My German teacher was a genius when it came to studying. He studied ways to study lol and i followed his tips which right now have me at straight 98-100 averages in every class i am taking.
His words: Your brain takes in information differently and records it in different ways depending on what you are looking at, or seeing, or hearing. Because of these different ways to acquire information and record in your brain, there are ways to make what you are studying imprint itself in your mind permanently. This is a process called multiple record session (i think he made that up).
What you do is first find out what information you are studying. Place the information down on notecards. Now on the other side of the notecards where it is blank, using a marker put a color on the back for the section you are studying. For example, chemistry, if you are learning about synthesis bonding use blue, if you learning decomposition use red, double bonding use orange, etc. Now have some hold up the card so you can see the color and have them ask a question on it, using the color as a guide try to remember the answer.
Another technique my english teacher taught me was questioning yourself. This works best with long passages (like for the HSPA and the NJASK's, and also the SAT). While reading ask yourself small questions such as:
What is the theme of this passage?
Who does this passage apply to?
Where does this passage take place?
What is the conflict in the passage?
Go forward, read the questions, and match them with the questions you asked with parts of the passage. Also take down notes of the passages that can sum up each paragraph in two or less sentences.
I hope this helps. Remember your brain can record information more accurately if you are to use all of your senses you can. Auditory, visual, and even touch can help, if you make a certain surface a different texture for that question. Sounds bizarre but your mind can take in information in many ways.