Hi-
Former law student here. Graduated in 2002 from law school in Cali., clerked for 2 years, and now am in private practice (appellate litigation). If anyone has any questions, feel free to PM me.
Completely unsolicited advice, but I would recommend some of the third party writing/studying courses that you may see advertised when you first get to law school. Without exception, the people who took those courses and applied the principles did substantially better than others.
Law school texts and professors are meant to complicate issues-- help you learn how to think critically, how to recognize logical loopholes. Exams, however, are very practical-- meant to see if you can state the rules and principles succintly and clearly on paper. Thus, how you prepare for class can be substantially different from the way you prepare for your exams. These courses help you apply those two different approaches in an efficient way.
By the way, no one is good enough so as to not need study guides. No one would hire a lawyer who didn't canvass all available sources to understand their problem (case law, treatises, briefs filed in similar cases, CLE materials). Why act differently in law school, relying solely on what you learn in class? Buy study guides(used or new), borrow other people's outlines, incorporate class notes and principles, and memorize it all before the exam.
Good luck!