I'm extremely out of my depth and have only survived thus far using the 'Quiz and Recall' method of learning, where I take Cornell style notes of everything ass

I'm extremely out of my depth and have only survived thus far using the 'Quiz and Recall' method of learning, where I take Cornell style notes of everything assigned to us and then go through my notes trying to explain (out loud, to nobody) each concept they're trying to teach us that week, such as 'give two equivalent definitions for expander graphs' and if I can't explain it without repeating myself or stumbling words I then read material and work examples until I can. I also search Google Scholar for survey papers on the subject and often just a well explained introduction will click some understanding. At first this was a miserably slow process where after each lecture I noticed I couldn't explain anything properly and thought I was doomed but after a few weeks it gets easier. You also have access to TAs and office hours you should use them as you're paying for them. Something else I try is active reading, as I'll just turn to autopilot through a long chapter not retaining anything and need to stop and ask questions to myself about it or try and model whatever it is in emacs using any language.