I feel before you move to the next topic is when you must have understood the previous topic. Like me, i always make sure i understand what the previous topic was all about before preceeding to the next one to avoid going backwards and forwards thereby making it more complicated especially in a situation where you are trying to learn something new. My thoughts might always be different from yours but it all depends, i guess what we should be more concerned about is making sure that we understood it very well no matter the procedures we took in understanding it.