Help a college student

/prog/ I don't understand data structures very well and I have a test next week that will either make me or break me. I am usually a star student but something about me/data structures/teacher isn't right. I pay attention in class and take pages and pages of notes and every night I read the related material for at least 1-2.5 hours each and every night although I still find myself lost. Please give me advice on how I can better understand this subject.

>>20
When you pick a personal project that you can use to practise your skills on, make sure that it's complicated enough for you to learn new things, but not too complicated that it pisses you off.

A good one might be a simple multiplayer game such as scrabble or backgammon.