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Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches

Posted By: Jason Lee
Date: Thursday, 19 January 2012, at 1:32 a.m.

I've had an idea for a long time for a study method, now I'm about to implement it.

I have a nicely burgeoning collection of matches that I've played over the board, maybe in the neighborhood of 200 matches, going back about two or three years. I haven't done a whole lot with them, so I've dusted them off, and will do something with them. Here's the plan...

I'm going to take positions where I've made an error bigger than some threshold. I'll print out the position. Then I'll flip over the paper and print again, this time position + bot info. XG has a very nice print function, where you can ask for position only or position + bot info. Enter a three-hole punch and a binder, and now I've got study material.

Once I've got a critical mass (a few hundred, say), I can start going through them. I want a large enough amount so that I won't really "remember" the position when I go back through again later (although that's not so bad either). As I encounter a position, I decide on my plan, and then flip over to see the bot answer. If I got it right, I'll make a check mark... if wrong, then an X. Then the problem goes back into the pile.

Eventually, a problem gets seen enough times. If I'm consistently getting the problem right, I'll just throw it out. Maybe something like three straight right answers and the problem gets culled. Problems that I consistently get wrong might go into some special study pile.

The theory goes like this: these are actual positions that I got wrong OTB. Something went wrong in my thinking. Maybe it was a brain fart. Maybe it involves a concept that I didn't understand very well two years ago. Maybe there's something I just don't understand, then or now.

People talk about having a collection of reference positions that they study from. I haven't ever taken the time or the effort to create such a collection. This collection won't be particularly well organized at first. For now, I'm just going to focus on volume. Print out a ton of these, and start thinking about the positions.

I welcome any suggestions to improve this study method -- particularly if you've done something like this yourself. I'd like to hear if people think this is a worthwhile endeavor.

JLee

Messages In This Thread

• Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
  Jason Lee -- Thursday, 19 January 2012, at 1:32 a.m.
  • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
    RobertFontaine -- Thursday, 19 January 2012, at 1:36 a.m.
    • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
      mtuhtan -- Thursday, 19 January 2012, at 8:35 a.m.
  • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
    Ken Larsen -- Thursday, 19 January 2012, at 1:41 a.m.
  • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
    Bob Koca -- Thursday, 19 January 2012, at 3:30 a.m.
  • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
    Phil Simborg -- Thursday, 19 January 2012, at 4:16 a.m.
  • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
    Stick -- Thursday, 19 January 2012, at 9:01 a.m.
    • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
      Casper van der Tak -- Thursday, 19 January 2012, at 12:08 p.m.
    • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
      Jason Lee -- Friday, 20 January 2012, at 1:54 a.m.
      • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
        Stick -- Friday, 20 January 2012, at 9:03 a.m.
        • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
          Jason Lee -- Sunday, 22 January 2012, at 4:12 p.m.
      • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
        Timothy Chow -- Friday, 20 January 2012, at 7:45 p.m.
        • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
          Jason Lee -- Sunday, 22 January 2012, at 4:23 p.m.
          • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
            Casper van der Tak -- Sunday, 22 January 2012, at 5:03 p.m.
    • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
      Jeff B -- Saturday, 18 May 2013, at 4:56 a.m.
      • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
        Dmitriy Obukhov -- Saturday, 18 May 2013, at 5:02 a.m.
        • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
          Michael Nielsen -- Saturday, 18 May 2013, at 10:28 a.m.
          • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
            mtuhtan -- Saturday, 18 May 2013, at 11:13 a.m.
            • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
              Michael Nielsen -- Saturday, 18 May 2013, at 12:38 p.m.
      • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
        Phil Simborg -- Saturday, 18 May 2013, at 6:10 a.m.
      • Ctrl+Shift+S *NM*
        mtuhtan -- Saturday, 18 May 2013, at 6:43 a.m.
  • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
    Mislav Kovacic -- Thursday, 19 January 2012, at 12:54 p.m.
  • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
    RobertFontaine -- Thursday, 19 January 2012, at 1:01 p.m.
  • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
    jdg -- Thursday, 19 January 2012, at 3:48 p.m.
    • Smartphone
      KenB -- Friday, 20 January 2012, at 12:14 a.m.
    • HTML is the solution
      Klaus Evers -- Friday, 20 January 2012, at 4:54 p.m.
  • Study method: self-made quizzes from actual matches
    Timothy Chow -- Thursday, 19 January 2012, at 4:13 p.m.