Ten Steps to Getting an "A"

Spend 2 hours studying for every hour in class. "Study" includes reading text assignments, reading for papers/essays, writing, and so on. Do not put this off; schedule study time each week and use it all.
Buy the textbooks before the first class; preview/skim the textbooks during the first 2 weeks. Do this to discover what the experts know are the significant aspects of a subject.
Read the assigned readings before the professor discusses them. Outline the reading assignments.
Make flash cards for all technical terms/formulae and review them all every 2-3 weeks. Use a dictionary to look up nontechnical words whose meanings you are unsure of. The point is that you must use the language of a discipline correctly to communicate meaningfully about it.
Go to every class, sit as close to the professor as you can, and take lecture notes. If she/he uses terms or presents ideas that are unclear to you, ask him/her what she/he means or what the significance of the point is. You can't record everything the professor says unless you take shorthand (it is a good idea to learn shorthand or develop one of your own).
Immediatelyafter each class spend 1/2 hour reviewing, organizing, and completing your notes, preferably with a study partner from the class. The reason for this is that short-term memory is just that; short term, or about 1/2 hour. Your memory's accuracy quickly degrades after that length of time.
Review your lecture notes and assigned reading every 3-4 weeks. In other words, work on your long-term memory.
Visit your professor at least three times to clear up any questions that you have about class content or to discuss ideas or thoughts that you have in connection with the readings or lectures or course subject.
Review texts, lecture notes, and flash cards before each exam. Remind yourself of what you have learned through the previous techniques.
Do not study any single subject for more than 1.5 hours. By changing the subject of study every 30-90 minutes you can refresh yourself. Schedule "downtime" -- study breaks can improve learning; schedule times for entertainment/recreation.

"That adds up to 45 hours of work per week when I take 15 credits!" you might say. That's the point. Managerial level jobs and self-employed people almost always work more that 40 hours per week. Good grades can demonstrate that desire. If you carry a full credit load, treat it like a full-time job; if you must work half-time, go to school half-time.

You might say, "I have other obligations!" Frankly, your new employers (or your customers) care little about your other obligations; the only obligations they care about are your obligations to them, especially when you are an unknown quantity beginning to work for them. College is the only place where you will be given slack for "other obligations."

Many students feel that college is just marking time before getting a job; most classes, some feel, are irrelevant to their "real life." Consequently many students want todo the least work for the "most grade." They are wrong to do so.