Why puzzles often only +5, but -15?!

Puzzles have ratings. If you are 1800 and you solve a 1300 puzzle, you will get only some few points. When you solve harder puzzles you get more points.

Rating gained is both a function of the puzzle rating vs the time to solve vs the average solve time. So solving correctly faster will give more points.

I pushed to my current high of 1908 TODAY! And I used some ideas from here:

1) Try really hard to find it fast.

2) If not fast then slow down and at least get it right. Many puzzles start to have the same patterns that can be recognized fast (which is the point, I guess).

My tips for solving puzzles:

Take a break if you get angry. I get it, you want to get more points. Just relax and return later. I found out the hard way after losing 200 points in one sitting.

Scan the whole board

Look for checks and captures (Forks, skewers, pins included)

Find hidden resources (Ex. double checks?)

Every once in a while, I get a huge puzzle rating increase. Probably because I'm actually awake.

Also regarding the topic itself, the rating you lose is constant from the start. However, the amount you gain decreases the longer you take. The minimum you can gain is +5, even if you spend an hour on the puzzle. As long as you get it right.

There have been some changes related to how ratings are being handled and some members currently are seeing the updates. The overall system is supposed to be improved but my understanding is part of the change is trying to handle ratings inflation in puzzles.

If you fail an "easy" puzzle (for your rating), it assumes you underperformed.

They developed the current points system with target times in 2017. They initially gave a minimum of one point for a correct answer.

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/suggestions/tactics-trainer-average-time-1

But a lot of people got upset.

So they changed it so you would get five points for a correct answer, no matter how long you took.

because chess.com programmers have no clue what their doing

the puzzle ratings on chess.com are all messed up that's what up

Well, i know that you shouldnt compare the two, but yesterday or so i played a lot of puzzle battles, and i got mostly 5-11 points for a win. While three of my opponents who lost, lost between 160 and 200 points. Which is honestly ridicilous. I read on an older forum here, that this is because if you dont play puzzle battles alot, and you lose a game, you lose more points at the beggining. Which is in my opinion also weird because if you see that you get around 5-10 per win means that you need to win 20 such games.. But you know, thats life.

I do puzzles almost daily, and noticed all I ever get anymore (in the past week or two) is 5 pts.... even if I solve it in a second or two. I just mis-clicked and failed one and had 31 points taken away LOL.

What's going on with puzzles? I realize I'm around 3000 in puzzles but only ~2000 and there's zero correlation in ratings, but it's nice to have a goal and aim for it... but something has been changed recently...

Im not entirely sure, and please do correct me if im wrong, but i think that if you did the same puzzles over and over, you receive the +5 points just as a tap on the shoulder for getting through it.

As mods usually say, the points are somewhat correlated and calculated to or from your initial rating. Since, atleast in my experience, when you manage a puzzle which was much higher rated than your initial rating is, you get more points than only 5 (in some cases up to 20 even when you are already on other stages of puzzles).

I wouldnt say that this is a mistake since if you get more points as in the beginning, per puzzle, your rating would be in the end much higher than it actually is or should be, and you would possibly get to the point, where you cant keep up anymore. So i guess +5 is some kind of a middle or in between

There has been a backend change in the ratings of puzzles but the UI is still showing the old ratings. It's very possible the majority of the puzzle you're getting are actually much lower rated than your current rating, so that's why you aren't getting many points and lose so much on a miss.

The system was changed to more accurately reflect puzzle strength.