There are people out there that devote themselves to memorizing decks of cards or arbitrarily long numbers. Cards or random numbers are not particularly interesting, so these folks invent mind games. They may take each card to represent a particular object and then make up some crazy story involving these objects. Suddenly to them what was mindbogglingly dull becomes tantamount to some epic screen play.

You can employ similar tricks to studying any subject. When studying for my degree there were a few things that really helped. Note taking, notes had to be as vivid as possible. I would always have multiple coloured pens and highlights as possible. Pictures, various sized and coloured text and lots of arrows. My notes became art. Mnemonics and stories were important for the long lists of things.

Also managing energy levels is pretty important. Regular sleep cycles, exercise help maintain focus. Environment makes a big difference. A library is much better than the common room.. Also, slightly controversially, I find the often given advice to take regular breaks when studying was highly damaging. If I allow regular breaks, then my focus shifts to watching for when my next break is. Also in the breaks I would get time to think about how dull this stuff was. So I would find maintaining pure focus for about 4 hours at a stretch much easier. It helps to have a variety of studying techniques to move around in. So moving between reading / note taking, mnemonic memorization, doing exercises, visiting tutors, discussing with study partners helps keep things flowing.