The key to academic suceess is these three points.
- Time Management
- Giving Your Best
- Knowing the Way to Study
For points 1, 2, and 3 check the UNC Learning Center Resources listed from the bottom of here.
I will still talk about point number 3.
The study strategy is to go through all the content you have. Take notes, as you will forget what you have learned. Try to recall what you have learned, it will help in longer memory retention.
You should make your notes in such a way that when you study later on, you don't have to re-study everything. You should just revise your notes. Many of us students don't make effective notes and have to re-study or re-learn everything from the beginning.
After going through the content, if you still have not understood the topics, Google and YouTube search the topic. Read and watch about the topic. Popular tutorial sites are W3Schools and Geeksforgeeks. You can find a video on almost anything on YouTube. What helped me the most was watching a lot of videos on the topic on YouTube.
Many students read the book/reading related to the topic covered in lecture before lecture to understand the lecture better. Practicing by solving questions at the end of each chapter of the book can be of benefit.
For programming-related courses, you need to program/code what you learn and experiment with the code to have a more thorough understanding. And use the code to build new things (so that you are practically using the knowledge. Remember the famous proverb, "The more I do, the more I understand"). Build some projects with what you have learned.
For math-related courses, note/write down the formulas and the math problems and check the ones you are facing problems in. Then revise the questions that you have found hard.
For knowledge/memorization-based courses, create flashcards to remember information.
At times it happens that you have studied and prepared well, but you did not prepare and practice in the way the exam would test questions, and this makes a lot of students' exam performance go bad. Ask the instructor for practice questions and practice exams. This is for knowing how the exam will test what you have learned, this is for being acquainted with the pattern of the exam question.
If the instructor does not give you practice questions and practice exams, make your own and group study with your friends. Make a collective study guide with your friends. The course most of the time will test the objectives listed on the syllabus.
Go to office hours from day one and go early. Start assignments from when they are released. Many students go to office hours or start the assignment the day before the assignment is due, which is bad (this makes it less possible for students to get help as the TA/LA is giving less help to accommodate students).
You can ask unlimited questions on Piazza/Campuswire. Don't be shy to ask.
Going to peer tutoring at the learning center is a great option too.
"Practice makes perfect!"
How many hours should you study every day? This depends on how many hours you need. Most students when I asked them, they said around 3-6 hours with longer hours on the weekends. Study with breaks and study in small chunks.
Many classes at UNC are 75 minute classes. Some classes are 50 minute classes. If you have a problem concentrating in 75 minute classes, practice concentrating and taking class notes in 75 minute video lectures (from the academic learning resources of this) for 20-30 days before the semester starts.
Procrastination and laziness are your biggest enemy.