By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed.
School is basically one big exercise in learning things you’ve never seen before. So, it makes sense that you’ll sometimes be confused.
Getting confused isn’t the problem. Not doing anything about your confusion is the problem.
In this blog post, I’m going to teach you some strategies for what to do when you don’t understand what you’re learning. I’m also going to share some tips for decreasing the chances that you get confused in the first place.
How to Not Get Confused About What You’re Learning
I opened this blog post with the confession that getting confused is just part of learning new things. However, that doesn’t mean you need to just accept that reality without trying to do anything about it.
There are a few strategies you can use to reduce the chances of getting confused about what you’re learning in school, which also reduces the chances you’ll have to clear up confusion later
The following three strategies can help you prevent confusion during class.
1. Care About Learning the Material, and Not Just Getting the Credit
There are two approaches to school. One is better than the other.
Approach #1: You approach every assignment with the single goal of getting credit. You don’t care if you learn the material, as long as you get your checkmark and your grade. This is actually the harder approach.
Approach #2: You approach every homework assignment with the goal of understanding what you’re learning. When you’re listening to complex material in class, your goal is to actually understand rather than just get credit for being in the class. This approach leads to less confusion, less stress and better grades.
2. Go to Class
Skipping class is a guaranteed way to not understand what you’re learning.
If you’re in college, it’s even more tempting to skip class because you don’t have anybody scolding you for being absent. But this is a vicious cycle. The more you skip class, the more confused you get. And the more confused you get, the more tempting it is to skip class – because you think to yourself, what’s the point?
Some students assume they can figure out all the content on their own. And while this may be true for some easier material, it’s not true for most students.
Professors teach you material during class that is very hard to teach yourself. And even if you could, it’s tough to find the motivation to do so on your own.
Missing a class or two once in a while happens and isn’t the end of the world. (If you do miss class, here are my best strategies for catching up) But missing consecutive classes in a single unit usually puts you too far behind to recover on your own.
If you’re taking a particularly challenging or boring class and you’re tempted to skip it, go anyway. Put your body in the chair and do what you can to absorb what you can. And then you, more than anyone, will need to use the strategies in the second part of this post.
3. Take Notes During Class
Hopefully, you’re already taking notes during class. If not, then it’s no wonder you’re confused.
Some of my high school students say they’re too embarrassed to take notes during class if they don’t see anyone else doing it, or if the teacher doesn’t tell them to. It’s time to get over that fear, because taking notes is one of the best things you can do for comprehension.
My Note-Taking Power System teaches you exactly how to take quick, effective notes during class so that you end up with awesome materials to study from. Investing in the Note-Taking Power System could quite possibly be the best investment in your education so far. Big claim, but I stand by it.
When you take notes, your goal is to extract the meaningful information from the lecture, put it into your own words, and store it in your own system (likely a notebook) in a way that makes the information easier to understand. You’re also copying examples, problem sets, and other key points your teacher makes during class. If you don’t take notes during class, everything your teacher says is essentially gone the minute they say it. And then when it comes time to study, you’ll have nothing to come back to.
What to Do When You Don’t Understand What You’re Learning
Use any or all of the following 7 strategies when you don’t understand what you’re learning. The key is to use them early, because the longer you wait, the less effective the strategies become.
1. Recognize When You’re Confused (Metacognition)
The first step of managing your confusion is to notice it the moment it hits. This is called metacognition, which is just a fancy way of saying “thinking about your own thinking.”
If you don’t catch your confusion in the moment, it will only get worse. A sign you’re confused is when you zone out in class or start feeling a creeping sense of anxiety. Those are usually signals that something isn’t clicking. If you don’t recognize your own confusion early, you’ll never be in a position to ask questions in class.
2. Ask for Clarification
This one’s simple: raise your hand. Ask your teacher to repeat something, or to give another example. Many students don’t want to do this because they’re worried about looking bad (whatever that means). But it’s a lot worse when you stay confused for weeks than when you ask a 10-second question in class. Plus, teachers want you to ask questions, and it’s literally their job to answer them
3. Use Your Portal Resources
Another strategy is to look at the supplementary materials that are posted in the learning management system (LMS). Many students never look at the materials because they’re not technically being assigned as homework, but these resources can be so helpful!
For example, you might be confused about a concept you’re learning in math. Your teacher has posted some videos in your LMS that helpfully explain the concept, but you miss them because the teacher never “tells” you to watch the videos. You also ignore them because they’re not a “submittable” assignment that you get credit for. Huge mistake.
4. Expect It to Be Hard (and Stick With It)
A lot of students think that if they don’t understand something right away, it means they never will. That’s not true. Learning is supposed to feel hard — your brain is literally building new connections.
So don’t overthink it when you’re confused, because it doesn’t mean you’re doomed. Read it again. Watch the video again. Work through the examples again. Most understanding comes on the second or third pass, not the first.
5. Get Help From a Teacher, TA, or Tutor
If you’ve gone through your notes and the posted materials and you’re still lost, ask for help. That’s what your teacher, professor, TA, or tutor is there for. Go to office hours, raise your hand, or send them an email asking for clarification.
Most of your classes are cumulative, which means the content builds on itself. If you’re confused about one part of the material, you‘ll be confused about all the material that comes after it – and that’s when it’s hard to make a comeback.
6. Manage Your Time (Come On Now, You Know This)
Confusion usually hits the hardest when you leave things until the last minute. That’s also when you start to panic, which never helps the situation.
Instead, start assignments early and spread out your studying. Use a calendar to track due dates, and make a plan for when you’ll study. When you give yourself more time, you give yourself more chances to figure out what you don’t understand and fix it before the test.
7. Form Study Groups and Use Outside Resources
Sometimes the fastest way to understand something is to hear it explained a different way. That’s why study groups can help: your classmates might explain something in a way that makes more sense. Here are my best tips for getting the most out of a study group.
And when a study group isn’t an option (or even if it is), use outside resources. YouTube, review sites, and online tutorials can often explain a concept in a way that works for you. As much as I want ChatGPT to crawl back into its hole and never come out again, you can ask it to explain concepts to you over and over again until you understand it.
Final Notes on What to Do When You Don’t Understand What You’re Learning
Feeling confused isn’t a sign you’re bad at school. It’s a sign you’re actually learning. What matters more is what you do next.
If you use even a few of the strategies above — caring about learning instead of just credit, showing up to class, taking notes, recognizing confusion early, asking for clarification, digging into posted materials, sticking with hard stuff, getting help, managing your time, and learning with others — you’ll spend far less time lost and far more time drama-free.
The bottom line: confusion is normal. Staying confused is optional. The sooner you act on your confusion, the faster you’ll understand what you’re learning, keep your stress down, and perform better on tests, papers, and in real life.