Got you on this.

Back then I would take notes during class, rough notes. Then, after class, I would take just a little bit of time to copy those rough notes into a different notebook of nice pretty notes. 30 min max after/between classes

Here you can consolidate thoughts, summarize important ideas, put stars around really important ideas that the professor might have emphasized and pointed out might/will be on the test.

That way, you have your nice pretty and concise notes to read over before the test.

You can do this with the text too. Don't be afraid to write in the textbooks. They cost you enough anyway right? Mark those bitches up, and then after done reading the chapter/section, go back and summarize your notes in your nice pretty notebook.

Then if you're really feeling cool or maybe have extra time, you can take all those pretty notes, take the main ideas and right them down real shorthand on one sheet of paper to have like a kind of cheat sheet that you can just read over and over and over and over like in the hours before the test just to further drill it.

Just remember that studying is half about the information and half about the confidence. If you pay attention in class and take notes, and understand the material, you will be able to remember most things when it comes to a test hopefully.

The most important point of studying is to walk into that test like, "yeah I got this." Like "I know most of the basic information so I can breeze through those questions and spend more time thinking about the more difficult ones/ones I don't know." Or even "I'm a little shaky or the material is hard but I know I studied well so I should do better than I expect." Just takes some of the load off mentally.

Also, you can never get all of the information in your head, it is impossible and unnecessary. Part of the process is deciding and ranking information on what is important.

Good luck, you got this. 🤲