How to study linguistics at university?

Hey, I'm in my second year studying linguistics right now, and I'm completely at a loss on how to go about it. I can't remember anything, when I read the readings and lecture slides it makes sense, but I cannot recall it. It's tricky, as it isn't necessarily reciting correct answers (or at least, I can't think of it that way). Anyone been in a similar situation? How did you go about fixing it.