Skip to content

Best way to read Biochemistry | Study tips and Tricks

  • by
Biochemistry-study-tips

In this post we are going to discuss about the Biochemistry study tips, Important learning or questions topics and guidance of exam passing preparation with good score.



We are going to discuss about the :

  1. Meaning/Definition
  2. How to read the Subject
  3. What are the important topics
  4. How to perform well in the viva table
  5. How to score well in the University exam

Meaning/ Definition :

  • Biochemistry is the study of the Micromolecules inside the living body.
  • The study of chemical processes within and pertaining to live beings is known as biochemistry or biological chemistry. Biochemistry is a branch of chemistry and biology that is separated into three areas: structural biology, enzymology, and metabolism.

How to read the subject :

“Biochemistry is tough and most irritating subject of 1st year MBBS” – Said by many seniors, friends ??

Hahahahaha 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Specially Metabolism part

Now lets come to the truth, at this moment we have just the basic knowledge about Biochemistry.

Still so many research works to be done specially to understand the Metabolism. We know the cycles and some the connections between them, but there are still huge number of connections are present between them. We have to find them.

—Now there are not appropriate and perfect teaching materials are there to make the subject more understandable. So still time is needed to make this subject more easy and conceptual.

—And thats why so many research works are ongoing at this moment.

Conceptual Study :

To understand metabolism try to connect it with your real life. How you are consuming foods and they are becoming energy, stored materials and something else.

Like if you are taking Protein : Then you are not getting energy quickly, because it takes time to burn calories from protein

If you are taking Carbohydrates : Then within few minutes you are feeling energised. So from here you can understand why Glycolysis occurs inside of our body. Cool na??😎

Yes that much cool is Biochemistry, just you have to think by yourself, think and think


What are the important topics :

(Only important for your Exam, study all topics if you want to enjoy Medicine)

Carbohydrate Chemistry :

  1. Structure of Glucose
  2. Isomerism
  3. Heteropolysaccharides

Chemistry of Lipids :

  1. Classification of Lipids
  2. Saponification Number
  3. Iodine Number
  4. Acid Number
  5. Reichert Meist Number
  6. Phospholipids
  7. Plasmogens
  8. Eicosanoids
  9. Liposome

Chemistry of Proteins :

  1. Amino Acids : Alphatic side chain, Hydroxylic (OH) group containing side chains, Sulfur containing side chains, Side chains containing acidic groups(-COOH) and their amides, Basic groups containing side chains, Aromatic group containing side chains.
  2. Heterocyclic Amino Acids
  3. Biologically Important Peptides
  4. Structure of Proteins
  5. Denaturation of Proteins

Plasma Proteins and Immunoglobulins :

  1. Preparation of plasma proteins
  2. Immunoglobulins

Enzyme :

  1. Enzyme classification
  2. Lineweaver-Burk Plot or Double-Reciprocal Plot
  3. Enzyme Inhibition
  4. Allosteric Enzyme
  5. Isoenzymes
  6. Lactate dehydrogenase and its clinical approach
  7. Creatine Kinase and its clinical approach
  8. Diagnostic uses of enzymes

Vitamin :

  1. Vitamins classifications
  2. Vitamin B12 – Absorption, Transport and Storage
  3. Vitamin A – Role in vision
  4. Vitamin K – Deficiency Manifestation

Hemoglobin Chemistry :

  1. Importance of 2-3 BPG
  2. Sickle Anemia and Sickle Hemoglobin(Hbs)

Haemoglobin metabolism :

  1. Breakdown of Haemoglobin
  2. Fate of Bilirubin
  3. Secretion of bilirubin into bile
  4. Jaundice – classification
  5. Crigler-Najjar Syndrome
  6. Dubin-Johnson Syndrome

Nucleic Acid Chemistry :

  1. Synthetic analogues of Nucleotides or Antihistamines
  2. DNA structure and function
  3. Chargaff’s Rule
  4. Solenoid Structure
  5. Messen ger RNA, Transfer RNA, Ribosmoal RNA

Biological Oxidation :

  1. Electron Transport chain(ETS)
  2. Oxidative Phosphorylation
  3. Chemiosmotic Therapy
  4. Substrate Level Phosphorylation
  5. Inhibitors of Electron Transport Chain
  6. Ionophores
  7. The Malate-Aspartate Shuttle System
  8. Glycerol Phosphate Shuttle

Carbohydrate Metabolism :

  1. Glycolysis
  2. Anaerobic Glycolysis
  3. Rapoport-Leubering cycle
  4. Fate of Pyruvate(very very important topic for Viva)
  5. Citric Acid Cycle
  6. Gluconeogenesis
  7. Cori Cycle or Lactic Acid Cycle
  8. Glycogenesis
  9. Glycogenolysis
  10. Pentose Phosphate Pathway
  11. Deficiency of Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase
  12. Galactose Metabolism and Galactosemia
  13. Metabolism of Fructose

Lipid Metabolism :

  1. Digestion and Absorption of lipids
  2. Fatty acid oxidation
  3. Reactions of beta-oxidation of fatty acids
  4. Beta-oxidation of a fatty acid with an odd number of carbon atoms
  5. Formation of Ketone Bodies (Ketogenesis)
  6. De novo synthesis of fatty acids(Lipogenesis)
  7. synthesis of long chain fatty acids from palmitate
  8. Biosynthesis of Triacylglycerol
  9. Metabolism of Chylomicrons
  10. Metabolism of VLDL
  11. Metabolism of HDL
  12. Synthesis of Triacylglycerol in adipose tissue
  13. Degradation of Triacylglycerol in adipose tissue
  14. Fatty Liver
  15. De Novo Synthesis of Cholesterol
  16. Degradation of Cholesterol

Protein Metabolism :

  1. Digestion of stomach
  2. Digestion in Intestine by pancreatic enzymes
  3. Catabolism of Phenylalanine and Tyrosine
  4. Phenylketonuria
  5. Alkaptonuria
  6. Biosynthesis of Catecholamines

Nuclei Acid Metabolism :

  1. Synthesis of purine nucleotides by Salvage pathway
  2. Catabolism of purine nucleotides
  3. Disorders of purine catabolism
  4. Gout – Classification, Treatment
  5. Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome

Replicatio, Transcription and Translation :

  1. Prokaryotic Replication
  2. proofreading
  3. Transcription
  4. m-RNA processing
  5. Wobble hypothesis for codon anticodon interactions
  6. Translation
  7. Inhibitors of protein synthesis

Regulation of Gene Expression and Mutation :

  1. Lactose operon or Lac operon
  2. Types of Mutations
  3. Frame shift mutations

Genetic Engineering :

  1. Cloning of the DNA
  2. Amplification of recombinant DNA
  3. Restriction of Fragment length polymorphism
  4. Polymerase chain reaction

Mechanism of Hormone Action :

  1. Phosphatidylinositol/Calcium Second Messenger

Acid-Base Balance :

  1. Regulation of Blood pH
  2. Blood buffers
  3. Hemoglobin buffer
  4. \Respiratory mechanism Acid-Base Balance
  5. Renal mechanism in Acid-Base balance
  6. Metabolic Acidosis
  7. Respiratory Acidosis
  8. Metabolic Alkalosis
  9. Respiratory Alkalosis
  10. Anion Gap


How to perform well in viva table :

Now for performing better in Viva table you must have to go through important topics and as well as other topics of your syllabus.

Make a small notebook, start making every chapter short within 5-10 pages, so in one notebook you will be ending all the chapters of Biochemistry.

For basic questions just make sure you have done all the Lecture classes provided by your Institution. Those topics are enough for passing marks.

But if you are aiming for better score like 80%, then make sure that you have knowledge about other topics also.

And make a quick revision of all of them one night before the Viva. And don’t try to be over smart in the viva table. Try to answer what the examiner is asking to you. He/She is so much experienced and can easily catch your over smartness which will not be healthy for your marks. So from that point we can say that ‘your appearance’ also does matter.


How to score well in the University exam :

Solve previous 10 years paper of your University, from there you are going to get 70-80% questions common, rest other questions can be asked from whole book.

If your university has semester system, then try to solve that year’s all colleges semester papers under that University. From those questions you can get rest 20-30% uncommon questions.

Presentation :

Now how to write the exam paper ? . For each question, a image carries separate marks, so try to put images/flowcharts in each answer. So the examiner can easily smell what you have written or what do you know about the topic. If the flowchart is clearing everything then it will be your time and don’t forget to Highlight key points of your answer. In written part also try to write answers to the point manner, not write everything in one paragraph.

Now if you have done all these things then the impressed examiner will not hesitate to put 75-80% marks.

So each question should contain a clear diagram/flowchart, Highlighted key points, and to the point answers.


Leave a Reply