Is there any way to help me remember chinese characters?

My parents are from China, so I speak it very well (of course). But even after learning it for almost 8 years, I still have mive trouble remembering any characters when I read. It's just kind of sad for me to be Chinese yet suck so badly at reading and writing. I'm learning on a really high level right now, yet I still only can remember the characters for the most basic words. All the software it find is either for beginners, or really expensive. Is there any way I can reinforce the Chinese characters at an intermediate level? I don't need pronunciation help, just help with remembering how to read and writing in Chinese. I'm always one of the worst in my cl, and I always get 60%s on tests for characters. Is there any hope for me? Or do I have to start again from the basics?