Politics, huh? I guess the best way you can feel you've actually learned something is to apply your knowledge to actual recent cases. Though I have absolutely no idea what your curriculum looks like (I'm an IT engineering student), you might even be able to find discussions about what you're studying on Hubski or other communities. You could also maybe broaden your study to recent events that may apply to your subject.

In any case, I think politics is a subject you have to debate with other people to actually learn from it long term, so I'd advise you to find debating partners if possible. Can be from your entourage as well as from the Internet.

I've had better results at studying when I was doing it with other people willing to study. I find that focus comes more easily when you interact with people in order to figure out something.

It also depends on the subject at hand. For example, programming is for some people better studied alone, as everyone has their own perception and can come with their own ideas when it comes to coding, whereas maths, a stricter subject, can be better tackled with group studying.