Reviewing USC’s Premed Courses (Part 1)
By: Nathan Kim ‘24
As a student on the Pre-med track, I’ve always liked to read older students’ thoughts and opinions on various classes. However, I have yet to come across a post online that explains USC’s Pre-med prerequisites in detail. So because I’m almost done with all of the prerequisites, I’ve decided to take it upon myself to make a post talking about my experience in each class for other Pre-med students to read and gain a better understanding of the experience. I’m going to be reviewing the general biology and chemistry courses in this post. And just a FYI, I was in the Freshman Science Honor program (FSH), so I will be speaking from that perspective. This is going to be the first of three parts where I’m going to cover all the premed classes, including the ones I have not taken, but I hope you find this useful!
BISC 120/121
Starting off with the first general biology class, it was heavily focused on ecology and evolution. I took AP Biology in high school, so I had some exposure, but it was mostly new material. I would say it was a generally interesting class that wasn’t horribly difficult, so I rate my experience a 6/10. Since it was online at the time, I did an online marine bioinformatics lab called mCURE that was starting out for the first time and we would learn about real-life research while trying to do some ourselves. I thought it was fascinating and not too hard either. I had Professor Hutchins and Professor Fuhrman for my lectures, and Chuankai for my lab. For studying, I recommend reviewing each lecture immediately after (for even just 10 minutes) so that the information slowly solidifies itself in your head, as well as creating cheat sheets summarizing all the information. Flashcards can be useful if you enjoy studying that way as long as you are consistent in doing them every day for a few minutes. Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a definite must as it’s basically a free cheat sheet.
BISC 220/221
Moving on to the second general biology class, it was more about cell biology and physiology. Although this class was still similar to some of the concepts I learned from AP Biology, most of the information was new, and I didn’t have a strong foundation to use as a crutch. Although still such an interesting class, it was definitely harder than the first one, and I needed to spend more energy and time studying the concepts. Thus, I would rate my experience a 4/10 due to its difficulty. For the lab, I did mCURE again but it was a bit more in-depth, which I thought wasn’t too bad and relatively enjoyed it. I had Professor Mckemy and Professor Yazejian for my lectures, and Eric for my lab. For studying, I recommend the same tactics as BISC 121 except with more intensity and focus because the tests become more application-based for Professor Yazejian’s class; the tests are overall harder than the first, so it is more important to consistently study rather than cram all at once.
CHEM 105A/115A
Now for my first general chemistry class, I would say that it wasn’t too bad because I was in FSH and had online labs. Luckily, I didn’t have to do pre-labs and post-labs either, so it could’ve been a lot harder. I took AP Chemistry and HL Chemistry in high school, so the concepts I learned were rather similar to those classes. I would say that this class was different from what general chemistry usually is like, but I had a positive experience and would rate it an 8/10. For the lab, it was simply doing online simulations (which were not too hard) and answering questions afterward. I had Professor Reisler for my lectures. For studying, doing practice problems until you understand each step, going to SI sessions and attending Office Hours if necessary, are sure-fire ways to do well. The tests are representative of the lecture material, so there isn’t so much guesswork involved in knowing what the tests are going to be like.
CHEM 105B/115B
For the second general chemistry class, it was much harder in terms of the concepts and how the class was taught. There were some similarities with my high school chemistry classes, but there were a large number of new concepts that were difficult to wrap my head around. The labs were still not too bad, even though there was more work than the previous semester. I would rate my experience a 6/10 because it did require a bit more effort for me to do well, especially since we had 6 midterms where each question had huge point values. I had Professor Krylov and Professor Parr for my lectures. For studying, I recommend doing practice problems and both SI and Office Hours, but I also recommend going over the slides since there are key facts that might appear on the exams. The tests are somewhat representative of the lecture material, so the class isn’t impossible but rather a challenge to do well in.
Do your best, and keep reading for Part 2!
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