I did like about it was the very very beginning, with protein structure, and their charts on stuff like hemoglobin disorders.  Their charts are great, and if you can get this book for cheap, it'd help.

But remember, no amount of books will help you, and while it may seem like a struggle, just give it more time and you'll conquer every mountain you'll come  across.  Best of luck!