theholme

you can wait a month and follow afterwards, so that he'd know you have waited patiently and he'd consider to attend your letter issues right away. the worst scenario case is he'd never reply you even after 1 month. That's the worst part. My experience ... I had a professor I held in high. We had nice relationship until he found out I'm going to apply to many universities. He never replied me back. I asked him several times but in vain. So I took it as negative response and I gave up. I hate that recommendation part in school application. Talking about that issue can take forever. Be patient, my friend, I believe he would write for you as he said he'd be happy to in the first place.

hello I use Harper for biochemistry. The last exam questions on experiment come out from the graph I saw in that book. Cell & Molecular biology: Lodish and Alberts Genetics: Griffiths After all, I'd suggest study major pathways that I've written in this forum. If you have those books and don't bother to buy anymore, study them. But do research on other books as well after you've studied your book...maybe your local community library or school library or from friends. If we ask how many fingers do humans have in both hands? the answer would be 10 all the time except polydactyly. Likewise those general facts would be truth. But you'll need to look from differernt perspectives....ie. how other books describe the same processes :))) Holme

that was fantastic ....way to go! :D

I didn't even have time to check on answered or partially worked out ones. :D

Hello GREbiochem & Boogedyboo I agreed with both of you. Those who have a bent for lab experiments and data interpretation, can start from the experiment. After that they can return back to the first. As for me, I'd give 45 minutes to those experimental questions from 147 to 180 (total about 30 questions). But I don't think it'll do well for all of test takers. Analogy goes for left-handed and right-handed. Insisting on right-handed person to write with his/her left hand would be futile. As for me, Here's my strategy Total Questions 180. Let's target to 97 percentile, too much? no problem ..96% 95% 94% ...that's individual's call (Of course those percentiles depends on how many candidates take the test in that particular date. Plus It plays a role that how many test takers are dumbo or concept wiz. Let's just start with 97% We can totally skip the experimental questions (about 30 questions) if we know for sure the other 2 sections (multiple choices and matchings) are filled out correctly with 99.99% of confidence, which means we answered 140 out of 180 questions. Laughing? bear with me till the end. Here's the first sketch, later will change a little bit Questions 180 Questions answered 140 Questions unanswered 40 Correct answer -- Wrong answer -- Experiemental Questions (40) As we're going to skip the experiment questions, we get more time. Coz we're aiming for only 140 questions. Ok are we going to skip experimental parts entirely? Of course not, we just don't expect too much from them. But anyway we will give it a try. No panicking, No wild beast is chasing us behind, we can ramble through experiments. We only answer questions that we know for sure. So we can expect some points from experiments. Let's say 4 or 5 points out of 30? Multiple Choices & Matchings (140) Wait... Is it definitely sure that we could possibly answer these 2 sections correct? All 140 questions correct? with 99.99% of confidence... Sometimes out of nowhere even if we're dead sure (99.99% of confidence), some lurking concept just pop up after the exam or looking through the answers, we cannot expect total 140 correct. Let's say 20 questions were answered wrong out of 140 i.e. 120 correct, 20 wrong. Deduction of 20/4 = 5 points from 120, left with 115 raw score for 2 sections. Raw score of 5 points will come from experiments. Calculation Total Questoins 180 Questions Answered 145 (140 from 2 sections + 5 from experiments) Questions Unanswered 35 Correct answer 125 (120 from 2 sections + 5 from experiments) Wrong answer 20 (5 points deduction) Raw score = 125 - 5 = 120 Percentile = 90+% (likely) Just I mentioned above, depends on how many test takers and ... (if you compare with offical ETS guide '94 and '00 percentiles) It's tempting to speculate about what might have happened if we also skipped from 140 questions. Yeah if we're targeting to get above 90%, we gotta need to fill more oval correctly in the experiments or vice versa. I cannot guarantee if this strategy works for others. Just sharing mine. Aim High, Just Do You Best :) Holme

yeah couldn't finish. mRNA? RNAi?

GRE Biochemistry, Cell & Molecular Biology About to step into taking GRE Biochem? "I major in Biochemistry. I pursue Genetics to satiate my thirst for Genes. One of my favorite is Molecular biology." "So what else could be problems?" Problem still exists. ETS makes its GRE BIOCHEM intimidating just by getting through "Time Constraint" theory. Believe me. First of all, let me allow to introduce myself. I studied life sciences, specifically Biomedical Sciences. The curriculum covers all categories of GRE Biochem, which suggests I just have to refresh what I've learnt from undergraduate study. But I couldn't get around Time constraint in the end though. From my experience of the test, I just wanted to share test strategics or tips with those future test takers. I'm not disclosing any contents from the actual test nor neither I would write any questions similar since we all test takers certify before the test begins in the answer sheet. Besides forum rules count. But I do like to mention how to think out of the box and make your own questions while studying. Biochemistry Major pathways are frequently asked questions that you can notice from ETS officially printed out GRE: Practicing to take the Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology test. The other one is downloadable from its official website GRE: Graduate Record Examinations Information. Glycolysis & Gluconeogensis Glycogenesis & Glycogenolysis PPP or HMP shunt Lipogenesis & Lipid oxidation All pathways must be taken notes in every steps involved as well as how each molecules are assembled or processed in each step. It might be too complacent to expect such questions Q. Glycolysis produces net ATP: A. 1 ATP B. 2 ATP C. 10 ATP D. 38 ATP E. 40 ATP ETS won't ask such kind of easy questions. It'd manipulate the same question into complicated one that would purposely take time out of our precious 170 minutes. Q. Glucose circulating in the blood stream is to supply energy for cells, especially brain cells needs major energy from glucose. Cells utilize glucose to get energy in the form of how many ATP through: A. glycolysis: 40 ATP B. glycolysis: 36 ATP C. glycogenolysis: 38 ATP D. gluconeogenesis: 40 ATP E. glycolysis: 38 ATP Bang! The simple question just took 15 seconds in lieu of just taking 5 seconds from former one. It is not a GRE real question. But the way it asks is exactly the same as actual test. "15 seconds" is not a big deal, you might wonder. A little hard one could take 5 minutes or even more. I wondered if Mr Kreb would be surprised to learn that his findings of cyle in mitochondrial matrix is now incessantly used by ETS in its every single test. An interesting history is Nature rejected Kreb's experiments of mitochondria as an insignificant one. Even Biochemistry subject alone stands as 3 years undergraduate study. How could one study Biochemistry, Cell, and Molecular Biology for such GRE test in months? We reached to that questions everytimes while forcefully cramming all stuffs into those tiny heads. The answer can be solved if ETS just discloses its test materials from a decade, which would definitely spawn other test preparatory centers to publish their preparatory guide books as the same as GRE general test. Then we just focus on major theme, practice from many sample tests and overcome the time barrier. Now the preparatory material is scanty and we just have to rely on our knowledge. Genetics That one is not in the title. But a few questions come out on that topic. Recombination is hot topic. Memorize F1, F2 ratios from monohybrid or dihybrid crosses. Did the question come out simply asking F2 ratio from dihybrid. Nope..You know what I mean. Cell & Molecular Biology Having read the whole books, Alberts or Lodish, is a must. A problem approach book accompanied with Albert or A study companion with Lodish is for those who haven't had profound experience in the lab. Data interpretation from experiment results, some insight into how experiements are carried out in the lab, can be retrieved from those books. Be sure all lab terminologies are familiar with: cell extract, homogenizers, differential centrifugation, cell lysate, supernatant and such. Just like GRE general, GRE subject test bombards with those terms and I myself boggled down in a maze of experiments. Tips: As there're only 2 official preparatory guide from ETS, make sure that both test books have been studied thoroughly before the test. Of course the actual exam looks different than those ones. But they would give you at least an idea of how questions are developed and get through with. While preparing, try to understand every answer. For instance, Q. A common disease characterized by autosomal dominant trait is A. Huntington disease B. Ehler Danlos Syndrome C. Zellweger Syndrome D. Kearns Sayre Syndrome E. Hemophilia The simple answer is there, A. You just filled the oval. But also look for the other answers as well. Internet is a significant tool to search within seconds. The question can come other way round with Zellweger syndrome. Just a thought. In the exam room, the time is running out, blank ovals are sneakingly staring at us, deduction of points for wrong answers is painfully ticking in our head. It happens mostly in the end when there come experimental questions. Here's my suggestion. Don't read those verbose elusive nature of questions. Just take a quick scan of Only Questions. Some questions may come up with general fact without needing to read the whole experiments. For eg Q. Researchers investiagated the nature of p53 in the renowned laboratory. Cells lack of functional p53 protein were found to undergo multiple cell cycle without restraint. Those p53 mutant cells were accidentally co-cultured with wild type cells, and to their surprise, mutant cells can regain their normal cell cycle within days. The following figure shows the experiments. The left column is volume of wild type cells and the right column is that of mutant cells. The recovery period is under the table. Table _______________________________________ | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------- Q. From the data suggested, the following hypothesis can be assumed: A. p53 protein is found in the cytosol. B. Researchers need to further experiment to discover the nature of p53 protein. C. p53 protein is tumor suppressor protein. D. Recovery period of mutant cells shows their defective state. E. The data provided are too scanty to draw a conclusion. It's not a real GRE question. It's my made-up mimicking GRE nature of verbosity. I'm sure you'll just learn the tactics how to tackle the problems when your time is running out. Preparation Time Depends on from which major you come from. Even giving 1 year wouldn't suffice if focusing on wrong topic. Grabbing the essence of GRE nature would let you figure out how much time you'll need to prepare. From my opinion, jot down every notes you come across while studying from the start. For some facts, tabulation is worth to try. Why bother jotting down while we can highlight or underline in our own text books? Initial attempt will pay you in the end. Trust me. Just imagine before the test, you're sitting in front of those thick thick books piling up: Biochemistry, Genetics, Cells & Molecular Biology. You can run through facts from your handy notes then. Test Structure 1-120 (Multiple Choices) 121 - 146 (Matching) 147 - 180 (Experiment Multiple Choices) 1-120 Some questions will hunt you down and take considerable time. Skip if it's taking 2 minutes already if you're not even sure reaching to the answer. Mostly those calculating ones will do so. 121-146 Matching section is where we can possibly get all answers correct. Getting the first answer correct increases the chances of getting the following answers correct because everytime we fill the oval for the first question it will leave few answers for the next question, which is good. Instruction says some answer might come twice though. Use your instinct wisely. 147-180 Just like I mentioned above, take a quick scan of every experiment questions if you're running out of time. After that, you can come back to experiment and do the rest. The Most Important Thing that matters after all those tips and tricks is Filling the correct oval. Everytime you have read the questions and you're about to fill, read the Question No and go to that number and fill the oval of your choice. Going under the oval filled recently would distort your sequence of answers if you skipped some questions before. Conclusion Wish You the Best of Luck TestMagic have been a great place for my study and helped me prepare for the test, I just wanna contribute from my experience as well. :) Holme

me too. The test cracked me down. I even found 6 Cs for some questions. I amazed "What the heck!" But my eyes couldn't get out of C. :D So just filled the Cs. wheww.....don't know how it'd turn out. good luck to all of you. :)

good luck to all of us get back to this thread after the exam :D

thanks I also sent already :)

hello what old questions? other than '94 and '02? if so, we can swap. mine is theholme@gmail.com :)

done! bmbgre@gmail.com ,right?

Answer on the last page For '94 Q.104 for quick, the answer is A.

Hello GREbiochem Me too, I'll be preparing for GRE general test only after subject test. As undergraduate study's still fresh, I'm just taking the subject test. For Postgrad Uni, you may want to check out this QS Top Universities: Top 100 universities in the THES - QS World University Rankings 2007 Though overall score point for each university might vary and put them in ranking order, certain specific fields change the ranking too. I'm also keen on cancer biology, check life science ranking too.