You've been learning Mandarin the WRONG way.
You LEARN by WRITING. You need to learn how to WRITE because writing is THINKING. 1. Writing deepen your memory and impression on what you've learnt that day. When I was learning acting in Beijing, everyone was required to bring a handbook. Up to this day, whenever I flip through my notes, I still can vividly remember what class we were having that day, and what topics we went over. 2. The process of writing is important too, when you write, you give yourself the opportunity to think. For example, when I couldn't find inspiration for my lines, my voice teacher would ask me to write out my monologue down again and again. At first I was skeptical, but after testing out, I use this method till this day. This is because writing takes time, while writing, it is of nature to start to think and ponder on it. The same goes for learning a language, you need to learn how to write. You can't really master a language if you don't know how to write. The importance of writing cannot be overlooked. You got to look at it. For beginners you can start by writing hanyu pinyin.