Gerke explains how information is retained in the brain.
“The brain has to form memory in order for you to retain information. Now technically, that means you have to encounter things over and over again in order to actually put them into memory,” she explained.
According to Gerke, students get overwhelmed by the amount of material they have to memorize in a short amount of time.
“If you know that you have two exams, a paper and a project done within a few days, sometimes that just overwhelms your brain, but your mental emotional capacities as well, and you just feel like there’s no way I can possibly be successful on all of these things,” Gerke said.
Also, she stated that finals week is a high pressure situation.
“Usually it’s a lot of points, which is 100 or more and sometimes those are cumulative things where you’ve a project you’re supposed to work on all semester long, or maybe it’s an exam over everything you’ve covered in the semester,” Gerke said.
She gave detailed information on how students can maintain a healthy brain.
“The brain has barriers so that we don’t put toxins, too much sugar or salt into the brain, but the brain is getting its food from what you put into your body,” Gerke stated.
She explains why sleep is important for the brain.
“Sleep is very important to have a brain that is actually going to be able to work and retain the information that you want it to a brain that is not sleeping is not going to store memories. Your brain needs the time to go through that processing, but also that time to rest,” Gerke explained.
The anatomy & physiology professor commented that the brain is fascinating but also continues to learn more about the brain everyday.
“One of the things that I love is getting to incorporate new research or new exciting developments into my classes, because we talk about the brain, but we’re still learning about it, and it’s just one of those things where we haven’t, we don’t fully understand all of the intricate details yet, but we’ll learn them eventually,” Gerke said.
Second year Jerry Davila commented on his preparation for finals.
“When I did have some of the harder classes, like chemistry, for example, I did study a bit more for that one, especially the study guide that the teacher provided us. With that study guide, I was able to study better,” he stated.
Davila mentions his process of retaining information.
“ One thing that I did in multiple classes and people do this on their computer, but I like taking notes in a notebook. I still do pencil and paper stuff in my notebook but I just write down everything we learned from that week, and then obviously, I just review all of that before the final,” he said.
He handles test anxiety by focusing on getting the assignments done in order to increase the grade.
“Honestly, just tackling the test anxiety is more of a you kind of just have to do it. You might get a little scared here and there but you’re afraid that you may not do well, but as long as you’re able to do most of it, you should be fine,” he said.
Davila gave tips on how students can improve their studying habits moving forward.
“One advice that I would definitely give is manage your time well, because if you don’t manage your time well, then you’re not going to study at all,” he said. “Every time you manage your time well, you can study a little bit here, a little bit there, and then eventually you’ll get to the day of the final, you’ll hopefully do well.”
