If you're nervous about a math course, find out what teachers have a reputation for being good with students like you and take them, even if it's at an inconvenient time. C. Take courses which require reading, writing, and analysis. Getting into the pool means taking courses which will make you use these skills. If you have trouble with them, use university facilities like the Writing Centers and the Learning Resource Centers. D. Seek out opportunities to get experience out of class which will help later on.
Internships are particularly important.
In an internship you work for no money in return for experience and contacts. You can arrange this on your own if you like, but it's easier if you work through a university, both because we can give you a little academic credit in lieu of salary and because your employers have an incentive to give you interesting work if they hope to get more students to work for them in the future. The political science department runs several different internships. There is a brochure available in the department. We also run a local internship course both for those students who have found their own placements and for those who have not.