Time management. The two primary reasons why some people don't succeed in this course are (1) inadequate basic programming skills and (2) inadequate time management skills. I would say that time management accounts for more trouble than programming. To get a B in this course you will probably need six hours a week outside class, and to get an A you may need ten hours a week outside class. These hours have to be distributed throughout the week--you need a couple of hours between M and W, and a couple of hours between W and F, and the rest of the hours wherever you can fit them in. Make a chart of your week, with a column for each day and a row for each hour, and see if you can pencil in the hours you'll need for this course. If you can't, then make changes now. Cut your work hours, drop a class, make child-care arrangements, etc. Don't just think, "I'll squeeze it in somehow" without being able to see exactly how you're going to do it. The task of learning basic Windows programming is going to cost you 150 to 200 person-hours spread over the semester--if you're not prepared to pay that price, forget it. As a famous mathematician once told a king who wanted a shortcut, "There's no royal road to geometry".