Do not miss classes . This will allow access to some lecture material before and after the acutal lecture is presented. Use the lecture to follow and interact with the professor, to ask questions and to help clarify points . Focus on understanding class material. Live class demonstrations are an integral part of the course work.
Questions based on class demos often appear in tests.
Keep up to date by studying class lectures, reading the textbook and doing the numerous handout problems that are assigned at the start of every new chapter. Solving problems is the key to a good class performance. Work steadily through all assigned problems for a chapter, so that by the time a chapter is being finished in class, you are finishing the assigned problems. Solutions to some problems are available. Consult them in your answer manual after you work them out .