How do i improve timing?

palmasi13

I'm having the hardest time improving my timing on games. I can get the questions right but I can't do them fast enough to finish all four games-- on average I only get through 3 games. I'm doing my practice using Jy's method -- I can improve my timing on games that I've done over again. But I can't improve my timing on games I've never done before. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

R Miranda

I have a timing problem too - but it's more of anxiety then anything else, I think. If I don't time myself I do okay, but if I time myself I'm a lot slower and have to read things twice.

Cant Get Right

How many games have you fool proofed @palmasi13 ? And once you've mastered a game, do you have a system for returning to games to reinforce them? Once I've mastered a game I do it again in one day, one week, and one month. The repeats are really helpful.

That's actually a really common phenomenon @robert.d.miranda . You're rushing. Things get weird when you rush. You miss things you shouldn't and you lose time. It's important to be able to relax under time. You want to train your natural pace to where it's under 35 minutes. This is why training with a stopwatch rather than a timer is so important. Ultimately, speed comes from mastery of the material. So just keep reinforcing the curriculum, and keep drilling those games. Once you've mastered the concepts, the speed will come.

danielznelson

Not sure how early you are in your studying, but it takes time to easily gather inferences and weird rules. It comes with time and may seem to happen randomly at a particular moment in time, though you were subtly making significant progress the entire time. Improved time on re-trys will eventually lead to improved time on new games. Sounds like super lame and unhelpful advice, but I assure you it will come. Just keep doing what you're doing.

If it's more psychological, try taking a bit of a break. I would be cautious to do so unless you have a firm grasp on the material. Going back to the games will give you a fresh and untarnished approach to them, which could help you immensely. I unintentionally took a break before my big jump in improvement in LG.

runiggyrun

Speed comes slowly - at least to some of us. It might take several/many months of constant practice of games using the FoolProof method (make sure you do go back to games after a while, like @"Cant Get Right" suggests) before true mastery occurs and you are able to move smoothly and quickly though games you've never seen before.
Don't try to rush - just focus on understanding every step of the game, take your time setting up the board, checking the rules and looking for inferences upfront. That time is not wasted, it's invested. Just like with sports, and music, focus on proper form first. Speed will come with practice, not with rushing.
And @robert.d.miranda practice will make the anxiety subside as well. There's only so many times your brain can enter "novel territory" or "rushing" panic. After doing a couple hundred sections (including repeats, of course) your brain will understand that nothing is really new, and that 35 minutes is usually enough to finish and it will give up the panic.
Use a stopwatch to time your practice and of course a timer to time your PT's. Aim for under 35 min in practice, but don't panic if you go over - just finish the section with good form.