Abstract: Ideological and political theory course is the key course to consolidate the guiding position of Marxism in the field of ideology. It is of great significance to explore the important and difficult points to enhance its classroom attraction and affinity for higher teaching effectiveness. Taking Chapter 4 of “Mao Zedong Thought and the Theory System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” as an example, this paper first identifies the important and difficult points in its teaching and the points interesting to the students, then proceeds to analyze the characteristics between these two categories of points. The analysis shows that these two categories of points differ from but also overlap each other. Finally, the authors propose some countermeasures to solve problems in teaching such import and difficult points in the course.

Key words: ideological and political theory course, important and difficult point, New Era, exploration