Why do you lose points on problems you have solved, but with a low amount of alotted time left on the clock?  Especially when the problem is rated higher than your current rating?

The point of your rating is to select good problems for you to practice. If it takes you longer than most people to solve problems, you should be practicing more problems at that level. So, your rating is kept from going up so that you can continue to practice problems at this level until you are more proficient at them than most people.

simple answer: you are playing against the problem and the time it takes you to complete it. therefore, if you complete the problem correctly but take "too much" time you may still lose rating points.

I find it a bit frustrating too, camdawg. Using this system, you might at the same rating have a relatively easy problem with a short time span and a relatively hard problem with a long time span. Doing these problems one after another is strange, and forces you to change gears quickly. In normal chess, the time pressure is more continuous. Maybe the solution is to seperate a "Blitz" tactics trainer, thats more time intensive, from a normal one with less pressure?

That said, I think TT is pretty darned good the way it is...

The time is set by how long it takes other people to solve the problem.

Thanks Loomis, I guess that makes sense. 

It just seems a bit deceiving --

Camdawg: "Sweet I solved it!"

Computer: "You lose points anyway 'cause I don't like you jerkhead."

You can take a look at http://www.chess.com/tactics/help.html#rating for more information on how the tactics trainer rating and time works.

camdawg, it's not that the computer doesn't like you. It's that the computer (or rather, the computer programmer) believes your tactical training would benefit from more problems of this level. Your tactics trainer rating isn't there for your ego, or as a competition. It's a tool to optimize your tactical training.

I know Loomis. It was a joke.

Thanks Patzer, that graph really helped!