• Check your values. List your activities and estimate the time you can give to each (try filling out a time survey, html or pdf format, which will show you where you spend your time, versus where you would like to spend it).
• Be realistic! If you don't set conscious boundaries, your unconscious mind will set its own limits and tug at your attention as you study.
• Include play time in your schedule. If you suppress your mind too strongly by making it study and not allowing it play time, creativity and concentration will drop rapidly.
• Keep an informal log. Keep track of the amount of time you actually study each subject and compare it to your schedule. If the two don't match, adjust your plan and your values list to match reality. Also rate your concentration level on some kind of scale - low numbers mean you may not have learned everything you meant to.
• Eat right and exercise. Junk food has been linked to poor concentration and short attention span, while exercise makes the brain happy and helps you settle into studying. Also avoid crash diets/not eating - your body needs the energy that a balanced diet provides.
• Practice the skills you need for exams. Working on these skills will mean that you can use them without having to think about them too much; before a test, stress may cloud the brain and make it harder to use these skills unless you have practiced them. Examine old exams from the class or the professor to get an idea of what skills you will be using the most.
• Do some teaching. Find a friend who is in your class and teach each other the key concepts. In order to teach someone else, you must have a firm grasp on the material that you are teaching. Working with a classmate means that you can fill in gaps in each others' understanding.
• Make yourself comfortable. Create a positive learning environment (pdf format).
• If you hate a subject… tell yourself you're going to like it - you'll never make it with any other attitude. Find out what other people (classmates, TA's, profs) like about it. Try to pinpoint what you don't like and ask people how they would go about fixing it.
• Never study one subject for more than two consecutive hours, and always take 5 to 10 minute breaks every 50 minutes to keep your concentration level up.
• Reward yourself. Make a list of things you'd do if you didn't have to study. Use them when you finish tasks - it gives you something to look forward to.
• Use "committed time." Go over your notes in the car, in line at the dining hall, while waiting for class to start.
• Know your resources. There are many people on this campus who are available to assist you in many ways. Stop by the Academic Advising Office to learn more about these resources.
• Make studying a habit. This is the best way to make yourself study - just get used to doing it in a designated place at a certain time and stick to it. Soon you'll just be used to it.

adapted from Thornton, Robert, How to Get More Out of Your Study Time. UC Davis, 1987