CM3225 - BIOMOLECULES

Module Overview: This module covers basics of four main types of biomolecules (Carbohydrates, Nucleic Acids, Proteins, Lipids) with more emphasis on chemistry (obviously), such as reactions for the synthesis of various carbohydrates and essential sugars (aldol reaction, CM2121), Fischer projection, nucleophilicity (thereby reactivity) of nucleic acids, protein sequencing etc.

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How did you find the assessments:

You are expected to remember various molecular structures of DNA/carbs for CA1, but you should check with A/P Lam just in case. Even though the lectures may seem quite intimidating with ~100+ slides per topic, there are slides which are there to fill in the gaps of why the chemistry of biomolecules is important, things like that which are more fyi. Everything that appeared in the tests were purely on the chemistry portion of the slides.

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CA2 was a bit easier because it was open book so there's no memorising. If you pay attention during lectures and do the in class activities (which are a free 5% just by doing a quiz during the lecture) you'll do just fine. The homework assignments may be a bit tricky but its nothing a quick google or discussion with friends can't fix.

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Apart from the assessments, how was your experience with this module: 

For those who know, A/P Lam does prerecorded lectures and live tutorials, where she will answer anything, with her famous quote "there are no silly questions". She will baby you until you understand so don't feel bad asking any questions, but some questions are on organic chemistry so instead of asking a what-if question you should draw out the reaction and show it to her otherwise it's hard for her to understand what exactly it is you don't understand.

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Dr Chan is very friendly and responsible. She definitely faces issues doing zoom lessons and might miss your question on zoom but she will backtrack through the zoom messages and email you with an answer within 1-2 days.

Workload: Definitely a low workload mod that you can score decently for unless you completely skip all lectures and tutorials. I am slightly concerned about the bellcurve but would argue that this is not a module that you can score badly for unless something unexpected happens.