Good morning.

2021-01-21, 08:22, Thursday. Drinking my morning coffee (cezve with some cinnamon) and preparing for my report. I'll probably make a separate post about it since it's an opportunity to tell about my scientific research. For now I'm in a mood to write some more "tips".

STEM tips №2: build your foundation. There is a very good reason for all textbooks on the same subject to convey material in the same order. It is not tradition, it is crucial for understanding concepts. The only exception in basic sciences I am familiar with is organic chemistry: Clayden's textbook is wildly diffirent from standart approach, but I'm not sure how it feels to actually use it for studying without prior knowledge of organic chemistry.

I digress. The particular order most textbooks follow builds new concepts on top of previous ones, and this principle applies throughout your academic career. Let's say you skipped a trigonometry introduction in high school. You crammed for the test and did fine, memorizing all your pi-over-2/3/4/6, but there is no solid understanding of the concept. Now you will struggle in your further math classes. Not only that, in mechanics knowledge of trigonometry is implied, the same applies for calculus, most of the physics and a bunch of other disciplines.

So the takeaway is: don't skip basic topics and make sure you know them very well. Otherwise your ignorance will backfire, usually sooner than later.

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