My Biochemistry Learning Journey
Sophia AngelicaMae R. Salas, RMT
From molecules to medicine, an honest record of learning, unlearning, connecting, and becoming.
Begin the journey
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 Technologists 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
2026