His preference to listen to and absorb the information during lectures proved problematic when he got home and had no notes.
That led Mr Kerrisk (19) to come up with the idea of developing a website where students from universities throughout New Zealand could buy and sell notes and gain access to practice questions, thereby optimising their study time.
That website - www.studyspace.co.nz - has now been created, with assistance from fellow students Michael Arthur and Paul Kibblewhite, and was launched yesterday. It took about four and a-half months to build.
It was simple to use and those posting notes could choose whether to list them free of charge or set whatever price they chose. Users could also rate the notes.
Mr Kerrisk hoped the site would prove popular with students. He had already tested it on friends and family and had some "really good feedback".
From a dairy farming background in Wellsford, north of Auckland, Mr Kerrisk shifted south, both for rugby reasons and initially, to study physical education.
After a year, he decided to switch to commerce and, once he completed his degree, he was contemplating a further change of focus by studying veterinary science.
"I just think I want to be a vet. It's always been in the back of my mind."
This year, he will be a Kiwihost, something he looked forward to. He will host one international student from Ireland and two from the United States who all will study in Dunedin.
Even if Mr Kerrisk made the move to Massey to study veterinary science, he intended continuing with StudySpace and keeping it "ticking along". He intended promoting it through social media and he had friends in the North Island who were prepared to help promote it.
In March, masters of entrepreneurship student Samantha Berry will launch UniTutor, a website where students can find private tutors for specific university papers.
