PCA, how many circuits have you flown today? It's going to take at least five to ten circuits, in any case, before everything just clicks together. That's regardless of how much money you've got to spend, or how many lessons you do per month.
The reason is that all of a sudden when flying circuits, you're not concentrating on a single task (climbing, turning, descending, applying carb heat, whatever) but you've got to get a "flow" of things going. Without an instructor pointing out every single task for you.
To prepare for your next circuit lesson, do the following: Draw a circuit diagram and then, for each instrument, lever and whatever in the aircraft, write down in the diagram where you need to apply it. Most important ones are:
- Throttle to set RPM
- Pitch to set airspeed
- Ailerons and rudder for turns
- Trim
- Flaps
- Radio calls
- Carb heat
- Fuel pump (probably left on during circuits, but it will need to be switched on later on in your program as you enter the circuit)
Then spend a couple of hours "armchair flying" where you just do a mock of whatever you're going to do in the airplane. Say your actions outloud, make the appropriate hand motions. Put a timer up: a student circuit will be somewhere between three and five minutes. Try to learn the flow of things. Do this a couple of times before your next lesson, and then apply it in the air. (Best to do this if nobody's around - it looks very silly...)
And you did invest in a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator too, did you? One of the things it can help you with is learning this sort of "flow" things, although it doesn't complain if you forgot the fuel pump or carb heat.