I'm not a world champion student, but I DO have a masters. I have some cognitive deficits, but I did fairly well.

You need to figure out what works for you and how you learn. I think a lot of study strategies are simply ways to get you to play games with the subject. By going over it actively and creatively it gets lodged in your mind. It's sort of like getting to know someone. You can know all about a person and still not know them. When you meet then, talk with them. and interact with them you start to know them. Subjects in school are kind of the same, you have to work with them to know them.

Learning has almost nothing to do with being "smart". By definition learning is acquiring new understanding, knowledge, or skills. It requires a lot of work. I say that because we are taught the opposite in school. We are taught that we should always know the answer, always get it right, and never make mistakes. That isn't learning, that's knowing.

Someone who is really learning is often ignorant, often wrong, and makes mistakes. You have to be ignorant and incompetent first. Being ignorant isn't bad, it's necessary. It's only by struggling that you learn. You have to have a sense of wonder, ask questions, make guesses, fail, and try again. That's what learning is.

School is often so shallow that it requires little more than memory. You read the book, listen to the professor, and tell it back. Remembering things is awesome, but it's hardly education. I can memorize all sorts of stuff and still have no clue what any of it means. You are learning and becoming educated when you look at reality, the things themselves, and begin to understand them.

Studying will make you intelligent! When you learn something for real, and not just what to put on the test, it changes you. You gain insight, begin to understand how things work, know why they are, and why it matters. You begin to see things more quickly, ask better questions, and learn faster! It won't make you a genius, but it will make a difference. That's what a real education is all about. Even when you have real limitations, you can learn what they are and how to better deal with them. Some things you may never be able to do, but there are all sorts of other things that you will learn.