I've realised that I have really bad long-term memory, even when dealing with physics concepts. If I'm not constantly working with a given field, e.g. electromagnetism, I'd rapidly lose my intuition for it. I'm struggling these days because my brain isn't in 'physics mode', and lately I've realised that even back in UCL my mind wasn't always working. In fact, it would only work after the month or two of solid cramming that precedes my finals, which is why I always do well in finals.

It looks like I'll need to carry the cramming ethic (i.e. about 8 hours of studying per day) over to my daily routine here....