What I would like is the ability to turn the rating OFF so I could just practice with it - no pressure!
So a good question might be 'where is a good (free) tactics trainer that isn't rated?' Go do that for a while, then come back here to see if you can up your rating...
My TT rating warbles up and down in 200+ point swings! Down for an hour, up for the next hour... and always I get killed by this problem of getting it right too slowly!
im happy with myself if i get the tactic right, even if i take too long, especially if i see the whole thing beforehand - i dont really care how it affects my rating as that is an accumulation of a ton of problems - generally over time, i think when i focus on getting problems right instead of moving fast, my rating goes up - if i take time to try to see the whole problem beforehand, i think it translates into my games
It always shocks me when I get a -5 for an answer I got right. Or when it picks apart something that accomplished checkmate 1 move later. It seems to be focused on bullet chess.
Hard to believe a person with normal intelligence would be "shocked" even the first time. (You DO realize your grade is based on how all others do on the same problem don't you? Clearly, a minus score means you were remedial on that particular occasion.)
But to be shocked every time it happens suggests you've got some sort of learning problem. Shock you once, shame on me, shock you...we won't be shocked again.
I agree that it feels unnecessarily punishing to substract points when you get something right. Maybe it could substract slightly more points for getting it wrong, and then give 0 points for solving it after the time limit? The current system just encourages you to move instinctively and fast and solve it move-by-move rather than calculating to the end before making the first move.
It's strange (and let's be honest, somewhat hypocritical) that every lecturer on chess.com will emphasize how playing long games and analysing as deeply as you can is the real way to improve - and then turn around and only offer a tactics trainer with fast time controls.
What I would really like to see is something like chesstempo has, with customizable tactic sets, endgame tactics, an option to toggle between blitz tactics and no time limit, etc.
It always shocks me when I get a -5 for an answer I got right. Or when it picks apart something that accomplished checkmate 1 move later. It seems to be focused on bullet chess.
I prefer the knowledge over the score.
Maybe shocks was the wrong word.
It's made for you to encourage you to think faster. Speed is very important.
When I found myself too focused on my rating, I decided instead to focus on my "plus score". Number correct - number incorrect. When I first decided to focus on it, my plus score was about 0. Now... *checking*
... my plus score is +898.
And it just so happens that my rating is also at an all-time high (for me).
Many times the penalty is too high. They should improve it.
It always shocks me when I get a -5 for an answer I got right. Or when it picks apart something that accomplished checkmate 1 move later. It seems to be focused on bullet chess.
Hard to believe a person with normal intelligence would be "shocked" even the first time. (You DO realize your grade is based on how all others do on the same problem don't you? Clearly, a minus score means you were remedial on that particular occasion.)
But to be shocked every time it happens suggests you've got some sort of learning problem. Shock you once, shame on me, shock you...we won't be shocked again.
Was that what George W. was trying to say that day? Doesn't actually make sense does it?
you can lose points even when answering a tactics puzzle correctly , if the time taken for you to complete it is significantly longer than the average time taken by all other previous members whom have answered it.
and the option to do tactics puzzles unrated is only available to paid up members.
fair enough i suppose.
Timed tactics practice might help me in my long time control OTB games if I am in a time crunch; on the other hand I have to be very careful that such practice doesn't condition me to move to quickly when I have plenty of time. I seriously doubt that such practice helps to improve my deep calculation ability one bit.
It always shocks me when I get a -5 for an answer I got right. Or when it picks apart something that accomplished checkmate 1 move later. It seems to be focused on bullet chess.