Before you know it, you have a test or quiz approaching, so you assemble your nifty notes and start restudying them like mad. You have to set apart a large chunk of time out of your schedule to review this old information so that you will be fresh for your test. There is a better way.

  Now, let's pretend that you decided to get one day ahead. After your first class period (and I know this is hard to do because during the first week there's so much fun to be found and so little work to do), you have a heart-to-heart with yourself and decide that you are going to get one day ahead.

If today's Monday, and next class is Wednesday, you set aside some time on Monday afternoon or anytime on Tuesday and read the first chapter. You may even decide to take your own notes, highlight, or even make flashcards for definitions (more on flashcards later).

So when you walk into class on Wednesday and your teacher starts talking, you have at least some idea what they are talking about. You don't have to copy down definitions you've already read off sloppy overheads because you know they are in the book -- you remember reading them. Instead of frantically trying to copy notes like your poor, confused classmates, you can relax a little and really listen to what the professor is saying.

Lecture becomes your own review session, and then you are that much ahead when test time comes. If the professor starts talking about something that you don't remember make certain to take good notes. The topic is either not covered in the book (so you can guarantee the professor will put it on a test), or it's something that you didn't quite absorb the first time you read it.

 If you can do this for each of your classes at the very beginning of school, you will be in pristine shape. Once you get one day ahead, you can work at the same pace as everyone else, but always be a day ahead. Lectures will not be “note cramming sessions”; they’ll be pseudo reviews.