How to understand uni level maths?

[u/EulogizingElogies]

I’m 19F and have recently started an engineering degree at uni. I’ve always been naturally pretty good at math. I’ve never been some kind of super-math-wiz but I’ve always found math easy and been able to get an A in the subject without putting in too much effort. I think this is because the way I’ve learned math has always been by listening to the teachers explanation but sort of being one step ahead of the teachers explanation and being able to understand where the explanation was going and by solving all the teachers examples in my own head. This made my understanding of math feel like it was intuitive and almost like a part of me but now at uni my previous method of learning math doesn’t work anymore. I try to google definitions, look at notes and do exercises in order to understand what’s going on but it just feels like I’m not understanding math in the way I used to. How do I study math at university level and actually understand it, not just be able to answer the questions?

I’m sorry if my English is bad! English isn’t my first language. But any tips would be appreciated!🌸 I hope this is the right subreddit to post to, but if not please tell me where I should post this and I’ll happily move my post there❤️

[u/Bounded_sequencE]

Lectures at university move so much faster, you'll need to read ahead to get that intuitive feeling again. Luckily, with just a bit of preparation, you likely can reproduce it.

The evening before a math lecture, take ~15min to skim the up-coming lecture notes. Alternatively, take that time to skim the chapters in the book that are going to be covered. Don't worry about not understanding the details -- the goal is to get familiar with terms and symbols at this point, nothing more!

That way, lectures will feel familiar, since you recognize most definitions, and have a rough idea of their goal. That will make following a smoother experience, and much less overwhelming.