Disclosed herein are related to a memory system including a memory cell and a circuit to operate the memory cell. In one aspect, the circuit includes a pair of transistors to electrically couple, to the bit line, a selected one of i) a voltage source to supply a reference voltage to the memory cell and ii a sensor to sense a current through the memory cell. In one aspect, the circuit includes a first transistor. The first transistor and the bit line may be electrically coupled between the pair of transistors and the memory cell in series.