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KevinG293
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Vinny Gambini
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Strategy Log/Redoing Questions

by KevinG293 Mon Jan 07, 2019 9:55 pm

Hey - I've just begun studying and plan to keep a strategy log of all the questions that I deem too difficult or have taken too long for me to do. I'm trying to determine how many times I should redo these questions and how long I should wait in between attempts. Does anyone have suggestions for retaking individual questions?

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ohthatpatrick
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Atticus Finch
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Re: Strategy Log/Redoing Questions

by ohthatpatrick Fri Jan 25, 2019 9:26 pm

Hey, Kevin.

Sorry for the scandalously long delay. Your post kinda slipped through the cracks. Great question. There’s not a lot of precise science on the issue, but there’s a basic rule of thumb:

The harder something felt when you just tried it (whether the first time or on some redo appointment), the sooner you’d reschedule it into your life ... probably an average of 3-5 days later

The more you felt like you were 90% there and just need to cinch in that last bit of mastery / understanding, the more you’d push it out a week or two before trying again

The only time when we’d consider redoing something the same day or next day is if we felt almost clueless the first time. I think that will rarely be our feeling for LR and RC.

But when we’re newer at Games (or if we encounter a game that is totally new to us), we’ll often feel totally at a loss. In those cases, once you see an explanation and see a possible diagram, it could be nice to try it again later that day (6 hrs or more) or the following day.

Since we barely got it in the first place, we’re at risk of forgetting it very quickly. Use that same rule of thumb for LR or RC material that leaves you feeling like, “I don’t even know where to begin”.

Once you feel like you have the hang of a game, but it still takes too much time and effort, I’d put it 7-14 days later on a redo calendar.

When you miss an LR or RC because the correct answer was real weird or a trap answer was real tempting, you’re likely to agonize over the explanation for a while and thus end up with a strong visual memory of where the correct answer is. So I would similarly wait 10-20 days before seeing it again.

But when you miss an LR or RC question because your process of thinking about the material BEFORE you ever looked at the answers was deficient, then I would redo it 5-10 days later for the sake of practicing what you wish you had done
(maybe it was symbolizing conditional logic .. maybe it was organizing the Curious Fact / Author's Explanation paradigm ... maybe it was arguing for the Anti-Conclusion ... maybe it was better noticing certain keywords)

Have fun experimenting with different timelines and feel free to share what's working / not working here, as I'm sure other students could use that feedback.