I have 2 tips, that may sound pretty straight forward and stupid, but they were two major things that I noticed a vast difference on my own college experience, once I started doing them.
1. GO TO CLASS!!
Sounds pretty dumb I know, but if you really make it a habit to always go to class AND pay attention, you’ll find yourself understanding the material much more and not needing to study as much. I would always skip class and just go over the lectures on my own, not only would that add so much more time to do it on my own rather than if I was in class, it actually ended up staying in my head more because not only did the professor explain everything in detail, but it was over a span of time rather than being smushed into a couple days before the exam.
2. Use a Planner.
Whether it be an electronic one or physical one, USE ONE. As soon as I got my syllabi from all my classes, I went through all of them and wrote down any important due dates for homeworks, quizzes, and exams. Not only was it a hassle to go through each of my syllabi everyday to see if things were due, I often missed a lot of due dates. Having a planner puts everything in one spot and makes it super quick to pull out and see what’s planned for the following day, week, or month.