University
So, I finally figured something out, after almost 2 years of university.
They don't really want to see how much you can remember in one night, how well you cram for a test/midterm/exam. It's just a method of measuring how well you study and how you study throughout the year/semester, how you approach your studying, how you manage your time wrt your school work and extra curriculars and social life (if you choose to have one). The tests are essentially a test to see if you know what to study because there's absolutely no way you could ever memorize the entire textbook, prof's notes and anything else s/he says in class. They want to see if you know what to expect on their exams.
~well, so far it's working for my courses this semester since I've started to catch on to this,(ie my marks look good in the ones where I have figured out what is going to be asked as opposed to trying to study everything.) which is way better than last year when I had no idea what was goin on.
for all my contemporary readers, hope this helps you if you understand what I'm talking about.
for all my younger readers, keep this in mind when you get to university/college.
PS: all the best on your upcoming exams!