This is a follow up from my Javascript is really hard topic. At that point I think I was on lesson 70 or so, and now I’m on lesson 100. Since then I have been barely grasping the more “advanced” concepts and been copying/pasting the solutions on every skill check test. I have understood the solutions I’ve been reading but been incapable of formulating them on my own, which is a very counterproductive way of “learning”.
I’ve been pressuring myself to blaze through these courses as fast as possible which has made the learning process much more stressful than need be and made me dread every next lesson while not fully understanding the one before it. All of these attitudes have been purely detrimental to my progress. I’m doing myself a disservice with these habits and feel like I need to slow down, step back, take a deep breath, and start from the top while I’m still on the basics. I’m primarily making this thread to “solidify” it to myself, but also share my experience that other new learners like me may be having.
I want to thank @Gavrilow84 for their post in the above topic that made me consider this idea, as well as @miku86 for their contribution in this thread. I have definitely been gauging my progress by the “[number]/111” tracker on the curriculum page, prioritizing “doing something” over actually understanding it which is why I am where I’m at now.
Anyway just wanted to share that. If you’re stuck like I am don’t be afraid to take it from the top again. You’ll have an easier time going through the early lessons and be more mentally prepared for the advanced concepts later on. Good luck to you and I both.
I think you’ve really hit on something by identifying that your focus on measurable progress rate set you up for trouble down the road. I’ve encountered some variation of the adage “Fast is slow. Slow is fast.” attributed to several highly skilled fields. I think it boils down to “Pay attention to each thing as you’re doing it, and take the time to do it right.”
As you’re restarting the JavaScript curriculum, feel free to look at the challenge list and to jump to specific challenges if you want. Now that you’ve seen the material once, you may find that some ideas connect together logically for you even if they aren’t in the normal order.
I think a lot of people fall into that category. The first course with html/css is VERY different than javascript. So people are usually taken aback when they don’t understand the concepts as well as they did with the html/css course. So it is completely normal.
There is no shame in repeating a topic that doesn’t make sense the first few times around.
I did the Regular Expressions section twice before tackling the Telephone project.
I repeated some of the algorithm challenges to solve it in different ways than before.
I rewatched some of the cs50 lectures and practiced examples before tackling the problem sets.
I went through the React section twice and played around with examples from the documentation before tackling the front end projects.
