Biochemistry & Genetics

Block Leaders: Dr. Batalini and Dr. Erin Kaleta

Block Length: 6 weeks 

The Basics

Welcome to your first “hard science” course of medical school! There are a lot of experiences wrapped up in this block: excitement and dread, reward and disappointment, initiative and burn-out (yes, it’s okay to feel burned-out during your first block of medical school). This block may elicit a lot of emotions, and while they’re all normal and expected, it’s also important to remind yourself that you are going to be just fine and you are going to make it through. Be patient with yourself, and greet your early failures with humor and optimism. There will be many failed attempts on your way to learning how to study in medical school, but thousands of normal humans have done it before you and you will too.

The perceived difficulty of this block’s content can vary widely depending on your background in biochemistry and genetics. That said, it is invariably challenging to learn what to focus your attention on and how to learn it in a way that can be retained. Material is primarily presented in the form of online modules (with corresponding in-class reviews), but there are also student presentations, case studies, and lectures. Each of these formats will present testable material. Each of the online modules is followed by a self-assessment which must be completed before the beginning of the corresponding class. Occasional “Team Learning Exercises'' occur during the course of the lectures (graded on participation), and each group will also be assigned a disease to present to the class. Additionally, several patient interviews occur throughout the course. The purpose of these is to give you an idea of what it might be like to live with some of the diseases you will learn about. These are very enjoyable, and attendance for patient visits is mandatory (make sure you're in business formal). For regular classes, zoom is an option.

Assessments

Self-assessments occur at the end of each online module. Most of these self-assessments are 5-10 questions long, and can be a collaborative exercise (double check with the professors just in case). While each of them accounts for a very small portion of your final grade, they account for 10% of the final grade when combined. There are two exams: a midterm and a final. Both will consist of a Brightspace portion (instructor-written questions) and an NBME portion (board-style questions). These exams will be taken in class with a lock-down browser (ear plugs and scratch paper are provided). These tests each account for 40% of your grade, with a combined 80% of the grade attributable to performance on the exams. Reviews before the exams are helpful. [They are also usually unrecorded so be sure to attend and take good notes! ] At times, the TA will emphasize Step 1 when it is not necessary for exams, don’t stress about this information right now! However, they will also give plenty of hints of what will actually be on the exam. They record the review sessions and send out slides but double check before skipping (previous years, this was not the case). Team Learning Exercises including your group presentation will account for the remaining 10% of your final grade.

You will take biochemistry and genetics together. The first 70% of class will be more focused on biochemistry while the last 30% will focus more on genetics. Biochemistry will take place 2 or 3 mornings a week. The first 30 minutes of class will be devoted to reviewing the information from the assigned online content. Afterward, the class will either proceed to a lecture or one of the groups will present on their assigned disease. Patient interviews tend to come near the end of the morning and after a lecture covering the relevant disease processes.

*High yield resources in red are denoted to help you reduce resource overload and pass the block.

Recipes for Success 

• Online Modules - This is where the majority of the learning for this course will happen. The modules are challenging for two reasons: 1) they often go into greater depth than is necessary, and 2) some of the modules cover significantly more content than the others. This is typical of medical school content, and the quality is really great, so don’t get too frustrated with the course leaders. Focus on things that have clinical significance, the items covered in the daily reviews, and the learning objectives. Learn the content at an MD level, not a PhD level (i.e. don’t get bogged down in the details). And remember to look ahead to see how much time you’ll need for each day’s content!

• Module Quizzes - Be sure to complete these prior to the beginning of the corresponding class. These quizzes tend to go further into the minutiae than the midterm and final will expect you to know. If you choose to study from an external resource rather than the online modules, expect to take a hit to this portion of your grade, but you will likely do fine on the midterm and final as long as you learn the content covered in the reviews. The Brightspace portion of your midterm and final exams will be a similar style to these quizzes. These quizzes are a great review source for the Brightspace portion of the midterm and final. 

• Team Presentations - Don’t let yourself get stressed out by these. You will be given a list of topics to cover in your presentation, which makes for easy delegation. Just have fun with it and try to present things in a way that will help your fellow students to remember the content, because it is testable. First Aid can be a great resource to make sure you’ve covered all of the salient points.

• Lectures - The content covered in the lecture is usually less intense than the content covered in the modules. Feel free to ask about which content presented in the lecture is testable. The concepts covered in the team learning exercises are very testable and should be paid particular attention to.

• Case-Based Learning - It is easy to feel like these are less important because they are typically presented in a less formal way, but they present testable information. That said, don’t get too bogged down with the details. Learn major characteristics of each disease and any additional points that the instructors emphasize. You will realize that our curriculum forms a spiral, which means you will see these diseases over and over again in different blocks.

• Patient Interviews - These are very enjoyable. You will be asked to dress professionally (Mayo Clinic style). You will remember the cases better if you are engaged enough to ask questions at the end. The patients will also feel their interview is more appreciated if you ask salient questions.

• Midterm and Final Exams - The review prior to the exam is very important to attend. You get great insight into what the instructors find clinically relevant from the material that they’ve presented to you. Be sure to take good notes and learn everything that is mentioned in these sessions. Be sure to look over the module reviews as well.

Best Resources

• Boards & Beyond - As we have alluded to in this guide, it can be difficult to know what material is relevant and worth your time. The Boards & Beyond videos do an excellent job at focussing on the content that will be relevant for your boards. Many found watching these videos while annotating the corresponding slides to be a great intro to the material before studying the online modules. Some chose to study these instead of the online modules. Just remember that the emphasis of the course directors does not always match up with the emphasis of Boards & Beyond. 

• First Aid - You will find that information presented in this course is not always presented in an organized way. The directors have opted for a narrative style in their presentation of the material in this course, which is great for learning, but not always great for studying. First Aid will provide you with organized tables showing you all that you are likely to be expected to know for board examinations. Referring to First Aid throughout your studies will also make it easier to use it as a condensed review book come exam day. Remember that First Aid may include more information than you need to know, but it is a great organizing tool all the same.

• Anki - A common mistake made at this stage in the game is to create a study strategy that does not involve spaced repetition. Studying without spaced repetition is like filling your canteen with water but leaving a hole in the bottom of it. Anki is one method of incorporating spaced repetition into your study routine, and this is a great block to play around with it and figure out if it works for you. The Lightyear and Anking decks were mostly used to study biochemistry. Refer to the Anki Guide for more details, and ask for help early and often. Note that Anki does not work for everyone, so test it out but don’t get frustrated if it doesn’t fit your learning style (yet).

• Video Mnemonic Products (Sketchy, Pixorize, Picmonic, etc.) - These can be very helpful for memorizing some of the conditions discussed, their characteristics, and the underlying biochemistry. If you are finding it difficult to retain the material, these may be worth the expense. That said, there’s also a lot to be said for learning how to create and memorize your own mnemonics. Pixorize or Picmonic are useful for some of the biochemical pathways. If you are feeling overwhelmed by the biochemical pathways and genetic diseases, try one of these resources. These were extremely helpful for some students. 

• Review Videos - There are a handful of review videos that were provided to our class halfway through the block in a tab labeled “Resources”. These only cover a few topics, and they can sometimes cover more content than is expected at this stage of your education, but they are very well done.

• MCASOM Student Made Study Guides - Very useful for preparing for the midterm and final. Be warned that there can be errors in these study guides.

• Amboss - Amboss is slightly harder than the NBME questions you will see, but it will give you a taste of what the NBME portion will look like. Furthermore, for the review sessions at the end of class (Turning Point) they will use Amboss questions. 

2023 Schedule

Last updated August 2023 by Laura Geldmaker