CM3225 - BIOMOLECULES

Review 1

Course Overview: For students who are interested in biology/life sciences, and wonder how it is applied to chemistry, then this course is for you. Prof Lam will spend the first 6 weeks covering Carbohydrates and DNA/RNA (nucleic acids), while Dr Chan spends the remaining 7 weeks covering proteins and lipids. Students with prior A level H2 Bio or biology knowledge in poly may have a slight advantage, but no worries as the biology content is relatively digestible and manageable. However, organic chem is an integral part of this course, and builds upon the organic knowledge covered in the lower-level courses. Expect a mix of both biology and organic in this course. 

Overall Difficulty: Average

Difficulty of Assessments:

CA1: Easy 

CA2: Average 

Finals: Average 

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Pace of Course: Just Right 

Duration provided to prepare for Tutorial: 1-2 days 

Workload of Course (Average Number of hours spent per week): 

To learn the content: 7 hours 

To complete assignments: 3 hours  

How did you find the contents (how it was delivered) and the assessments of the course? 

Prof Lam's lectures are honestly really easy to follow, and she is very happy in answering any doubts you have promptly either during the lectures/tutorials itself, or via email. She always makes it a point during tutorials to link back to relevant parts of her slides to show what particular portion is needed to tackle each and every question in her tutorials. That being said, with sufficient effort and practice I would dare say one will do relatively well for her CA and even the final exam. Dr Chan, on the other hand, does do a relatively decent job at explaining the lecture content such that it is understandable for everyone.

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How was your experience with the course? 

If one loves biology, they will enjoy the course. However, be prepared for a ride as the course content can be heavy as there may seem like there are lots of things to memorise. 

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