Since last Friday, everywhere I went I took my laptop with me. It wasn’t so much that I just had to have it with me because the sensation of having one is still foreign to me, but rather because it was the best study tool. Last Friday Dr. McCrossin placed up forty exhibits of human ancestors and gave us a study sheet. We were allowed to walk around and view them to prepare us for the practical exam exactly one week away. On that following Monday he did the same thing.

That practical exam is today. Instead of the forty exhibits there will be only thirty, we have no idea which ones either. For one week, wherever I went so did my laptop and on my laptop was a document in which I had posted all of the information given to us in the study sheet as well as pictures I had taken of each exhibit. I have been reviewing them religiously, I made up silly things to make sure I remembered which species is what and what the cranial capacity and age of the skulls are. There are some now that are so embedded in my mind that I know them upon site, others I just have to remember the little ditty I made and BAM! it’s back in my head.

For example, to remember the cranial capacity of one of the Homo erectus craniums I remember that its sutures are no where near fused so it looks like it’s even divided into three parts. Three kick ass female characters…in the year….1225… and there is the cranial capacity. Make sense? To me it does, skull is in 3 parts, there are 3 female lead characters in Cleopatra 2525 and the theme song goes …in the year, 2525, three women have the will to survive… The 2525 part is close enough to 1225 to jog the memory. The Homo habilis “Handy Man” skulls are all old enough to drink, by their society’s standards. Huh? Yup, legal age to drink in most cultures is 18, the H. habilis skull is 1.8mya and the other one, which I have dubbed the mud monster because of its appearance, has a cranial capacity of 752ml. One of the sizes you can buy liquor in is 750ml. They’re really silly things, but they help and that’s only a couple of the funnier ones.

So, I’m jamming to Billy Idol’s Rebel Yell once again courtesy of Aly and reviewing before I take off to buy a pack of gum and take my exam.

Why gum? Some studies have shown that chewing gum reduces anxiety during tests by helping the student to feel more relaxed and comfortable. Other studies have shown that by chewing gum you are increasing the flow of blood to your brain by up to 25% which assists in your thinking and memory recall.

Hence why I’m picking up a pack of gum on the way to class and popping a stick in my mouth. Anything and everything is helpful, especially since I need to get an A on this exam and at least a B on my final (on Monday no less and cumulative to boot!) to pull off a passing grade. Assuming I did good on my paper, I won’t know what I got on it until today.

So everybody, please cross your fingers and toes for me. Send your hopes, thoughts, best wishes and prayers to me and here’s hoping I won’t be re-taking this monster of a class.