What to Do When You Don’t Understand the Material

Struggling with course material feels like a single, overwhelming problem, but it’s usually a specific breakdown you can fix. Before you overhaul your entire approach, pinpoint where comprehension falls apart. Ask yourself: Do you understand the readings but get lost in lectures? Can you follow along in class but freeze during problem sets? Do you grasp concepts individually but struggle to connect them?

You may also be dealing with what education researchers call a “prerequisite gap” — you’re missing foundational knowledge that the current course assumes you have. This is extremely common and has nothing to do with intelligence. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, retention rates at open-admissions four-year institutions drop as low as 59%, partly because students enter courses without the foundational preparation those courses assume.

The UNC Learning Center recommends using metacognitive self-assessment: before each study session, write down what you already know about the topic, what confuses you, and what you need to focus on. After studying, revisit that list and honestly evaluate whether you’ve made progress. This simple practice prevents you from spending hours “studying” without actually addressing your weak spots.

Here’s an uncomfortable truth: the study strategies that feel easiest are often the least effective. Re-reading your notes and highlighting your textbook creates what researchers call an “illusion of fluency” — you recognize the material and mistake that familiarity for understanding. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that students who used active learning strategies actually learned more, even though they felt like they were learning less than students in traditional lecture settings.

A comprehensive meta-analysis by Freeman et al. (2014), covering 225 studies across STEM disciplines, found that students in courses without active learning were 1.5 times more likely to fail than those in courses that used active learning methods. That’s a dramatic difference — and you can apply the same principle to your independent study.

Active study strategies you can start using immediately include retrieval practice (closing your book and writing everything you remember about a topic), the Feynman Technique (explaining a concept in simple language as if teaching a friend), spaced repetition (reviewing material across multiple shorter sessions rather than one long cram), and concept mapping (drawing visual connections between related ideas). The UNC Learning Center emphasizes that distributing your studying over multiple sessions is one of the most impactful strategies available to you.

Many students who are struggling never set foot in their campus tutoring center, writing lab, or professor’s office hours. Research from the National Student Engagement Survey indicates that about 90% of first-year students who said their college emphasized learning support services intended to return the following year, compared with roughly 80% at colleges that provided minimal emphasis on such services. Academic support is directly linked to staying in school, and your institution has invested heavily in these resources specifically for moments like this.

Your campus likely offers more support than you realize. Most institutions provide free peer tutoring, writing centers with trained consultants, math and science help desks, academic coaching for study skills and time management, supplemental instruction sessions for high-difficulty courses, and disability services for students who need accommodations. According to a study at San Bernardino Valley College, students who used tutoring center services had success rates 7% higher overall than students who didn’t — and in STEM courses specifically, that gap widened to an average of 13% higher success rates.

The biggest barrier isn’t availability — it’s mindset. Many students view seeking help as a sign that they’re not “college material.” In reality, the opposite is true. As noted by educators at Hunter College, the students who struggle most often hold a counterproductive “do-it-yourself” mentality, believing that if they just work harder with the same approach, success will follow.

Walking into a professor’s office and admitting you don’t understand something can feel terrifying. But here’s what most students don’t realize: professors hold office hours specifically because they expect students to come. Many are frustrated by how empty those hours are. Coming in with a specific question isn’t a sign of failure — it signals exactly the kind of engagement professors value.

The key is preparation. Don’t walk in saying, “I don’t get it.” Instead, identify the specific point where your understanding breaks down. You might say: “I followed the concept of supply and demand through Thursday’s lecture, but when you introduced elasticity, I lost the connection. Can you walk me through how those concepts relate?” That kind of specificity tells your professor you’re engaged and makes it much easier for them to help you.

If office hours don’t work with your schedule, email your professor. Be specific, be respectful of their time, and propose a solution. Something like: “I’ve been reviewing the chapter on statistical inference, and I’m stuck on interpreting p-values. Could I come to your next available office hours, or is there a time that works for a brief meeting?” Most professors will go out of their way to accommodate a student who’s clearly making an effort.

You should also get to know your teaching assistants (TAs) if your course has them. TAs are often closer to your experience level, hold their own office hours, and can explain concepts in a way that’s more peer-to-peer.

One of the most well-established findings in learning science is that distributed practice — spacing your study across multiple shorter sessions — dramatically outperforms cramming. The UNC Learning Center cites research showing that intensive study sessions of 30 to 45 minutes are far more effective than multi-hour marathons, because shorter sessions keep your attention focused and your brain actively processing information.

Frank Christ’s Study Cycle provides a useful framework: preview material before class, attend class actively, review notes within 24 hours, study intensively in focused sessions, and then check your understanding through self-testing. Most students skip at least one of these steps, and the one they skip is usually the reason they’re falling behind. Skipping the preview means you’re hearing concepts for the first time in lecture. Skipping the review means you’re trying to learn from notes that have already started fading from memory.

Build your study schedule around the principle of “two to three hours per week per credit hour.” If you’re taking a three-credit course, plan six to nine hours of study time for that one course each week. Block these sessions into your calendar just like you would a class meeting. Treat them as non-negotiable. When you sit down for a session, start with retrieval practice from the last session before moving to new material — this reinforces what you’ve already learned while building on it.

Let’s talk about the part nobody puts on the syllabus: struggling academically is emotionally brutal. You might feel stupid, ashamed, or like you don’t belong in college at all. These feelings are common, they’re valid, and they are not evidence that you can’t succeed. Research on what educators call a “growth mindset” shows that believing intelligence and ability are fixed — rather than things you can develop — is one of the most damaging beliefs a student can hold.

The anxiety that comes with academic struggle can also make the problem worse. When you’re anxious about a subject, you’re more likely to procrastinate, which creates a cycle of avoidance and falling further behind. Rasmussen University educators point out that what looks like procrastination is often anxiety-driven avoidance, and the solution isn’t to “just try harder” — it’s to break overwhelming tasks into small, manageable steps. Try setting a timer for just five minutes and working on the hardest thing on your list. You’ll often find that starting is the hardest part, and momentum carries you forward.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed beyond normal academic stress — persistent anxiety, loss of sleep, withdrawal from friends, or thoughts that you’re not cut out for college — please reach out to your campus counseling center. Most institutions offer free or low-cost counseling for enrolled students, and these professionals understand the specific pressures of academic life. Your emotional health and your academic performance are deeply connected, and addressing one helps the other.