I don't know how useful this will be if you're not in arts-based courses, but here's how I maintained a 4.0. *Do all your readings for the assigned day. Yeah, you'll miss a few. But it's easier to catch up on a few than 20-30. You'll also be more prepared for the lecture, which will generally build off of the reading, and this will enhance your understanding of the concept. Basically just try not to procrastinate (I know, easier said than done). *While doing those readings, keep a running word document of key quotes, including page numbers. In many of these classes, you'll have to write a paper drawing from the readings and this will MAJORLY cut down on the re-researching that you'll have to do. It also serves as a study guide for exams. *When writing research papers, do the research early. Take a day a few weeks in advance just to search for relevant articles. Keep a record of these articles in a word document. A few days later, maybe start to check out these articles more in-depth, ruling out the ones that weren't as useful as you thought they'd be and paying closer attention to those that will be useful. Like for your required readings, keep a list of key quotes from the readings that you can either include or paraphrase in your paper. After doing this step, I could usually bang out a decent paper the night before it was due. Just make sure you set aside time to edit, even if it has to be the morning before it's due. *Find the note-taking method that works best for you in lectures. I chose my laptop because my fingers can just kind of do the work without having to think much about it, so I can pay nearly full attention to the lecture. While studying, cross-reference these notes with your reading notes and all concepts should be sufficiently covered. *When you start studying for an exam, consult these notes and physically highlight the main points of quotes/lectures/etc. I would usually just use the text highlight tool in word or pages. Take those highlighted bits and make a kind of "shorthand" study guide that you can read over, and over, and over. Repetition is key. If you know the main ideas, and you've paid enough attention to readings and lectures, you will be able to build upon them in exams. *Get a good night's sleep before an exam and bring a water bottle and some food in with you (if you're allowed). It always calmed my mind to cram a little the mornings before exams, even though I knew my opportunity for information retention was pretty much up at that point. Just try to relax yourself and go in there and kill it :)