I'm not sure if you want tips coming from me, because I have no desire to be a 'good contributing member of society', any drive to be competitive in a work/school environment, and probably just work in a medium/low paying job until I off myself once I get too old to walk.
This is only for my university, not sure how it is elsewhere:
Depending on what you're trying to do after you graduate, grades don't matter. Sometimes all you need is the piece of paper. Getting a C- will get you the exact same paper as a B+.
For the first year, I'd suggest you go to class to get a sense of what it's like. After that, go to the classes that actually help.
They're professors. They never learned how to teach. They're mostly doing it to earn money for their research. Some of them will actually make the class interesting, others will be reading directly off their power point (which is posted online anyways), and others will have accents so horrible you wouldn't know what language they're speaking. Sometimes it is simply better to stay home and look at their lecture notes in your own time instead of spending the time to commute to class.
Use the first quiz/exam or two to learn what kinds of questions professors like to put on their exams. Some of them have a hard on for dates and statistics, some really like definitions (even looking for exact words in definitions or you'll lose marks), and some just want you to explain the concept. It'll make studying easier if you know what they're more likely to put into the test.
Textbooks are a rip-off. They can be helpful, but often times the price is simply too high. If you really need one to do assigned questions or something, there are copies you can reserve in the library. The lecture notes should be covering the major points anyways.
There's also the internet if you search hard enough. For example, for an O-chem class with a particularly bad prof I only used their lecture notes and <<
www.youtube.com/user/freelanceteach/playlists|these videos>> to learn everything, and I never went to class except for exams. Got a B, which is good enough for me (heck, as long as I get above a C- it's good enough for me).