Year 1 Classes: Spring 2021

Hello there! Welcome to the third installment of the series about the classes that I have taken so far as a year 1 medical student in the 6-year B.A./M.D. program at UMKC. Now that I have officially wrapped up my classes for the spring, I am going to share with you my insight regarding these courses and offer my best advice for those who take them in the future.

• Chemistry 320: Elementary Organic Chemistry (Lecture)
  • Instructor: Dr. Zhonghua Peng: Dr. Peng was a wonderful professor; I don’t think that you could really ask for a better organic chemistry instructor. I was dreading to take this course because a lot of my older friends majoring in biology told me their horror stories of organic chemistry and how it was incredibly difficult. Fortunately, I did not find that to be my experience and I think that is largely thanks to Dr. Peng. His instruction style fit my learning style well and he was always available for questions both in and out of class. He made effort to understand his students’ needs and check for understanding during lectures (going too fast/slow, seeing the whiteboard clearly, etc.) If you have the opportunity to take a course from him, I would highly recommend it – especially for ochem.
  • Beware that this course specifically was test-heavy. There were no quizzes, assignments, or extra credit. It was strictly 3 unit exams and 1 comprehensive final with no drop-test. The good news is that his exams were open-note/open-resource and I will be honest that was a saving grace for myself and many other students alike. I know that this was not the case for in-person classes and I assume that it will be based in the classroom from this point on with online learning coming to an end.
  • I feel that it is important to note that although these tests were open-note, you did have to learn the material to a relatively proficient degree; you simply do not have enough time to refer to online resources/notes for every single test question. He provides chapter reviews and sample exams which I HIGHLY recommend you complete and come to him with any questions you may have. I found that exam questions were very similar to ones found on the reviews and sample tests, sometimes exact.

• Chemistry 320L: Experimental Organic Chemistry (Lab)
  • Instructor: Dr. Keith Buszek: In my opinion, Dr. Buszek was a good lab professor. He was always very helpful upon reaching out with any questions or concerns and he did seem like he genuinely loved the science of chemistry. I always find it inspiring when my professors are passionate about their fields. I never had any problems with him. The only minor issue (somewhat) is that he tended to cancel class last minute on multiple occasions; don’t get me wrong, having class canceled is great but when I say last minute, I mean sometimes 30 minutes or less notice. It gets slightly frustrating to wake up and get ready for a morning lab only to have it canceled repeatedly. Fortunately, he always let us attend other sections and recorded the labs as well. (Teaching assistant: Dr. Robert Clevenger)
  • The syllabus read that there were supposed to be 10 total lab reports for the semester for 10 weeks with a special topic at the end of the semester. This was not at all how it unraveled. Instead, we did 9 lab reports with most of them being in “parts” with different data among the students because of concerns about plagiarism halfway through the semester. There was no additional assignments, quizzes, or final exam, just the lab reports.
  • I’m not sure how helpful any advice would be because I can only hope that things change when it is offered again. I also think that it will be offered in-person next time, which will be vastly different from a virtual lab experience. All I can say is to just stick with it and don’t be afraid to ask for help from your instructors; you are not expected to be a perfect chemist and know everything.

• Life Sciences – Microbiology 121: Human Biology III (Lecture)
  • Instructor: Dr. Lawrence Dreyfus: Fantastic professor. Dr. Dreyfus is really agreeable and he is always willing to help. I only talked to him once personally to introduce myself and he was very kind and personable. He was very flexible with the coursework; there was once a city-wide power outage on the day of an exam and he flat-out rescheduled it for the next week. He also frequently moved quiz/assignment dates so that they wouldn’t run too close to exam dates. He was open to giving points back when necessary and I felt that he listened to student concerns well.
  • There are 5 quizzes, 4 unit exams, and 1 final exam. The total score of all 5 quizzes count as a unit exam and you are offered 1 drop-test which can be any of the assignments listed above. Personally, I decided not to take the final exam and I believe that this was the same for many other students. For online learning, Dr. Dreyfus posted pre-recorded lectures that ran about an hour that supplemented Tues/Thurs lectures.
  • Similar to anatomy last semester, I had to majorly readjust my studying methods in order to succeed in this class. What ended up working best for me was to take the information off of the PowerPoint slides he provided and rewrite them in my own study guide and then subsequently make test questions out of them. I personally never referred to the textbook or used any other resources except for the occasional YouTube video to help me understand harder topics, but I know that was a useful studying tool for other students. The information on the PowerPoint slides was directly from the textbook anyways, and he often indicated the “need-to-know” information on them. My advice is to find what works best for you to study Microbiology and don’t feel defeated if you don’t score well on the first test. That’s the only way I knew my style of studying wasn’t working. I would personally say that the information is easier compared to anatomy but there is a lot of it and you will be studying frequently (if you’re anything like me). This class is definitely manageable and you can get an A if you put the effort in.

• Life Sciences – Microbiology 121L: Human Biology III (Lab)
  • Instructor: Pr. Loretta Klamm: Pr. Klamm is your standard university professor in my opinion. She is nice and the structures of her classes are organized and straightforward. She can tend to be a tough grader and fairly understanding with the right circumstances. She’s not lenient about laziness or late work, but she will make exceptions when it matters. For example, I had to go to physical therapy one day during my scheduled lab time and she let me move sections that week with proper documentation. You shouldn’t have a problem with her if you do your assignments on time and with effort.
  • For online learning, we had 14 total pre-lab (reading, watching videos, virtual labs, quizzes) and in-class assignments. There were 4 “content quizzes” which were pretty much mini exams and they were also open-note (two pieces of paper allowed). At the end of the course, we had to submit a technique evaluation video as well.
  • Again, I can’t speak for what lab will look like after the transition from online learning back to in-person experiences but my universal advice for this lab is to be prepared. She tends to ask random questions to random students and you won’t fare well if you have no idea what you’re doing. I didn’t find this course to be particularly challenging but I did spend a good amount of time preparing for the labs and making sure I understood the material. It’s not an extremely challenging class but it’s also definitely not a slack-off, either.

• Medicine 9120 – Fundamentals of Medicine II
  • Instructors: Dr. Mark Allen & Mr. Nathan Driskill: The same professors as last semester, except about mid-semester Mr. Driskill I believe found a new job and no longer taught the course. Another staff member named Sarah McKee stepped in and helped manage the course alongside Dr. Allen.
  • Almost everything was the same as last semester, including the biweekly quizzes, midterm, and final but this semester we were given a geriatric course project. Students were split into groups of about 4 to 6 and assigned a specific geriatric “mentor” in which we were to meet with them 6 times across the span of the semester. At the end of the semester, we completed a final essay reflecting on their lives and what we learned from the project. We also had to do a few assignments about a case review. Like I said before, As long as you study the quizzes and slides and understand the major concepts beforehand, you should be fine.

• Other classes taken that are no longer available:
  • Discourse 300

You will likely hear that the second semester of the first year in this program is easier than the first semester and I would hesitantly agree with that. I think the main comparison here is with microbiology and anatomy and of course, my experience with my undergraduate year differs from those straight from high school. Both courses are really challenging. It’s my opinion that microbiology was easier; however, there was a lot more content to learn. Anatomy was harder but it all meshed together pretty well consecutively. If you are a first-year about to start your second semester, you should feel confident going in having made it through the fall and feel a bit more prepared for what’s to come. Good luck!