Try not to be too hard on yourself, because with Sanskrit terms it's basically like learning a little bit of a new language. The best way I found was by using flash cards, write the term on the front and the definition on the back. I know this can see laborious and a little bit over the top, but as you come across a new word you can create a new card, and they work wonderfully as revision tools when it comes to exam time. For homework, you can create ten flashcards and next session we'll do a little test, I'll give you the term and you provide me with the definition, then when you're feeling a little more confident, we can look at linking the terms together and comparing the concepts.