Graduate Record Exams: Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology

 
This is the time of year when some undergraduates are getting the results of the GREs (Graduate Record Exams) that they wrote in preparation for graduate school applications. I thought I'd take a look at the practice test for Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology.

This isn't pretty. Many of the questions ask for specific details like what is the initial product of CO₂ fixation in C₃ plants? I know lots of departments that don't teach photosynthesis and CO₂ fixation so students in those departments are screwed.

More importantly, I teach this in my introductory biology class but I tell the students that they don't have to memorize the details. They are allowed to bring their notes to the exam. I try to concentrate on basic principles and concepts and not on the names of enzymes and their specific reactants and products. In the case of CO₂ fixation, the important concepts have to do with the way rubisco works, the usable product of the reaction (not the initial product), and a general understanding of how the original reactant is regenerated. They have to understand the overall stoichiometry of the pathway and how the pathway is related to the pentose phosphate pathway.

Here's the problem. Are teachers like me hurting our students' chances of doing well on the GRE by discouraging rote memorization and regurgitation?

Even worse, I teach that concepts like exergonic and endegonic reactions are almost useless in most cases because most of the reactions in a pathway operate at near-equilibrium conditions where ΔG = 0. Several of the GRE questions ask about exergonic and endergonic reactions. My students will not do well on those questions.

How common is this? Do any other biochemistry teachers find that there's a conflict between what they teach and what is taught at most other schools?

---