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DMB's ideas are really spot on. The basics need to be done without thought. If you find yourself thinking about trim, then you don't have your trim down yet. Even though you might think you've got it, the litmus test is what happens to your trim and buoyancy when there are other things to think about. Most newly certified open water divers have buoyancy skills that are fine when they are swimming in a straight line, then give them something simple to do and you see that they don't have the fundamentals. So work on those two things every single dive.
I am of the camp that it isn't useful to try and work on things that are going to be taught to you in a class. If you try and work on carrying, deploying and using a stage/deco bottle before the class, you may teach yourself some bad habits that will be harder to unlearn down the line. Buoyancy and Trim. If you go into a class with those basics, and compete comfort in the water switching to doubles is easy, takes a few dives to get used to the mass and new trim, practice for a while. Then you get introduced to the stage/deco bottle and it isn't a big deal because you are only adding one small thing at a time. Have the basics down, and then listen to your instructor and absorb everything he gives you, soak it all in, then go practice some more.
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