[chegeek9]

Hi, I hope it is appropriate to post this question in this thread. I'm going to be starting the first of a two semester biochemistry sequence this fall and would like to know from people who have taken Biochemistry I what the difficulty of the class is in comparison to O. Chem. and what I should expect. Anything that you feel would be necessary to inform a person taking biochem. for the first time about would be greatly appreciated as well!

Thanks!

[Honclbrif]

Its a rather tall question as "Biochem I" will vary from school to school and prof to prof within that school. Your best bet is to find out who will be teaching it and direct the question to them. If that's not an option, see if you can find a biochem text book and start from the beginning to get an idea of what will be covered.

When I took biochem I it was basics on what enzymes are, how they work (some mechanisms and enzyme kinetics), and how they work together to make pathways. Biochem II (again, for me) was more concerned with genetics. Your mileage may vary.

[Doc Oc]

I personally found biochemistry to be much easier than organic.  But it was largely thanks to the foundation laid by organic that I was able to succeed.

[voidSetup]

We had a one semester biochem course at my school. Started with some review of acid/base and buffers, then enzyme/protein structure, a couple other topics then ended with some biochemical pathways. I found it was mostly memorization though whereas organic Chem requires you to think about mechanisms and solve problems. The pathways was the hardest part because we had to memorize all of the intermediates in the pathway and the enzymes that catalyze each reaction.