Best Way To Learn Tactics

When it comes to tactics puzzles we usually study the position and figure out the correct move or we give up after a while and see the solution. But how much would it be worse, or maybe better, to just go through puzzles by just looking at the solution and making some effort to remember the pattern? Look at it this way, you would be able get through a LOT more puzzles. Which will make you better tactically?

I wonder about this in regards to playing through master games. Would it be better to just make the moves on the board and study the positions and the reason for those moves, which would allow one to see more games, or to try to guess what the master have done, which for me, is not getting me very far.