Tactics puzzles - does speed matter?

sometimes speed does not matter ... 

true, only the right words at the right time do, epecially when they start with chea and f everywhere in the forum.

There  have been many threads about the scoring of Chess.com tactics puzzles. This is my analysis:

I believe each puzzle is give a total value from 4 to 10.  Of the total point value, some points are allotted for correct moves and some are allotted for time.

After 90 hours and 6,000 puzzles, this is what I see.  (rated 1100 - I TOLD YOU I STINK!)

One misconception I often see is the perception that "When I get one right I'm awarded very few points, when I get one wrong, many points are detracted".

Well... you're right!.  The puzzles you are getting right are easier and so WORTH LESS.

It's very much like ANY "Blue Book" college exam.

This is mostly an inaccurate 'analysis '. When you get it wrong you lose ALL the points. When you get it right you still don't get all the points (unless you complete the tactic quickly enough) because Speed does matter. 

If it is a multiple move tactic you can lose fewer points or possibly even gain a point if you get some of the moves depending on the difficulty of the puzzle and your rating

YOUR analysis of MY analysis is WRONG!.

I fail all the time and get positive points!!.. But only on multiple move solutions.

You do NOT necessarily "lose ALL points" if you fail to resolve the puzzle.

I reiterate: each puzzle has a total point value, some point are allotted for correct moves, some points are allotted for time.

That's true, if you get one or more moves correct you still get points, or don't lose any. 

You have a choice:

1. You can worry about the rating, try and solve them quicly, but not learn as much.

2. You can take your time, not be concerned about the rating, but learn a lot.  

https://support.chess.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1444811-how-does-the-time-and-ratings-work-

Puzzles have a rating, just like players and  failing a puzzle will give you a loss in points as if you had lost to a player with that tactic's rating and rating deviation (based on yours also). That disregards tactics where you can get a partial solution and completely solved puzzles are scored in a similar way but impacted on how much your solve time was against the average solve time and a completely solved puzzle will always give at least 1 point.

My preference is for these. And my guess, Speed would be a bonus here.

Now that we have that figured out, another interesting question is this:

Are the puzzle offerings totally random, or are they based on rating or other performance criteria? As my pathetic tactics rating continues to decline, do the puzzles get easier?  Also, sometimes a puzzle I have failed comes back up way too soon to be random.

They are based on rating, similar to the way random seeks work. The system will also repeat tactics, if they are still in your range. I think the odds of repeating a failed tactic is also higher.

Yes, puzzle you receive are based on rating, and this is the whole point of having a rating system : giving you puzzle suited for your level. Overall, I agree with Diakonia, you should not worry about rating. Trying to solve the puzzle as fast as you can is good as long as solving means finding the solution and the proof of it before submitting it. Taking time on a difficult tactic is better than trying to be lucky or resignging too soon.

As a side note, puzzles you receive are usually lower rated than you, and the lower a puzzle is rated, the less point you win in case of success and the more you lose in case of failure (so you don't lose the points you would have won, contrary to what has been suggested above). This serves the purpose of having you pass more tactics that you failonce your rating is stabilized to your true level (the pass rate can be mitigated by the time you take to solve a puzzle before resignation and trying a random move).

Failed puzzle do come back, but very long after the first sight in my opinion, and I think I also have seen succeeded puzzle come back, so I can't be very assertive that it is a feature here, but it certainly is on some sites, and do make sense.

Yes, I've seen puzzles come up that I've solved before... AND PROMPTLY FAILED THEM... argh!!