Prerequisites

• I have thoroughly read and understand The Odin Project Contributing Guide
• I have searched the existing issues to ensure this improvement hasn't been suggested before (please have a look through our open issues list to make sure)
• The title of this issue follows the <Location of the improvement>: <Brief description of the improvement> format, e.g. Exercises: Add exercise on XYZ
• (Optional) I am interested in working on this issue and would like to be assigned to it

Improvement Description

It seems many learners miss the step requiring them to run npm install inside the root javascript-exercises directory, even though it’s included in the main README file.

My guess is that this step gets overlooked because it’s visually grouped with the Node installation instructions. Learners may assume the entire indented block refers only to Node setup — something they already completed in a previous lesson — so they skip the block entirely.

I’d like to suggest adjusting the formatting so that installing Node and running npm install are shown as two separate top-level steps. This could help make the two requirements clearer and reduce confusion for beginners.

Something like this:

2. NPM Installation: You should have installed NPM already in our Installing Node.js lesson. Just in case you need to check, type npm --version in your terminal. If you get back Command 'npm' not found, but can be installed with:, do not follow the instructions in the terminal to install with apt-get as this causes permission issues. Instead, go back to the installation lesson and install Node with NVM by following the instructions there.
3. Jest Installation: After cloning this repository to your local machine and installing NPM, go into the newly created directory (cd javascript-exercises) and run npm install. This will install Jest and set up the testing platform based on our preconfigured settings. (Note: if you get warnings that packages are out of date or contain vulnerabilities, you can safely ignore them for these exercises.)

Acceptance Criteria

• Instructions for checking/installing NPM and installing Jest are separated into distinct top-level steps.

(Optional) Additional Comments

Examples of learners facing this issue from last few months:

1. https://discord.com/channels/505093832157691914/505093832157691916/1426938830681800874
2. https://discord.com/channels/505093832157691914/1179952911548174346/1379812349954752573
3. https://discord.com/channels/505093832157691914/690590001486102589/1418581441649840159
4. https://discord.com/channels/505093832157691914/690590001486102589/1415650620140163152
5. https://discord.com/channels/505093832157691914/690590001486102589/1405076814350778448
6. https://discord.com/channels/505093832157691914/704694394632011808/1403111215823061121