4:02 PM, Monday September 26th 2022
You should follow the instructions to the letter.
For example, some exercises explicitly state not to use too many contour lines because it's trying to focus on other means of making 3d forms believable.
If you don't feel ready for a particular exercise, you can probably do it anyway. These are kind of 'deep end' lessons where you aren't expected to understand everything right away, only though practice.