Learn about gears, four body linkages, and other useful things. You'll need a compass and a few other little things to draw the correct angles on paper. Tests include knowing how to draw linkages and their full rotational movement. You go over these in class. Nader does the same "Best two of three" grading for his tests. Homework are worth 10% but are horrible to write out. Be prepared to write 8 pages for a single homework problem. Many of the equations and problems in the material are VERY long. His notes are uploaded to webcourses as well as at least one lecture video (~45 min) per section. Don't let this discourage you though it's a good elective that's fairly easy provided you show up and follow along in class. One of the better electives.

Start the homework ASAP, they take too long to write down and complete. Don't use college ruled books; use quad ruled instead for easier sketching. If you can draw the linkages correctly, that's like half the first two tests. Only people I saw fail were people who didn't show up.