Why do so many students learn coding but struggle to actually practice it?

I've been working on CosmoDex, and one problem keeps coming up while talking to students and thinking about coding education: Students can learn programming concepts, but getting them to practice consistently is much harder. A student might understand: variables loops functions SQL queries basic programming concepts …but when they're asked to solve a problem from scratch, they often get stuck. I think there's a gap between "I understand this concept" and "I can actually use this concept to solve a problem." That's what we're trying to explore with CosmoDex — a more practice-first approach to coding, using questions, quizzes, and coding challenges to make regular practice more engaging. I'm curious about the Reddit community's experience: What was the biggest thing that helped you go from understanding programming concepts to actually becoming good at solving problems? Was it: Solving lots of problems? Building projects? Competitive programming? Following a structured course? Having someone review your code? Something else? I'd genuinely love to hear what worked for you. If anyone wants to see what we're building, it's here: cosmodex.in