Pretending you understand is a loan. The interest shows up on exam day.

Every time you let a confusing part slide, you are borrowing against a version of yourself who will have to deal with it later, with less time and more pressure. The debt grows because subjects stack. Monday’s fuzzy idea becomes Thursday’s assumed knowledge, and by the review session you are three layers deep in something you never actually got.

Keep a running list of the exact moments you lost the thread, with the page or the minute mark. Then clear one of them a day, whether that means a teacher, a friend, or twenty minutes on your own. Small payments beat one panicked night.