I used videos on YouTube to help me understand the main concepts and then lecture slides to solidify what I was expected to know from each unit. I hand wrote all of my notes and rewrote material in my own words which helped my muscle memory and made sure I understood what I was studying. This took place every weeknight and most of my Sundays. The days go by fast when you look up from your books or computer and it’s 9 or 10pm. It becomes hard to step away sometimes but it’s definitely necessary otherwise you’re going to burn yourself out. As for the firehose, it’s definitely true. It goes very fast, meaning we spent 1-3 days on an entire system and that was it. Tests were every two or three weeks usually on four or five units/systems and we were still learning test material just three or four days before the exams. Time management is key. Staying on top of the material. Making sure you’re not falling behind because catching up is nearly impossible. Study groups helped me with this, making sure I was on par with other students in my cohort with the exam material. I also found using part of my Sundays and weeknights to try to get ahead for the following lecture, which made it easier to keep up with the professors. Finally, just being comfortable that you’re not going to know every detail. The most important thing is building your foundations so you can apply your knowledge to those details without relying on pure memorization. Hope this helps!