Avoid procrastination 1 - Set aside time to study a little and often rather than trying to do huge sessions. Cramming doesn't work, your brain doesn't like it. 2 - Turn off your phone, shut down those facebook/email/reddit/imgur tabs so they're not tempting you. 3 - Don't get disheartened by thinking about the whole topic at once. How do you eat an elephant? One little bite at a time. 4 - Just get started, even for a few mins. You'll get into the flow after just a few mins.
Take your breaks 1 - Recall is greatly improved by taking a short breaks to let your brain digest the material you're learning. 2 - Try the pomodoro technique. Focussed work with zero distractions for 25 mins, then a 5 min break, repeat. For coding I prefer a longer work period to load the problem into my noggin but YMMV.
As part of the course we had to do up a few small blog entries explaining the material. Another good point: re-explaining the subject cements your understanding of it. Feel free to take a look at mine, I go into a bit more detail on the above items http://learnsmarternotharder.blogspot.ie/2015/01/so-much-to-...