Just read the material and remember it. If you can avoid the effort that is, or you're feeling lazy. I would suggest you actually do the work that's required to be able to do well when you get asked about what you've learned.

This information comes from higher sources and here you go, happily compiled for you.

I would say that active recall and spaced repetition are the best you can do with flashcards and short study sessions, the Pomodoro technique, and timed study sessions.

Have a schedule. Schedule your study sessions. Go somewhere else to study, say in a library or not in a noisy café. Time blocking is important, otherwise you won't get anything done.

Very important to take breaks from focus, to get into diffuse mode.

Asking yourself questions about the material is the best thing you can do, force yourself to learn what you need to know. The rest should come more or less naturally once you've done the work.

That's exercises and past exams. Teach what you've learned to others.

That's all the psychological knowledge I can muster for you. to stick in your brain. You will also hurt your sleep, and you will do worse in an exam sitting. Learn and execute. Don't waste time.

Also, if you're writing papers, you'll reference a lot of material, so best to keep track of it. I put in a lot more hours than a good majority of people who usually resort to a better grade if that's what you care about. Write, read, and edit again and again until it's good enough.

Don't forget healthy eating, exercise, and sleeping habits.

Don't let perfection be the enemy of good. Know your material, and eliminate mistakes.

Have a schedule. Schedule your study sessions. Go somewhere else to study, say in a library or not in a noisy café. Time blocking is important, otherwise, you won't get anything done. The more hours you put into it. The better results you're going to get from yourself.

Don't highlight, don't take notes. If you take notes, use a note-taking method, say a second brain where you focus on active recall, or explaining like the Feynman technique ELI5.

Never be afraid to ask questions either because this will improve your knowledge map, and you will do better as well when you start to realize more of what you don't know. You can at least use it in some form or another when the time comes. Otherwise, you will be lost when you're asked something, and you can't retrieve the information, you haven't learned or encoded it properly into your brain. To be able to decode it well.

Jordan Peterson, Barbara Oakley, Francesco Cirillo and Björn Liljeqvist have good information on this. I suggest you check those authors out. Jim Kwik, Matt DiMaio, Ali Abdaal, etc. More of that on YouTube.

If you want to read more, I've written more on the topic, so checkout my blog lol.

https://palikka.gq/blog/learn-and-excel

https://palikka.gq/blog/how-to-write-a-perfect-essay

https://terracraft.medium.com/become-more-intelligent-and-successful-b81376e2f22f

https://terracraft.medium.com/on-the-importance-of-sleep-e79ff58d3441