EagleScout13, billyb, and df123 have great input about WP specifically, but I also want to chime in: I see this pattern in my students. (I teach at a rigorous civilian college with a strong STEM focus that is not terribly unlike USMA, or USNA, or other service academies.) Sophomore year is also historically where a lot of students who are STEM majors coming into college, decide to take a different path. Here's what I've seen work for the students I've advised and mentored.
Soph/yuk/yearling year is where students really transition from learning
stuff, to learning
how to think. Not like "stuff" doesn't matter any more - but it's no longer the
primary or
only focus of learning. Most people, especially really bright people like we find at SAs, are pretty good at powering through "stuff." You rehearse a lot, you come up with or use mnemonics, you quiz yourself and others (you have daily come-arounds as a plebe...yay...). You can't use those strategies when you are beginning to learn how to apply, analyze, and really synthesize information and data and knowledge (= stuff). You have to change your thinking to questions like, what is the main point of this? How is this similar or different from that essay we read two weeks ago? How are these data similar to or different from the data we collected in O-chem lab last week, and what does that mean for the argument that X causes Y? You cannot, and must not, rely on your instructors to prompt you for this! This whole area is called "metacognition," and it sounds all mushy and edu-speak, but really it means thinking about your thinking. Successful students - successful people - can do this. And note: it is only very loosely related with "intelligence" (as many types of THAT as there are) or smarts. In other words, it's available to everyone. (Some people choose not to take advantage of it, but what are you gonna do...
)
But it takes practice, deliberate practice. If you google "how to use metacognition," the first few hits are actually a pretty good start. Like df123 noted, there's a certain measure of just being able to survive and endure, too.
Hope it helps.