Medical Chemistry

One of the big three subjects combined with biochemistry in the second semester. There is a a lot of material in this course and it is not always easy to understand. If you are a complete novice at chemistry like I was when I started the doing the Basic Chemistry elective will help. There are recommended books for this but I didn't use any, the lectures and online videos for anything I didn't understand were enough

How to pass
 Turn up to all the lectures, some of the slides will not be available for downloading later, especially the calculation slides

 Read through the lectures and make notes of the little details, these are likely to be asked in exams

 Participate fully in the lab experiments, you will be tested on them later

 If you don't understand something, ask

 Past papers will give you an idea of the kind of questions that will be past but there are thousands that can be used so don't memorise them

 Learn the structures perfectly, they will been needed not just in the structure part of the exam but the calculations and multiple choice parts too. Also, they help with the structures that need to be learned in the 2nd semester

 Calculations can be practised using the Selected Collection of Chemical Calculations and Biochemical Exercises book, however, there are some mistakes in the answers

 The teachers can be slightly subjective with their markings, working hard and showing enthusiasm could earn you the extra point need to pass or increase your grade 

 You will not have marks subjectively taken away, just added



The exams Midterms:

2 open questions

5 calculations or structures

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.5pt;vertical-align:baseline">Lab exam:

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.5pt;vertical-align:baseline">Short essay explaining one of the labs that was done through the semester

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.5pt;vertical-align:baseline">Final:

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.5pt;vertical-align:baseline">10 structures

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.5pt;vertical-align:baseline">5 calculations

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.5pt;vertical-align:baseline">40 multiple choice questions If you know all the structures and calculations, and have a generally good understanding of chemistry (if you think you do, you don't) you will pass this exam, but for getting through the most efficient way of passing is knowing your structures and your calculations

The difficulties
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;line-height:16.5pt;vertical-align:baseline"> The final exam

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;line-height:16.5pt;vertical-align:baseline"> The list of structures is very extensive, but they only get more complicated in later semesters

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;line-height:16.5pt;vertical-align:baseline"> The multiple choice questions can be worded in a very confusing way, often with minor differences between the options

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;line-height:16.5pt;vertical-align:baseline"> The lectures will give lots of information very quickly <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;line-height:16.5pt;vertical-align:baseline">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;line-height:16.5pt;vertical-align:baseline"> Some lecturers can be difficult to follow

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;line-height:16.5pt;vertical-align:baseline"> <h2 class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;line-height:16.5pt;vertical-align:baseline">Conclusion

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0cm;line-height:16.5pt;vertical-align:baseline"> This is a subject where many will fail at least one exam, usually this is among the students who have a background in chemistry and don't think they need to study. Dedicating time to study hard one week before the midterms should be enough, more may be necessary for the final. However it is recommended they continuous study is done throughout the semester.