I'm taking it right now as well. I find that the things that work best are the same things as worked in freshman chemistry. I don't know about you, but our class has been pretty heavily thermodynamics so far, and, unfortunately, they don't let you ignore the calculus this time around, right? So if the derivations are giving you trouble, spend some quality time with your calc II book. Once you can repeat the derivations by yourself, just work the book's practice problems over and over again. That actually helps me, although it may seem redundant. If your prof is helpful, you might even ask him to watch you work a problem while explaining what you're thinking, and then he can tell you what more useful ways to think of it might be. I don't know; I agree that it's tough--those are just my best ideas. Sorry, no insight about dropping vs. getting a C. Maybe somebody else has an opinion. Good luck!