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I'm learning contemporary american history as a general election course right now in a college. I got more than 80% in a exam but I still fell that I don't know:

  1. What's important? There are two many details in the textbook and lecture notes.
  2. How can I remember them? For example, here is question in the example: Briefly explain how America's mobilization of WW2 affected the labor movement in the United States. I can only remember some of the examples to answer the questions. I feel there are too many things in my mind which result in I can not "pull" the most important things when I take exam?

Could you please give me some advice about how to find out what's important and how to remember them?

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I started a meta question about this as I do not think this question is on topic but could be wrong -- thus no down vote (it is an interesting and well formed question) or vote to close. – Sardathrion Oct 29 '12 at 15:38
I'd close this as it's in some ways similar to history.stackexchange.com/q/4365/114 which while its meta question was about history the actual question was something outside of the scope of the site and what we ask for in the FAQ. – MichaelF Oct 29 '12 at 15:42
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When studying for an exam the focus should be on what your professor has noted for you study, if there are questions check with him. As to memory there are ways to study and remember things, either with mnemonics or repetition, but if you want something more specific in the question feel free to edit according to the FAQ and vote to reopen. – MichaelF Oct 29 '12 at 15:45
Your example looks like mostly a reading comprehension question. I'd bet good money there's a paragraph in your text that explicitly talks about it. For me, I'd probably do best by just rereading the material before hand, but I'm a werido who reads his history textbooks cover-to-cover like a novel. :-) – T.E.D.♦ Oct 29 '12 at 15:55
@T.E.D. It's a short essay question : ) Your advice is also helpful. – Joe Oct 29 '12 at 16:02
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closed as off topic by MichaelF Oct 29 '12 at 15:45

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