I always appreciate when professors make us interact with the material more than just memorizing vocabulary words. I’ve definitely noticed with classes that require problem-solving strategies rather than pure memorization on homework and exams, I always finish the term feeling like I actually learned/remembered things. When tests require straight memorization I often forget most of the material shortly after the exam is over.

I once had a professor tell me that a good way to see if you understand the material is if you can explain it to a 5-year-old. I definitely have found that this is true, for anyone can memorize and spit back out an explanation from a textbook; however, explaining it in simpler terms takes mastery of a topic to break it down into an easy-to-understand concept. I always do this in my head when I’m studying to make sure I am comprehending the material properly.

This is one of the many reasons genomics is so fascinating to me—something as seemingly simple as a grain of rice has (correct me if I’m wrong) more genes in its genome than a human being! I wonder how many, if any, are protein-encoding.