K12 math classes are not about understanding. It’s more like typing. The symbol manipulation rules you need to apply are few and straightforward. Just memorize

K12 math classes are not about understanding. It’s more like typing. The symbol manipulation rules you need to apply are few and straightforward. Just memorize where the keys are. Applying them is also simple. Just press. After that, the difference between an A and a C is all about hitting the keys in succession faster and with fewer mistakes. It’s a Zen thing; overthinking it will never get you there. Concepts like exponential growth and rates of change may be presented to you in lecture, but letting them in your head while doing problems is a classic blunder. Don’t think just do. I am willing to bet that most educated people who walk around with gross misapprehensions of rates of change and exponential growth phenomena, have in fact drilled the computations just as well as anyone else.