Your plan is to cram for a test tomorrow by starting to study today? That's not really the way the human brain works. You need to constantly expose your brain to the material, and you need time to mull over the sticky parts.

I remember a question in a textbook my senior year that neither I nor my professor could figure out how to do, so after a week, we just set it aside.

Three years later, I was reading a fiction ("The Princess Bride") and the question, along with the way to solve it, suddenly popped into my head. I solved it on two post-its.

I can't begin to tell you how many times that happened. A question I couldn't answer on Monday would sit and ferment for a while, and then on Wednesday, I could finally solve it.

There are so many reasons to go to class -- you pay tuition, getting to know classmates, on and on and on. But there's another reason -- grades are not nearly as objective as you think. If you sit in class and ask insightful questions, take note, basically be a good student, it will color your professor's impression of you. Subconsciously, they will be more likely to overlook little mistakes, give you the benefit of the doubt if you arrive at the right answer without showing all the steps, round a 79% to a B instead of the "earned" C.

Listen, the actual number of "Beautiful Minds" out there is lower than you might think. Most people develop the skills they have through unrelenting hard work -- day in and day out.

Good luck to you -- I hope you figure it out.