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Something that causes me to take longer on LG is deciding whether I should draw new hypotheticals, or use my set up game board and try to do it in my head.

I find that for some games that have fewer pieces, I am able to do it in my head with a high degree of accuracy, and that this is faster, but for others with many pieces, I need to draw a new hypothetical and draw the new info down. Or else it takes longer trying to do it in my head, and my accuracy suffers, often leading to incorrect answers on otherwise easy questions.

Problematically, what do you do for questions where you just have to brute force? (And where there are many game pieces.)

Do you draw a new hypothetical for each answer choice?

Should I consider the benefit of having something to refer back to for other questions?

I'm slightly confused, because sometimes 7Sage says you should do it in your head because writing it down will take too long.

Is it just a fact that for some games with many pieces, you will have to draw a new hypothetical, possibly a new hypothetical for every answer choice?

Obviously you generally draw a new hypothetical for local questions.

I'm wondering about global ones though.

Thanks

dontsaywhatyoumean wrote:Something that causes me to take longer on LG is deciding whether I should draw new hypotheticals, or use my set up game board and try to do it in my head.

I find that for some games that have fewer pieces, I am able to do it in my head with a high degree of accuracy, and that this is faster, but for others with many pieces, I need to draw a new hypothetical and draw the new info down. Or else it takes longer trying to do it in my head, and my accuracy suffers, often leading to incorrect answers on otherwise easy questions.

Problematically, what do you do for questions where you just have to brute force? (And where there are many game pieces.)

Do you draw a new hypothetical for each answer choice?

Should I consider the benefit of having something to refer back to for other questions?

I'm slightly confused, because sometimes 7Sage says you should do it in your head because writing it down will take too long.

Is it just a fact that for some games with many pieces, you will have to draw a new hypothetical, possibly a new hypothetical for every answer choice?

Obviously you generally draw a new hypothetical for local questions.

I'm wondering about global ones though.

Thanks

Keep your pencil moving. If you're generating a valid solution to the game, then the worst case scenario is that you have more prior-work to reference for later questions. People also tend to overestimate how much time it takes them to write down a solution, and underestimate how much time they spend staring at the paper trying to move pieces around in their head.

I say do it on paper as long as time permits. The only time I really do anything in my head is if I know I'm running out of time (and I'm sure a lot of the time I do that, I end up wrong too ).

My general rule is if a question introduces new info, I create a diagram for it by the question (unless it's something I somehow already figured out in a previous diagram/it's info that you got from an inference).

Once I committed to putting everything down on paper my timing and accuracy improved a ton. I think it's partly because I'm a visual person and partly because I wasn't putting a bunch of effort to keeping stuff straight in my head.

Also, I used a fresh setup for every question. It takes 5 seconds to add in the info and it helps a lot.

dontsaywhatyoumean wrote:Something that causes me to take longer on LG is deciding whether I should draw new hypotheticals, or use my set up game board and try to do it in my head.

I find that for some games that have fewer pieces, I am able to do it in my head with a high degree of accuracy, and that this is faster, but for others with many pieces, I need to draw a new hypothetical and draw the new info down. Or else it takes longer trying to do it in my head, and my accuracy suffers, often leading to incorrect answers on otherwise easy questions.

Problematically, what do you do for questions where you just have to brute force? (And where there are many game pieces.)

Do you draw a new hypothetical for each answer choice?

Should I consider the benefit of having something to refer back to for other questions?

I'm slightly confused, because sometimes 7Sage says you should do it in your head because writing it down will take too long.

Is it just a fact that for some games with many pieces, you will have to draw a new hypothetical, possibly a new hypothetical for every answer choice?

Obviously you generally draw a new hypothetical for local questions.

I'm wondering about global ones though.

Thanks

I only do something in my head if I REALLY understand the problem. Like it just clicks in some way where all the inferences don't require much brain power to think down the logic pattern. Like, "If T is third, I know H has to be first" type of thing.

I can usually only do that w ordering. Everything else, I need to at least look at the template and make some scribbles before getting the answer. Many times I redraw my initial diagram and my little Universe of characters [H, K, J, L, M, O] and I cross out characters/solutions

If you have a good understanding of the rules, then it shouldn't take long to write out a hypothetical.

Thanks guys. I used to do this until I thought it might not be the right thing to do.

My scores have been dropping too (although I think burnout also played a role in this).

Could not understand how you were supposed to do some of these in your head.

Do you guys ever erase to save having to create new hypos, or do you create new hypos and not erase (for every answer choice)?

I assume it's better not to (once again, I used to not do this as well, erase that is).

dontsaywhatyoumean wrote:Thanks guys. I used to do this until I thought it might not be the right thing to do.

My scores have been dropping too (although I think burnout also played a role in this).

Could not understand how you were supposed to do some of these in your head.

Do you guys ever erase to save having to create new hypos, or do you create new hypos and not erase (for every answer choice)?

I assume it's better not to (once again, I used to not do this as well, erase that is).

I think most people recommend not erasing b/c 1. it takes up time and 2. the hypo you erase could end up being useful for another problem.

brinicolec wrote:

dontsaywhatyoumean wrote:Thanks guys. I used to do this until I thought it might not be the right thing to do.

My scores have been dropping too (although I think burnout also played a role in this).

Could not understand how you were supposed to do some of these in your head.

Do you guys ever erase to save having to create new hypos, or do you create new hypos and not erase (for every answer choice)?

I assume it's better not to (once again, I used to not do this as well, erase that is).

I think most people recommend not erasing b/c 1. it takes up time and 2. the hypo you erase could end up being useful for another problem.

And there's more than enough room to be able to write plenty of hypos. Just use clean ones. Trust us.

brinicolec wrote:

dontsaywhatyoumean wrote:Thanks guys. I used to do this until I thought it might not be the right thing to do.

My scores have been dropping too (although I think burnout also played a role in this).

Could not understand how you were supposed to do some of these in your head.

Do you guys ever erase to save having to create new hypos, or do you create new hypos and not erase (for every answer choice)?

I assume it's better not to (once again, I used to not do this as well, erase that is).

I think most people recommend not erasing b/c 1. it takes up time and 2. the hypo you erase could end up being useful for another problem.

Bingo! Don't erase, don't do crap in your head. Do write stuff out

The answer to this is never. Never in your head, always on paper. At the very least you won't get mixed up. If you are lucky then you might accidentally solve "future" questions and have answers ready to go.