Maybe not retaining?

The little practice sessions aren’t too hard. All I have to do is read and maybe watch a video, and I can complete the exercises with no problem. The issue I’m worried I’m going to run into is when I actually have to build the projects. I’m concerned that I’m not actually retaining a lot of the information that is covered in the exercises. I usually complete many exercises in one session, but I barely remember what they were. Is this okay, or am I going about this the wrong way?

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If you understood the topic and know where to look if you need to read about that topic again than you are doing splendidly
Consulting documentation is a thing that everyone does, if one has screen space documentation can even be always open there
If you find you need to find again how something work remember to use Read-Search-Ask, google is your best friend and if you don’t get something you can always ask in the forum

One of the biggest mistakes I’ve made when I first started out was being too afraid to start a project because of a lot of unknowns that were apparent to me. However, I realized that the only way those projects are going to be built is just by building them – one piece at a time.

When I first started fcc, I would look at a project and think “I don’t know how to do this”. I felt overwhelmed, but then I realized they key to the projects is breaking them down into the smallest part possible. Start with what you probably know, for example, if you need a heading with id=“heading” start with that. Then go to the next requirement for the challenge and figure that out (don’t worry about the other requirements figure them out one by one). But the key like you said is really is to just start coding something and figure it out as you go.

I think you’re going to be just fine!

I’m in a similar situation as you. I’m starting from the very basics of HTML and CSS, and was able to breeze through the exercises with no problem. But I felt like nothing was sinking in. I’d just read what it wanted me to do, and then do it, because following directions is easy, but I wouldn’t really understand why I did what I did.

Then I finally got to the projects, the first of which I’m tackling right now, and I felt so overwhelmed. In my case, what I realized is that as great as FCC is, it doesn’t really mesh well with my learning style. For me to really understand a concept, I have to know how it fits into the larger whole. FCC, at least in the beginning, gives it to you piece by piece.

What everyone else is saying here is very correct: You just have to start coding. Just do it, and you’ll quickly realize what parts are clear to you and what you need to refresh. As @ilenia wrote, everyone consults documentation! Just think about what you’re trying to accomplish, and then look up how to achieve it with your code.

The way this website lays out the information has been really helpful to me as I’m working on FCC’s projects, to use as a quick reference or to solidify a concept I’ve just learned. Maybe it will help you too.

Best of luck!

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That’s okay.

When I’m building my projects, I’ll always encounter a problem or forget some syntax or concepts, and think “Hey, I’ve seen this problem somewhere? FCC maybe?”

When that happens, I’ll just go back to the relevant FCC lessons, read the docs, or most often than not, go into a Google rabbit-hole for a seemingly simple issue.