Our purpose is to guide you to see the wonders of the molecular biology and biochemistry of nucleic acids.  Now is an exciting time to be studying Biochemistry - many important discoveries are being made every day!  Your hard work to learn the course material will let you share in the excitement!  The suggestions below are not meant to trivialize your task, but do offer some hints to help manage your learning experience.

The two most important things to remember are:

• It is impossible to memorize everything you will hear about in this course.
• Your worth as a human being is not determined by how little, or how much, Biochemistry you know.



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• Get into a study group! Probably the most important hint.

 
• Start studying NOW! Write a concise summary (1/2 page or less) of each lecture -  emphasize the concepts covered that day.  Refine these summaries as you study and use them to prepare for the exams.  Share your summaries with your study group and refine them together.

• Ask each other questions.  Explaining science to someone else is the best way to learn the material.

 
• Don't fool yourself into thinking that just because you stare at the text book or the web page for 1,000 hours you will understand the material - learning doesn't work by osmosis!

 
• You must work with the material to understand it and the best way to do that is work problems(like on old exams), and ask and answer questions.
 
• Minimize the amount of material that you try to memorize. Work to understand the general concepts. Usually you can answer a specific question if you know the general concepts.
 
• Concentrate on the material covered in lecture and use class study resources (printed or on the web page) as your guide.

 
• Use the textbook to enhance your understanding of the concepts covered in class. Often reading another explanation will help you understand.
 
• Don't waste time reading material not covered in class, unless you have the time or a burning desire to know additional material.

 
• Work all the old exams.  This exercise will only be helpful if you do it BEFORE looking at the answers.   If you look at the answers first, you might as well not bother to look at the questions!

 
• Marking your notes or text book with a highlighter won't mean you learned the material - it might mean the words went from your eyes to your hand without passing through your brain!

 
• Use email to ask the teaching staff questions!  If you get stuck while studying, send off an email immediately while the question and its context are fresh in your mind.

 
• Talk to the teaching staff!  Our job is the help you understand the material.   We can not do that if we don't know your questions.

 
• Atend T.A. office hours and instructors' Review sessions!!   We do know the subject well and for sure we can guide you toward learning the necessary material and steer you away from wrong thinking and unnecessary details!
  
  Modified and with permission from M.A. Wells, 1999.