Nodding like you understand in week one guarantees you’ll be lost in week ten. Raise the flag early.

Confusion compounds. Subjects get built in layers, and a gap in the first week sits underneath everything stacked on top of it, which is why being lost in week ten usually traces back to something small and early. Nodding buys about nine weeks of relief and costs the rest of the term.

Ask at the point you notice you are lost, even when the question feels too basic to say out loud. Basic questions are the ones other people needed answered too. If asking in front of everyone is too much, go afterwards, but go the same day.