Wednesday 29 August 2007

A few questions on CT-Art

Played a few more games on FICS, provisional rating now 1606. Total games played 10, won 6, lost 4. I have to try to stabilise my rating before I start the Circles, so that it's easier to track my improvement.

I had a few questions about CT-Art. I was planning to follow de la Maza's schedule as closely as possible (unlikely, given how far behind I've already fallen on the microdrills, but I'd like to be optimistic for now). For the first circle, he solved 233 problems in the first week, at an average of 33 per day. How exactly do I go about doing this? I mean, when I log on to CT Art, do I start a test? Do I solve 33 problems on the first day, and then quit the test? Is that allowed, or will I have to start the test all over again when I log in the next time? Basically, what options do I choose when I start the Circles?

Here's my plan:

Click on Test
Studies with Difficulty Level 10 (Current Theme)
Exercises : All
ELO range : ? (do I need to mess with this?)

Now when I logout/cancel the test on Day one after solving 33 or so problems, will I get a rating such as 86% accuracy or something? Or do I have to finish the entire exercise before I'm given a rating? Also, when I login on Day 2, should I change the options from Exercises : All to Exercises : New, to ensure that the same problems are not repeated from the previous attempts?

I realise I could set up another profile in CT-Art, and fool around with the options for a while, to see how things work, but that would force me to start the exercises and become familiar with some of the problems, which would mess up the final results.

Any help appreciated.

4 comments:

SamuraiPawn said...

"For the first circle, he solved 233 problems in the first week, at an average of 33 per day. How exactly do I go about doing this? I mean, when I log on to CT Art, do I start a test? Do I solve 33 problems on the first day, and then quit the test? Is that allowed, or will I have to start the test all over again when I log in the next time? Basically, what options do I choose when I start the Circles?"

I never used the test option, only practice. You get all the statistics you need there as well, such as success rate. When you are done for the day, you just log out. When you log in the next day you can just continue from where you left off the previous day. If I remember it correctly, CT-Art usually takes you to the last problem you solved in your previous practice session, so just click forward to the next problem and continue.

"ELO range : ? (do I need to mess with this?)"
Nope. ;)

Good luck, and don't be too hard on yourself if you don't manage to fill the quota for the day, it wont do you any good. Just focus on giving a 100% when you're solving the problems. Remember that MDLM didn't have much else to do in his life when he endured the Circles. ;)

-Chris

likesforests said...

I use Practice Mode the first time through and take my time considering the alternatives, checking lines with Crafty, and staring at the solution. On later attempts I use Test Mode and go at a level full speed, repeating as many times as needed until I am both quick and accurate. I aim for 99% and 10s per position. There are many ways.

Probably the best advice is here (samuraipawn) and here (loomis).

Blue Devil Knight said...

Likeforests technique is probably best. Practice mode first time through for tons of understanding. Then test mode baby: it will randomize the order of the problems (none of this Takchess 'I got the first ten right because I've done the problems so many times I just know the first ten problems by heart now' crap), it will remember the ones you got wrong, and retest you on all the erroneous.

So I go through on 'New'. IT saves my errors. Once I finish 'New'. I then go through 'Erroneous' until there are zero erroneous.

Blue Devil Knight said...

I pick about half as many problems in test mode as I actually plan to do that day. That way, if I finish I just start another test with the same number. If something comes up, OK I don't have to hit 'cancel' and see that 10% performance (which, incidentally, isn't saved if you exit the program in the middle, so don't worry: it saves how many you actually got right, not how many out of how many you SAID you would do).