Completion of Learn Python 3 course - General question

[angelina_ka]

Hello there,

Perhaps a bit of an odd question, but I decided to go ahead and post it anyway: I’m new to Python and currently doing the Learn Python 3 course. In the course description, it says ‘25 hours to complete in total’. I’m just wondering if that’s the estimated time it should take someone to complete the course, or the amount of time in lectures/projects, etc.

My thoughts are, I have been doing the course for a week (full-time) now, and seeing the 25 hours always makes me question whether I’m being too slow/doing something wrong.

I am taking notes as I go, but I still think I spend the most time doing the exercises and sometimes stare at 4 lines of code for an hour.

Could anyone else share their experience?

Many thanks in advance!

[8-bit-gaming]

This type of question actually pops up every once in awhile. The time posted on the courses is just an estimation, and in reality I don’t think you should worry about it too much.

I don’t believe you should worry about going to slow as long as you are learning, and certainly don’t rush yourself. When I first started I tried to go as fast as I could and ended up not really learning, so by the later lessons I couldn’t understand what was being asked of me and had to review a good portion of the course.
When you get to a point when you are stuck on the code, that is often a good time to take a break and refresh yourself. Often if I’m trying to do something and can’t quiet figure out how to do it, I’ll get my mind off of it for a half hour or so and revisit it later.

Again my main point though is to take your time learning and not worry about how fast your going, as long as you are learning.

[tgrtim]

I’d throw in a suggestion that you switch your target. Take as long as you need; you don’t have a deadline and your main target would be maintaining your motivation so a consistent x minutes or hours a day, every other day, or, just whatever suits you would probably be better than stressing out that you’re falling behind on some imaginary goal. Unless stress motivates you; in which case, stress away .

My opinion on this course would be that most of the course focuses on topics that are essential to Python no matter what you use it for. Consequently you should probably spend more time on them than anything else. If you can properly wrap your head around those topics then it’ll be well worth whatever amount of time you’re willing to put in.

In short, learn in whatever way you prefer. It’s like climbing a mountain or something; the point is to get up it, there won’t be many who turn around and demand to know exactly how long it took and why you spent half an hour taking photos at the midpoint.

[angelina_ka]

Many thanks for your replies!

Indeed, what I find intimidating is that, although this course is intended for (absolute) beginners, it seems that one has to be rushing through it to complete it within 25 or so hours. I will be doing an internship that will require that I use Python for deep learning, and I only have a few months to gain a solid understanding of Python, hence my concern. My supervisors know that I’m a newbie but expect me to learn quickly nevertheless.

Any additional thoughts on that?

And thanks again!!