What am I doing wrong in tactics trainer

After completing 4057 tactic problems since I signed upto chess.com, some 8 months ago, my rating is still only 1259. Its ranged from 678 to a high of 1354.

Sometimes when I see the solution its so obvious I dont know how i missed it.

At the minute i am totally disheartened by my performance and the question I'd like to ask is obviously how can I improve on this.

I have read that you shouldn't take the score seriously but surely it has a bearing on your skill level!!

So how can I stop missing obvious moves and increase my tactics rating.

Any recommendations for software or books or advice greatly appreciated.

Forgot to add my Daily Chess rating has gone from an initial 1200 to 1562 in the same period. Don't know if this is relevant but thought Id throw it in anyway
Thanks.

Lucky you!  I say that because with over 4k problems completed you also probably have several thousand failures to learn from.  Stop beating yourself over the head with new problems until you go back and learn those patterns that have already tripped you up.  So get over to V3 and take advantage of the unrated training available there.  Maybe take a different theme each day (Don't be lazy like me and just do "Attacking the Castled King") until you're happy with your performance.  Doesn't have to be 100%, I think Heisman recommends at least a 70% pass rate for similar exercises.  Have fun!

Thanks for advice, think i'll have a look at that as I certainly do have a lot of failures,
Current ratio is 2111/1946

Thanks edguitarock thinking about it, thats exactly what happens. Answer fast high score but answer slow and get a lower score. As you say it seems to favour the blitz player.

As others have said the TT rating of someone who is better at blitz is going to be a bit higher just because of how much of a better score you get when answering quickly relative to taking ages.

I was pretty low for a long time and one thing which boosted my rating a bit was not doing them when I know I'm super tired and just being able to pick up on the patterns.

Anyway it's just a number anyway, I know you're probably stating it in order to compare your growth in Daily Chess but I really wouldn't worry.

It's more important to see where you went wrong in the tactic then to look at how many points you lost from getting it wrong.

How about taking a break from Tactics Trainer and trying other software such as CT-ART or even doing puzzles from books.

Tactical puzzles in books forces you to slow down a bit and calculate every possibility instead of perhaps "blitzing" out a move on Tactics Trainer, hoping you "guessed" the right one.

The latest CT-ART software has repetitive problems, drilling concepts home.  If you work through the same sets of puzzles a few times and then return to Tactics Trainer you might be pleasantly surprised.

http://www.amazon.com/CT-ART-5-0-Complete-Chess-Tactics-Pc/dp/B00H806QN0

"Whatever this turns out to be, that I'm not seeing, I'm going to remember. And in the future, I'm going to hunt it down, like a wild hog"

And.. why do so many?

Thanks Tom102 point taken about it just being a number but i was using it to gauge my progress but as I'm not a blitz player its not really good for my ego.

 TJBChess just ordered CT-Art 5 seems exactly what I need, explanations as to why I make the wrong move. Thanks

hey voodoo... 

i'am a beginner and wasn't having much luck with Mr.Tactic trainer so i tried a series with Mr.Mentor called "Champion Tactics with GM Wolff" (there are many tactic courses to choose from) and i'am glad i did.  it made all the difference in the world (for MEEE anywayz).   each tactic starts with an explanation as to what you want to achieve on your first move... then after u move, Mr.Mentor either pats u on the back for choosing correctly or gives u a hint on a better move then lets u try it again.  In other words, u get instant feedback on each and every move AND u get a hint when stumped!  it only took a handful of problems B4 the light bulb turned on in my head (i luv when that happens) and i didn't need hints as often.  This tactic series may be jst what ur looking for?  good luck.

Thanks Amanda2018 have just had a look at the champion tactics very good courses listed GM Wolfe will be having a go at them. Thanks again

Here's what I did for tactics. I just started playing in November after a very long break from chess so needless to say I was rusty. I did not like the timer here. I don't think it's a good training method to do timed tactics unless you're already GOOD at tactics. I felt pressured to move quickly and was getting a lot of simple tactics wrong so I went to another site with untimed TT. This allowed me to look at all candidate moves thoroughly and find the correct moves. After months of practice I can now fairly quickly and consistently solve 2000+ rated tactics on lichess. Just out of curiosity I did a few tactics on here in the last couple days and now the timer isn't a big deal to me so my recommendation would be to go somewhere with an untimed TT and slowly work your way up to doing timed TT, or just quit doing timed TT altogether. Unless you're a blitz junkie like me, speed Is kind of irrelevant IMO.

Putting things into words can help direct you when you're thinking just a bunch of smoosh. When you get stuck fall back on a system that you obtain from examining failures. You might ask, is there a square that has the same # attackers and defenders (including undefended pieces).

You might say a bunch of nonsense to yourself. Examine all checks, then all captures, then all threats, threatening big things first. Two pieces on a line? One piece (especially King) close to being dominated? Advanced pawn? When your system fails you, great. You're getting ready to make a better one. As baddogno meant, I think. Anyway good luck. Maybe save you some money.   

you could, of course, just ignore the timer here.  Take your time, solve the problem.  Ignore the machine, it has no real power.

It helps to be familiar with some usual patterns. I think starting with Reinfield's book helped me in that regard. With TT maybe organize your missed puzzles by theme. (Like removing the defender, pin, fork, etc).

The difficult puzzles can be seen as pattern learning opportunity.

The easy puzzles you miss are due to not finding forcing moves. For example don't talk yourself into the first move you see. For most puzzles find at least two forcing moves.

And they should be forcing... a threat, check, or capture. First thing you should ask of a candidate move in a puzzle is "what does this threaten?"

Don't buy it!!

The problems are perfectly fine, but the interface is HORRIBLE. Really, really bad. I had the old version years ago, and that was ok, but this new one is horrendous. Completely wastes your time fighting it.

I bought the more recent version about a year ago, thinking I'd revisit the problems, but the interface is so terrible that I can't even stand it. 

Thankyou everyone for your really helpful advice.

They were great responses and i'm sure will help me progress.
GL to you too LuckyDan74