Text: Physics for Scientists and Engineers, 8th Ed.
My first piece of advice would be to take the "college level" physics (also known as trigonometric based physics in most universities) if at all possible. There are only two possible advantages I can see to taking this harder version. First, it's prereq/mandatory class for your program (not really an advantage... more of a no choice). Second, you're in my position where you have taken a semester (or possibly two) of the easier physics and so having two new courses can potentially raise your GPA more than retaking one and having one new course. My personal experience was this class tended to have easy concepts to understand but difficult to master for the exams and tests. It is definitely more difficult than the other physics class. I'm not going to split the commentary into the two separate semesters as the courses subjects are interchangeable enough that each university goes through them in completely different order. I lucked out to have a great professor for both semesters, albeit his midterms are pretty difficult. As the course specifies, it is calculus based. The calculus tends to be very simple differentiation and integration. I found the bigger difference than college physics is vector multiplying using cross product and dot product and having to derive equations. Having some knowledge in linear algebra and/or differential equations would be useful (but not any where near enough help to take the courses for that reason).
How I Did
First semester: A-
Second semester: A
How to Do Well
What I would suggest is use Freelance Teacher to get the basic concepts of physics whenever you're stumped. Although I don't believe he uses calculus, he does help with some of the major concepts. PatrickJMT is amazing for the math concepts. Although I use him mostly for Calculus, he is good for getting a background in the knowledge of calculus, linear algebra and differential equations. I didn't find the textbook helpful other than problems for review, BUT this leads me to my next point...
This is a problem based course. Practice. Practice. Practice. Before a test I would do as much practice problems as possible. First I would re-do assignment questions, followed by example questions from lecture, and lastly questions from the textbook (if time allowed). I follow this order for one unfortunate reason. School does not test you on knowledge or skill. School tests you on what your professor wants you to know. Sounds obvious and ridiculous, but not everyone uses this information to your advantage. Which overlaps my last point...
Talk to your professor in class and in office hours. I don't condone kissing up, but by being an active learner and engaging your professor you end up learning more AND learning what your teacher wants you to learn.
