What advice would you give your younger self about pursuing post‑secondary education?
Professors are grading on whether you'd be able to engage and contribute in the conversations of their discipline. They're assessing whether you
(1) know how to describe what's happening.
(2) can understand what's happening.
(3) can deduce insights on top of your understanding.
(4) can add to the conversation.
A conversation involves multiple participants so they're also checking if you can coordinate with others to communicate an idea in their field.
Knowing this, it's pretty easy to filter out what to do and not do in university.
Do things that helps you understand and memorize the vocabulary needed for the field as well as your ability to work with others (going to class, studying, group projects, student leadership, interpersonal skills, consistency, Integrity etc.)
Don't do things that inhibit your ability to understand and memorize the vocabulary needed for your discipline and impair your ability to work with others (opposite of previous examples)