HbO₂ATP
Manila Central UniversityCollege of Medicine · MD-1

My Biochemistry Learning Journey

Sophia AngelicaMae R. Salas, RMT

From molecules to medicine, an honest record of learning, unlearning, connecting, and becoming.

September 4, 2026Prelim E-Portfolio
Begin the journey
Sophia Angelica Mae R. Salas
“This is where I really want to be.”
Atomic interactions
Molecular foundations
Laboratory discovery
Clinical connection
Life in motion
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Prologue

Not the beginning I expected

A late enrollee’s first page.

I come from Angeles City, Pampanga. My academic path began at Angeles University Foundation and continued at Our Lady of Fatima University, Pampanga, where I completed my Medical Technology journey. In March 2026, I passed the Medical Technologist Licensure Examination and earned the title of Registered Medical Technologist. Beyond academics, I am a singer at night and an aspiring physician in the morning.

On July 30, I entered my first Biochemistry class already behind on the lessons covered in earlier sessions and walked directly into two quizzes. I had spent the days before catching up on missed lessons and activities, not only in Biochemistry but in my other subjects as well. With little to no sleep, I had barely any time left to prepare and only a faint idea of what to expect. Yet that moment became more than an unexpected assessment. It became proof that the Medical Technologist I had already become would remain part of the physician I am now becoming.

This portfolio follows that growth: from relying on what I once knew to understanding why it matters; from releasing laboratory results to interpreting their place in a patient’s story; and from memorizing details to discovering the wonder of the human body as one connected system.

With God’s grace, even an unexpected beginning can become a meaningful one.

A calling clarified

From the laboratory bench
to the bedside.

Two milestones gave me the courage to recognize the path I had already begun to choose.

A milestone that became a beginning Sophia Salas at her Medical Technologist oath-taking ceremony
Registered Medical TechnologistOath-taking ceremony · 2026

NMAT examination

A sign to keep going.

I took the NMAT on October 19, 2025, and when I received a score that exceeded 40, I chose to see it as more than just a number. At a time when I was still questioning whether medicine was truly the path I was meant to take, it felt like a sign to keep going.

Medical Technologist Licensure Examination

A title, and a clearer purpose.

A few months later, on March 6, 2026, I passed the Medical Technologist Licensure Examination. Passing the MTLE was another meaningful milestone for me—not only because I earned the title of a licensed medical technologist, but because it made me pause and reflect on what I truly wanted from my career in healthcare.

As a medical technologist, I have learned to appreciate the quiet but essential role the laboratory plays in patient care. I learned to be precise, patient, and accountable because behind every tube of blood, every specimen, and every result is a person waiting for an answer. There is something deeply meaningful about knowing that my work can contribute to someone’s diagnosis and treatment, even when I may never meet the patient.

Yet, with experience, I began to recognize something within myself. I did not want to remain only at the point where the answers were generated. I wanted to understand the person who needed those answers. I wanted to sit with a patient, hear their story, put the pieces together, and understand how the laboratory findings fit into the bigger picture of their health.

That realization made me look differently at my role as a medical technologist. Rather than seeing medicine as a departure from the profession I worked hard to enter, I began to see it as the next step in a journey that had already given me a strong foundation. My experiences in the laboratory have taught me the value of evidence, accuracy, and the science behind disease. More importantly, they have shown me that every result has a human story behind it.

This is why I want to pursue medicine. I want to take what I have learned from behind the laboratory bench and bring it closer to the patient. I want the responsibility of not only understanding the science, but also listening, reasoning, diagnosing, and helping someone navigate what comes next.

The NMAT and my success in the MTLE felt like two moments that reaffirmed a desire I had been carrying for some time. I choose to see them as signs—not because they made the decision for me, but because they gave me the courage to recognize what I already felt.

“My journey began in the laboratory. Now, I want to take that knowledge further and become a physician who can help find, interpret, and act upon the answers that matter most to a patient.

Learning · Reflection · Integration · Growth

My learning days

Each entry follows what I encountered, what changed in my understanding, and how the lesson moves with me toward Medicine.

PAUSE?

Multiple class suspensions

The classes paused. The learning did not.

Online lectures and asynchronous tasks required me to take greater ownership of my learning. As someone who learns slowly, I had to work through each topic carefully and by heart. I am especially thankful for Doc A’s high-yield lectures, which helped me find structure when the usual rhythm of class was interrupted.

Long examination results

When preparation felt powerless, faith carried me through.

I entered the long examination prepared, yet once it began, it felt as though every weapon I had brought into the room had stopped working. My pen, memory, questionnaire, and Scantron no longer felt like allies in the same battle.

Before submitting my examination, I prayed, “Lord, I surrender everything to You.”

I left the room disheartened and uncertain whether I would pass. Speaking with friends who had struggled too reminded me that I was not alone. We acknowledged how difficult the examination had been, and I began thinking about the next best steps I could take to improve before the Prelim examination.

When the results were released on Friday, God’s grace met me again. I had passed and exceeded my own projected score of 30 to 40 out of 110. The result showed me that I understood more than fear had allowed me to believe, while also making the next lesson clear: understanding is only the beginning, and I still need deeper mastery to achieve a stronger result in the Prelim examination.

My projection30 to 40 / 110The outcomePassed

Selected artifacts

Evidence of learning

These clips are not simply proof that tasks were completed. They show the quiet process through which confusion became notes, notes became connections, and connections became understanding.

Click to open each memory

What I will carry forward.

Not everything meaningful fits inside an examination. These are the ideas I want to remember when Biochemistry becomes a patient, a decision, and a responsibility.

01

Prelim reflection

Becoming is happening in the details.

This Prelim period did not unfold smoothly. I arrived late, met unexpected quizzes, adjusted to suspended classes, encountered a new virtual laboratory, and learned to study through uncertainty. Yet each experience showed me that growth is not always loud. Sometimes it looks like returning to a difficult chapter. Sometimes it is a page of notes, a careful question, or the decision to keep learning when the classroom is unavailable.

My Medical Technology background remains one of my strengths, but Medicine is already asking me to stretch beyond it, to connect the result to the mechanism, the mechanism to the symptoms, and all of it to the human being in front of me. Biochemistry is beginning to change how I see the body: not as isolated facts, but as countless small processes working together to make life possible.

“I am not only learning what the body is made of. I am learning to see why every tiny part matters to the person I hope to care for.”
Prelim
2026