Incoming grad student (course) advice

I am an incoming masters student (international), will start courses at a US university in the fall, STEM program.

I am very career oriented and this degree and specifically the technical courses are important to me: I want to do well, but more importantly I want to gain knowledge.

It seems that universities in the US are very different (in teaching structure, expectations, grading, curves(?) etc) than what I am familiar with. I have also been out of school for a few years.

I would be grateful to hear from you what I can do and prepare myself for in order to hit the ground running, and do very well.

Some topics I can think of:

1. Do students take notes on a computer or paper?

2. What are curves like if there are only 10-12 people taking the class? If I’m not the best/top, I simply cannot get an A?

3. What is the general expectation of student in order to do well?

4. What kind of student involvement is appreciated and helpful outside of class?

5. Assuming I am not the smartest, and that I have to work hard for my success, what kind of work should I be doing aside from the assignments?

If there is anything that I did not ask that I should also be aware of, I would appreciate any advice you may have.

Thank you for your time!