To do well in this course you should attend lectures and discussion sections, read the book, and do the homeworks.
Homework is especially important. It's almost impossible to get a good understanding of the material (e.g. do well on the exams) without getting your hands dirty trying to work problems yourself. If you understand the homeworks, you'll probably do well on the exams.
Collect your graded homework and read through the posted homework solutions. Make sure you understand any mistakes you've made. If it's not obvious, come to our office hours and discuss the issues with us. Or post questions on the newsgroup. This will help you fix any misunderstanding. And, of course, you might have found a grading bug or a bug in the posted solutions, which we'll need to fix.
A rare student, with strong preparation and self-discipline, might be able to work through the material without attending lectures. It's very unlikely this is you (or even me). Most students who don't attend lecture get worse grades than they could get if they came.
Our office hours will be posted as our schedules for this term firm up. Please come to office hours if you are having trouble, have an issue with the course, or just need a hint. You can go to anyone's office hour, not just the one for your discussion section leader. If you can't make any of the scheduled office hours (or if you need help before we post regular hours), contact us to set up a time to meet.
Help is also available via email and the course news/discussion group (aka Piazza).
If you think a homework problem is buggy or unclear, post a query to the newsgroup. If you think an exam problem is buggy or unclear, ask one of the proctors. Sometimes there really are bugs and you will be helping everyone by bringing them to our attention.
Do not wait until the last minute to print or download a copy of the homework. Departmental web servers have been known to crash. Moreover, many of the problems will require significant thought. Even if you tend to work right up to the deadline, skimming the problem set early will give you a chance to start thinking about it and to seeking out help if you need it.
If you have trouble solving a homework problem, try doing some easier related problems (e.g. from the textbook) first. The text contains solutions to many problems; solutions to many others can easily be found online.