<p>I am finding it really difficult to study for cell biology. My professor is using Essential Cell Biology 3e by Alberts. I asked him how to study and he simply said go over figures in the book and memorize definitions. This wasn’t the answer I was looking for. I wish this book came with a study guide. Are there study guides for cell biology? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>When DS studied Cell Bio in sophomore (together with the second semester of physics), his textbook was the Cell Bio textbook by Thomas D. Pollard. (I heard he is MD and was originally from JHU Medical School.)</p>
<p>I heard the textbook is very dense and very complete as the first undergraduate-level cell bio textbook. Many students relied on the class notes from the professor as there is a lot of info to absorb in a short time. However DS did not know about this until almost the end of the semester so he mostly studied by reading the textbook most time in that semester. He did study the classnotes for final though. He said after the semester that he had over-studied it. (He got the highest accumulated grades before final in his TA session. He really did not have to study that much for an A.)</p>
<p>He seems to have Essential Cell Biology by Alberts also as a supplementary reading. I saw he was studying that book whenever needed in addition to his assigned textbook. (You could guess how much time he might have put into this, as both books seem to be quite in depth – quite deep to me at least.) Hmm…just a thought: he might have picked up his MCAT reading skills by rarely skipping any assigned readings – in both science classes and non-science classes.</p>
<p>This class was likely his first attempt to study biology more seriously. I do not know his study tricks (if any), as I am just a parent. Maybe just spend more time on both the textbook and the class notes? Study out of more than one textbooks as well as the classnotes?</p>
<p>Cell can seem like a lot of information, but it’s really not that difficult. Like any class, go to every class and take notes ONLY on what is important – in other words, get to know what the prof wants you to know and takes notes on those things. A prof’s “tells” vary by person; however, generally key points are the ones to take down while examples only serve as just that: examples. The critical thing in most classes is to understand the concepts. In cell bio, for instance, you’ll likely touch on proteins (although biochem will go much more in-depth on this topic than most cell bio classes). The prof might talk about how nonpolar amino acids tend to be on the inside when the protein forms. Then he might show a structural example using several amino acids and even draw their structures (which is a biochem topic). The part to remember is the concept – nonpolar AAs face inward, while polar face outward. Remembering their structures or which AAs the prof used is simply a waste of time.</p>
<p>I didn’t care for that book honestly, it is just too dense to serve as a every day reference for your class. Study the class materials and do the problems in Cell or another book. I made flash cards for everything personally.</p>
<p>I do not know what book D has used. She mentioned a lot that in most of her classes, class notes were more important than textbooks. Some profs publish class notes on-line also. She got an “A”, however, all of Bio classes, including the first one have been exceptionally challenging, besides BioChem.</p>