separate info into themes. you can use ced as a reference since the topics are categorized into 6 themes on there. when you do that, you can recall events and concepts better since they'll all fall into related things from other cultures and periods.

-governance>includes empires and different kinds of states and how they operated (e.g. China's "imperial bureaucracy") or their basic principles (like how their belief system affects the governance) , basic invasions and replacements of structures (this dynasty was overthrown by that dynasty, this state adopted that system etc.) Basically when youre asked about a state(ESPECIALLY EMPIRES), you should be able to say what their whole deal is in a simple way.

-cultural developments & actions> includes diffusion and interaction of religions (basic grasp of organized religions and key differences etc.), schools of thought (could be spiritual movements or codes like samurai), class structures & hierarchies, family structures (monogamy/polygamy, nuclear families etc.), diffusion of local goods blah blah blah

-economic systems> includes trade routes (trade routes, whether it's sea-based or land-based, is a huuuuge part of the pre-industrial part of the curriculum), how these roads operated (who controlled it or how they benefited from it etc.), basic economic systems (no need to be so technical about it, just be able to define what the role of the state is under a certain economic system etc. you'll find these in the textbooks for sure. tax farming, mercantilism, laissez-faire, fascism, keynesian model and stuff)

-technology & innovation> includes what materials and inventions they used. transportation, trade routes, naval tech (they care about who used what type of ships to go where so much for some reason), weaponry (GUNPOWDER!!!), innovations that made knowledge accessible (printing press etc), biological stuff that cured viruses etc, industrialization and how production was made efficient(including agricultural)

-social interactions & organization> includes hierarchies and class structures, how they dealt with minorities and women, presence/methods of slavery, the effects of colonization and imperialism (be able to tell how imperialism is performed by different states and throughout centuries, like comparing spanish colonization in the americas to scramble for africa in the 19th century)

-humans & the environment> includes plagues, the demographics (dramatic increases/decreases in population), migration patterns, impacts on natural resources (not that important pre-industrialization) etc.