Those were wonderful, Graph. I'm going to try several of those, including the coffee beans. I can definitely use that tip, especially as a non coffee drinker. You gave me some good new tips there!

I find that mnemoinc (memory) devices like memorable abbreviations (every good boy does fine for muscial notes, for instance) help me a lot. I have lots of memorization this year.

I get real uptight before exams or lab practicals and always have to work hard at relaxing by meditating or controlling my breathing. I totally choke if I don't help myself relax. It seems to help if I have some relaxing romantic time with my husband the night before tests.

I'm finding that broken up periods of studying, interspersed with breaks, help a lot. I study for an hour and a half. Then break. Do something fun. Go back to the books. Break again. Then study again. Then break for sleep. That downtime and overnight time help the unconscious part of my mind sort and categorize and reinforce things. A quick review before class or before a test seems to help put a nice sealing touch on the info.

Good luck with school, Dmo18! I think you'll find the more you practice study techniques and go over things repeatedly, the easier it'll get. You're not only training your brain to learn the information you're studying, you're also training it to learn to learn. The more you reinforce the learn-to-learn, the easier the info itself will stick in there.