Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Python

Posted by Prabhath Pillai
Prabhath Pillai
2,740 Points

Why am I taking so long?

Why am I taking so long to learn?

I'm a relative beginner - I completed codecademy Python a year ago.

The Python track said 13 hours (or so, IIRC), and I've probably spent over 15 hours, yet am not yet one third of the way through!

I like to think I'm a relatively quick learner, and come from an Economics background, but I', finding Python very frustrating!

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the learning process, but I'm not sure what I can be doing to speed it along.

Your input is welcome :)

Prabhath

2 Answers

Chris Freeman
MOD
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,468 Points
Chris Freeman
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,468 Points

Don't worry about how much time you're putting in. Feel comfortable to go at your own pace. The time put in varies a lot from student to student. The base estimated time does not take into account the amount of time for students to review, study, test out, and absorb the material since that would be different for each person.

The amount of coding experience students have also varies quite a bit. Some students come with other computer language experience and only need to shift idioms to a Pythonic Way. For others, Python is their first languange (a great first choice!) so concepts of structured code, code blocks, controlling the flow, classes, objects, etc. take more time to absorb.

It is better to go slow and absorb the material than to race a clock by tricking yourself to believe you've understood something when maybe it needed more time.

Keep at it! By the time you get to then end, you'll likely look back and wonder why it took so long because it now seems so obvious!

Prabhath Pillai
Prabhath Pillai
2,740 Points

sage advice, cheers Chris!

Allison Walker
Allison Walker
17,137 Points
Allison Walker
Allison Walker
17,137 Points

Just my experience in the courses...

Well, say I'm watching an 8 min video - seems relatively short, right? But, what actually happens is that I'm often pausing and rewinding, the videos because the instructors went too fast and I missed something! Or, I have to slow down the video, so I can listen while I'm typing in workspaces. (But I still have to pause.) Or, I'm rewatching the entire thing because I just didn't get it the first time or because the video player screwed up. Or I'm pausing so I can read the questions or teachers notes.... All of that pausing, rewinding, etc, it eats up so much time! I maybe quick rewind 6-7 times while watching an 8 min video, if there's a workspace associated with it.

Then, there are the quizzes and challenges which are untimed, and I may or may not get through them on the first try. I'm almost positive that quiz/challenge time is not in the time estimate for each course. Next, sometimes the workspaces themselves don't always work completely right, and also busy I'm fiddling with two browser windows.

So altogether, I would say each video + quiz/challenge group takes about 20% longer, minimally, than stated, for all these reasons given. Don't feel bad.