Deductions & credits

I finally figured this out. TurboTax presented me with a list of categories to chose from. I thought that this was where I was entering my dollar amounts, but instead TT was asking if I wanted to add any of these categories that I did not use last year. Why not show me what categories I used last year and ask if I want to add any extra categories this year and let me enter my dollar amount right there? Why the extra confusing steps?