My suggestion to new pilots is to get your instructor to fly you at appropriate power settings in carb icing conditions (at a safe altitude) and then after an appropriate interval, pull the carb heat on.
The first time I experienced this (solo in a 172 after ten years of flying), I thought the engine was going to stop, as it ingested a slug of melting ice. It was so scary that my instinctive reaction was to push the carb heat control in!
Also, once you are comfortable with circuits, get your instructor to have you fly some circuits with the ASI and altimeter covered.