Math basics › When you're stuck

I understand it in class but not on my own

Following is not the same as doing

Watching someone solve it uses recognition. Solving it yourself uses recall, which is a different and slower thing to build. Feeling lost on your own after a lesson that made sense is completely normal and is not a sign you are bad at maths.

Close the notes and try one

Cover the worked example, do it yourself, then compare. The places you had to peek are exactly the steps you have not learnt yet, and now you know what they are.

Two a day beats twenty on Sunday

Recall gets stronger with spacing, not with volume. Two problems on four days will hold better than eight problems in one sitting.