[wynn]

I am about to take Biochemistry 1 for next semester. Does anybody know how I can get a head start on the class besides reading ahead?
Is there any subjects I should review before taking the class?

Thank You

[sjb]

I am about to take Biochemistry 1 for next semester. Does anybody know how I can get a head start on the class besides reading ahead?
Is there any subjects I should review before taking the class?

Thank You

What is "Biochemistry 1"? Presumably there is a syllabus somewhere?

[wynn]

I am about to take Biochemistry 1 for next semester. Does anybody know how I can get a head start on the class besides reading ahead?
Is there any subjects I should review before taking the class?

Thank You

What is "Biochemistry 1"? Presumably there is a syllabus somewhere?

I found this online. Although it is not the course objective from my professor's syllabus, it should be fairly close.

The primary objective of this course is for students to (1) learn fundamental approaches for experimentally investigating biochemical problems, (2) learn the theoretical foundations for the methods used, and (3) understand the applicability of the biochemical methods to realistic situations. Topics covered in this course include methods for the isolation, purification, and characterization of proteins, nucleic acids and lipids; characterization of enzyme kinetics; and manipulation of macromolecular structures from databases using contemporary visualization software.

[Babcock_Hall]

I would focus on functional groups, especially those seen in biomolecules. They include amides, acetals, and, carboxylic esters, phosphodiesters, to name four important ones that come from the four major classes of biological macromolecules.  Knowing the rudiments of kinetics never hurt anyone, either.  There are also a couple of books that are intended to help students see the forest from the trees"  Gilbert's "Basic concepts in biochemistry" and "PDQ Biochemistry" by Baker and Murray.

[Babcock_Hall]

Now that I have reread the course objectives, I would first comment that this looks almost more like an introductory laboratory course, not a standard introductory lecture course in biochemistry.  I can see some potential problems.  It would be tough to study the visualization of proteins from pdb files, if you don't have a good grasp of fundamental protein structure as a starting point, for example.

I would review chromatography, including ion exchange and gel filtration.  I would also review linear regression.

[curiouscat]

Now that I have reread the course objectives, I would first comment that this looks almost more like an introductory laboratory course, not a standard introductory lecture course in biochemistry.  I can see some potential problems.

I can see more potential problems:

I found this online. Although it is not the course objective from my professor's syllabus, it should be fairly close.

Does the OP have any idea why a random snippet he found online should be close to his class?

And you are right about it being a lab course. This is the source:

http://ww2.chemistry.gatech.edu/class/peek/4581/syllabus.pdf

He was asked for his syllabus. He gave us  a syllabus. 

[kpowers.nj]

I just took Biochemistry 1 and I would recommend starting to memorize the 20 major amino acids and know what makes some of them special (which are charged, which are polar).  We had to know their names, their 3 letter abbreviations, and structures.  Also, the peptide bond and rotations about the C-C Ψ and C-N Φ bonds.  Also, towards the end of the semester we had to know the 10 reactions of Glycolysis, including mechanisms.  It might be a good idea to look that over.  And enzyme kinetics and the derivation of Michaelis-Menton equation was an important section.