Optimal Study Method? [on hold]

Academia.StackExchange,

This is probably a slightly off topic question - but bear with me it is relevant to the topic of this exchange.

I spent 2 years at a state university studying computer science, and I was a good student. Through hard work and sheer study volume I was able to net around a 3.5 GPA.

Over the summer, I decided to test my luck - and applied to a top 10 CS school. I was accepted, and of course transferred right away.

At my first quarter at said school, I was overwhelmed by the pace of the material - and the amount of homework assigned. I was looking at about 30 hours per week in homework, which left me little time to study.

I kept up with my classes past midterms, holding a ~3.3. After mid terms I had one bad week where I did not study much and my grades dropped dramatically. I was too far behind to recover and ended up failing two courses.

I have been placed on academic probation, and I can't afford for that to happen again this quarter. I was hoping I could gain some insight as to how you where able to study and succeed in a competitive undergraduate engineering program.

Did you use a specific studying method? Did you take specific notes in class? Did you use a laptop in class to take notes, or paper?

Any help in regards to this is appreciated, as I need all the help I can get.

Thanks, & best regards