One of the challenges posed by increasing student populations in many universities, especially Nigerian universities, and the attendant astronomical rise in student-teacher ratio is the extra burden of administering and grading essay-type examination questions. As a way out of this challenge, several universities have, for convenience, adopted the option of multiple-choice questions (MCQs), especially at the lower and more populous undergraduate levels. This paradigm shift underscores the relevance and desirability of textbooks on multiple-choice questions.
For students, MCQs have considerable advantages over essay-type questions: they offer a rapid, convenient and effective way of testing understanding of diverse areas of contemporary biochemistry. For lecturers, these questions are more cost-effective and easier to administer, and the grading process, irrespective of bulk, is accomplished very rapidly and efficiently through automated procedures.
In the maiden edition of this book, we emphasized on its monumental benefits to medical and biological science-based undergraduates, and pledged to carry out periodic reviews to incorporate other areas of biochemistry while updating knowledge. This revised edition has done just that. Apart from re-ordering the text format by arranging topics into separate chapters, we have expanded the topics by incorporating a separate chapter on the biochemical basis of some contemporary issues in tropical medicine, such as leprosy, Ebola fever, trypanosomiasis, and malaria. Medical students and medical fellowship candidates will find this area very illuminating indeed.
The text enjoys the uniqueness of originality in concept and scope. The questions were solely crafted from the scratch by expert Professors with PhDs who have taught biochemistry for the past 30 years. For ease of reading, explained answers are now provided at the end of each chapter. It is advised that, for maximum benefits, the reader should first achieve a thorough grasp of biochemistry by consulting standard books before using this text.
We hope that you find this book a useful companion and a source of resounding success in your examinations.
NP Okolie, PhD; GE Eriyamremu, PhD; CC Osubor, PhD
