From time to time I post on social media and people ask "is that really you?" If they want verification I post a gpg signed copy of the message below. I clear this out often, so it is likely empty. You can find my public key here. You can find information on verifying signatures here. Posted below is a link to the file that can be used to verify the comment and the text of the comment.
My suggestions: 1) Read and reflect on the handouts and the book -- you need to be active, to engage with the material, 2) come to the classroom with a list of questions based on your engagement with the material. If you have thought about it -- even if you did not come to the right conclusions -- then the answers will be more meaningful to you. The key is to highlight what you didn't understand, and understand why you didn't understand something. 3) Do a bit of work everyday -- watch the lectures, reflect, do homework, review discussion -- and do not let it pile up to the end. 4) Listen when he highlights what confuses students and when he outlines what typically confuses students. 5) Always -- always! -- think physically about the problems; never let a process become a mathematical abstraction. If you don't understand the process that should be one of your questions in the classroom! At the root EVERY process discussed can be understood by you -- and should be understood. 6) He posts all of his old exams: in preparing for the exam, study, then take a test, then look at the answer key, then study some more, take a test, look at the answer key, then study some more .... In additional he has a wonderfully warm personality and is in general a delightful human being with a wry sense of human: you should find him easily approachable and thus should feel free to ask him questions.
