I attended USNA for a year before voluntarily separating. Like quite a few of my classmates, I came from a not-very-challenging high school. No APs at the time, but we had honors courses. I took them all, and graduated HS with a 3.92 GPA. Despite that, I was completely unprepared for USNA (or any rigorous college). I had no idea how to take good notes. I had no idea how to study. And sure, we emphasized time management during Plebe Summer, but managing academic time is a whole different show. My first-semester plebe year QPR was 3.0 (and that was a GIFT) but my second-semester QPR was 3.8. Now, I'm also a college professor at a college similar to the service academies, at least academically: it is selective, there is a strong emphasis on STEM disciplines first, and liberal arts as well, the courses are rigorous, and our grads have very high employment rates and rates of grad school. I also advise 50 students, and this year 21 are freshmen (I had a lot of seniors graduate last spring). With the "both sides" perspective, I've seen some differences between freshmen who are successful right out of the gate, and those who struggle and flounder.
1. The successful ones recognize when they're in trouble and GET HELP by whatever means necessary. Let me define a couple of terms: "trouble" = any exam or quiz grade ≥1 letter grade lower than you're used to getting; or any time you find yourself thinking "but I studied and studied and I have NO idea why I did so bad on that exam!" "Help" means tutoring from a reputable source - a tutoring center, not your best friend or random guy down the hall on your floor. Reputable sources also include your professors, and one thing USNA really has going for the Brigade is access to instructors. Also in this category are students who really believe that they are capable of learning and will do what it takes to prove they're right - not the ones who think that some stuff is just too hard, that they'll never be smart enough to learn ___. (If you are saying that, I have bad news for you: you're RIGHT!)
2. The successful ones know how to ask questions. UNsuccessful freshmen (well, any student) come to my office hours and start out by saying "I just don't understand" or "I'm not getting it" or, worse, "You didn't tell me this was important." The successful ones show up and say, "I don't understand how you got Y from X" and "I'm not getting how to synthesize R & S to get T." Have specific questions. Write them down. This requires that you keep some kind of log while you are studying, working problems, reading, etc. I have one student who uses those little flag Post-its: red for "clueless, need to ask," yellow for "think so, review again" and green for "solid."
3. UNsuccessful students have what we call "rainbow textbooks." They highlight the heck out of them and think they've learned something. Successful students read a little bit at a time. They ask themselves questions while reading (What's the main point? Do I understand this? Could I explain it to someone else? Do I get the connection between this and what we did in class today?). Successful students read figure captions, and there are a ton of these in math and science texts and papers. They can interpret figures in their own words. They read and do problems to learn, not to make a good grade - and, the good grades come because they are more committed to learning for mastery.
4. Successful students really manage their time well - and this is what I had to figure out and work on my plebe year. They read a little every day. They do some problems every day. They set aside time to study every class, every day, just like they set aside time for their classes, fun, sports, meals, sleeping, and socializing. They work without distractions - very important. They silence their phones and stay off Facebook. (There is actual research showing that students who study while checking social media do 11% worse than students who practice distraction-free studying, on the same exams. Eleven percent is usually one FULL letter grade!) Successful students plan ahead for projects and papers and work on them a little every day. They don't blow stuff off - not just rarely, ever. Like, for real. They recognize the need to blow off steam and to play on their floor's ultimate frisbee IM team, but they recognize that all these things are possible, and remain possible, only because they are students here. That is the ultimate and most important purpose of successful students. And you know, it's funny - I can tell who the good planners are, because when finals week rolls around, they're stressed, sure - but they're confident, they get some sleep, they're not sick, they're wearing clean clothes (not their pajamas) they smile, and they walk out of my final exam saying things like "That was a good exam, I really learned something there."