Exactly! Somewhere along the line we started being taught things like context clues and other study traps. No amount of technique can possibly replace proper vocabulary building. I spent a lot of time in the dictionary in my younger years but it’s paid off massively in my ability to study and assimilate new things.
This is what turned the tide for me but it took much more discipline than I was willing to admit at first. When I stopped lying to myself about how much context clues were helping me understand the words I didn’t know, it started to take me 10 minutes to get through a page of a difficult book. However, it started to pay off when I achieved a deeper understanding of the books I was reading.