Experienced, older adult student going back to community college. Any suggestions?

It sounds as if you're doing all the right things.

I've got only one other suggestion (which you probably don't need, but I'll say it, just in case): pay close attention to instructions.

That means reading the student handbook (you are responsible for complying with all the rules in there, and it's also the best introduction to how the school works from a student perspective that you're going to get), getting an overview but also noting anything that surprises you (many schools treat submitting one paper in two separate classes without the prior approval of both instructors as a form of cheating, but most people don't realize that until they read the academic integrity policy or until someone tells them) and getting a sense of what's in there so you can look things up later. It means reading the syllabus for each class and any handout you get on anything like plagiarism or the directions for a specific assignment or whatever several times during the semester or during the time you have to work on the assignment.

And it means looking up specific policies as needed. For instance, if you wake up sick on the day of a midterm, don't just stay home in bed. Get out the syllabus, look up the make-up policy, and figure out whether you really do need to go take the test or whether you don't have to, but might need to do something (like call the department before the test starts to report that you are ill or visit an urgent care place to get a doctor's note) in order not to end up with a zero.

Also, of course, if instructions are given verbally you should write them down and, if you're not sure you have them exactly, you should ask for clarification.

In my experience, the easiest and most common way for a student to get lousy grades is to not follow instructions, and the easiest and most common way for a student to not follow instructions is to not take the time to know what they are. (Or to go about finding out what they are in the wrong way: I've seen a lot of people ask questions here that can't be answered here with the information made available to us. If someone doesn't tell us what their professor's late-work policy is, we have no way of knowing whether a given problem they've encountered will cause the professor to accept a paper late without imposing a penalty.)

I hope your semester is going to be as interesting as it looks. Good luck.

I recall not really studying the first week of classes. If you do this you are a bit behind, so be smart.

If you have term papers, pick the topic early and never delay starting. I never studied Friday night or Saturday night.

Good luck. do you have any more specific questions. The younger students will enjoy your company. They will want to know what you did instead of school.