1. After school, DON'T do your homework. Instead, read over your class notes. When you come to an example done in class . . .
2. DON'T read the example. Copy out the question, set your notes aside, and do the question yourself. Maybe you will get stuck, and this is GOOD NEWS! Now you know what you don't know. At this point refer back to your notes, refer to your textbook, or consult your teacher. Do whatever you need to in order to figure out the steps in the example that troubled you. Once you have gone through the example, do it again and again. Do it as often as you need so that it becomes, if not easy, then at least straightforward. Make sure you not only understand each line in the solution, but why each line is needed. In part, you have memorized the solution. But after you have done this for every class example . . .
3. DO your homework. If you follow this method, then most of the homework questions will relate easily back to the problems done in class. Guess what you'll find on 80% or more of your tests and exams? The same kind of problems! And you will have your "A". Good luck.

This information has been gathered and rephrased from The Mathematics Survival Kit (Thomson Nelson publishers), by Professor Jack Weiner, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Guelph www.mathmaticssurvivalkit.ca