This is the problem I had with Linear Algebra. The first half of the class felt like I was just being drilled definitions. But once all the definitions click, it's rather simple.
The best thing about my linear algebra class was that the professor warned us about this up front. Yet, I still was not prepared for the onslaught of new words, and the bad part of the class is they were all defined in terms of more mathematical words, not concepts like this rubber band example.
You hit algebra, new concepts, you have to jump a little. Same with calculus. Linear algebra is that next time.