I am taking this course called Computer Animations. It is, as I tell all my friends, VERY HARD. I would literally go into class and gets lost before getting past the 10 minute mark. But through this I learnt about how to learn.
I would write down things that I don’t understand. Terms that made no sense to me. Then I would just Google these terms, look at their wikipedia page, browse many sites until I kind of know what it is. Then I would go back and go to the next term. It is sort of like a treasure hunt in some sense. Where you are slowly but steady exploring this map until it transforms from mysterious to obvious.
Another quite interesting related topic is to embrace yourself. Knowing how smart or not smart you are. You could be somewhere between. You are not as smart as those student in your class that literally finishes their homework within a week and still works on amazing little extra details, or those that already competes in multiple competition in the field you are studying even before entering university. Yet you are smarter than some. Those that would need way more explanation from the TA when you understood it perfectly well the first time the TA explained it. You don’t have to feel pathetic for being not as smart, or cocky for being smart. What you could do is learn from those that are less smart, see how they study and work as hard as they are. And if you can, ask questions from the genius (given that they are not too condescending, it is totally unnecessary to be bashed by them!) to see how they think, and how they take in and understand the materials.
Basically, do not be ashamed of not knowing the materials or even, not knowing them as well as other students. It’s ok. Just write what you don’t understand on a piece of paper and try your best to understand them, let it be Googling or reading textbooks, or asking the TA or prof. After all this is what differentiates institution from online courses: TA and professors are the most precious resources.
Izzy Fermecat 