Best ways to improve your Countdowning skills...
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 5:48 am
As there is a strong element of community to the whole CD/Apto scene, it seems appropriate to help each other out as regards sharing tips and honing skills. So on this thread, go ahead and share anything that you find helpful... I'll keep this OP updated as replies come in (assuming replies do come in! )
[It is VERY MUCH worth mentioning that this has been discussed ad nauseum several times before, notably in threads started by Jack Hurst in 2009, Clare Sudbery in 2009, Callum Todd in 2013, and Graham Harrison in late 2013. However, one caveat is that some of the advice is out of date as these threads pre-date the massive overhaul of the dictionary. e.g. On one of the threads Mark D mentions that "RELATION" only stems with four letters -F.A.S.H. That is no longer true. It now stems with more than double that amount.]
---------------------------------------------------
WHERE TO START
1. Play along with TV.
2. Get onto Apterous!!! [https://www.apterous.org/index.php] (if you are serious, this one is vital)
3. Play the board game.
4. Make / get word lists to learn.
5. Learn some times tables, and get familiar with numbers (particularly between 500-1000) that have multiple factors.
6. Make / get a list of stems and falseagrams. (Update it regularly. Learn it regularly.)
7. If possible, get friends involved. Perhaps attend some co:events? [https://focalcountdown.co.uk/]
---------------------------------------------------
IMPROVING YOUR LETTERS GAME
1. Get into a habit of daily play.
2. Use the Apterous “Superstats” (both your own, and those of other very active players) to identify recently most missed five and six letter words. Take note of the most common of these words, and compile a list to learn. (It is important that you focus on "recent" and not "all-time", as the recent ones are a more accurate reflection of what's common and valid in the most up to date incarnation of the ODO.)
3. Use the Apterous stemmer tool with any seven or eight letter words that you regularly spot.
4. See can you get a head-start by getting resources from others who have already made word lists / stemming & falseagram lists, and build on those.
5. After a day’s play, revisit your game log, and add any new useful falseagrams and stems to your list. (Personally I rank all of these memory aids on a scale of 1-5, depending on assumed difficulty and/or obscurity. Most common and/or easiest get a rating of '1'.)
6. Take time to learn the lists as you compile them, with a focus on learning the most commonly occurring words first.
7. Try face as many rounds as you can in a short space of time. To achieve this, it is advisable to practise with Speed or Bullet rounds.
---------------------------------------------------
IMPROVING YOUR NUMBERS GAME
1. Learn times tables for 25,50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, and learn them well, till that part becomes automatic.
2. To excel at 6s, you would need to have a very firm grasp of the more basic times tables (15-1).
3. Familiarise yourself with certain key targets. (sum of two primes, numbers with many factors etc.)
4. Practise on Apterous by playing numbers attacks against the weakest robot there [aka 'Prune']. (For the 20 rounds, do 4 x 6s, 4 x 1L, 4 x 2L, 4 x 3L and 4 x 4L.)
5. Learn the “4L tricks”, possibly by getting your hands on a copy of Chris Butler’s excellent guide to 4L, or a similar work.
6. Try some speed rounds to improve your sharpness. Perhaps customise your numbers attacks to a 20s limit.
---------------------------------------------------
IMPROVING YOUR CONUNDRUMS
1. Use the ascension conundrum attacks.
2. Choose a “Nice” conundrum attack to practise the types of conundrums you are more likely to get on the show.
3. Some people have a skill where they can instantly spot the solution. You can work on developing / honing that skill by trying bullet conundrum attacks occasionally.
---------------------------------------------------
OTHER GENERAL POINTS
1. It is ill-advised to over-practise. One suggestion given by a top player is to do 5 games a day (i.e. a letters attack, a numbers attack, a conundrum attack, a game against someone ranked lower than you, a game against someone ranked higher than you.), after that, if you want to play more (for fun) then do.
2. Don’t put yourself under too much pressure to play or to improve. Be patient. It may take quite some time for your practise / study to pay dividends as regards your day to day game-play.
3. Practise can be quite personal. What works best for someone else isn’t necessarily going to work best for you. Be mindful of that when taking any advice on board. If something is not working for you, don’t be afraid to ditch it, and focus on something else.
4. Try not to get overly obsessed with ranking, maxes, pro-rank, etc. That can get depressing.
5. Ignore other Apterous variants aside from versions of the ‘normal’ variant until after you have filmed. (Or at the very least keep these sorts of games as low priority.)
6. When compiling a stemming list, these 8 are gold:- ANGRIEST, NOTARISE, REACTION, ATROPINE, STEERING, CANISTER, PAINTERS, RESINATE. Very common, and very stemful.
7. It can be good to use rivalries. Find someone to achievably become better than, then repeat.
8. On the show you will face several consecutive games. Keep this in mind, and that fatigue may play a part when you do get to record. Set expectations low to avoid disappointment.
---------------------------------------------------
USEFUL RESOURCES
1. Apterous (for gameplay)
2. Apterous Superstats (for personalising word lists etc.)
3. List of Stems
4. List of Falseagrams. (e.g. http://wiki.apterous.org/Falseagrams)
5. List of commonly occurring obscure words.
6. List of tables.
7. List of powerful numbers targets with a cluster of factors.
8. Tool for generating anagrams.
---------------------------------------------------
CONTRIBUTE
If you know of any other worthwhile website, computer program, app etc… then share it in a comment below.
If you have already made your own word lists / stem lists / falseagram lists / numbers resources etc… and are happy to share them to give others a leg up, then let it be known and I’ll add your name into the “Useful Resources” section of this.
The aim is to edit and update the OP regularly as new info comes in. That way its usefulness will improve over time.
---------------------------------------------------
CREDIT
If you recognise a paraphrased (or sometimes even verbatim) version of something you vaguely remember writing somewhere once… it is probably because I have shamelessly plagiarised it. Virtually none of this advice is based on my own insights. (As someone who has never been on the show, whose peak pro-rank is 82nd, and who struggles to stay above 1300 in the rolling ratings… why would anyone care for my thoughts on how this game is played?!) All the info has been picked up from other sources… e.g. this forum, aptochat, the Countdown experiences series, etc. Credit certainly needs to go to the following people whose insights appear in some form:-
Kirk Bevins
Thomas Cappleman
Johnny Canuck
Sean Deloughry
Tim Down
Anthony Endsor
Robin McKay
Tracey Mills
Jon O’Neill
Charlie Reams
John Shaw
Zarte Siempre
Jennifer Steadman
[It is VERY MUCH worth mentioning that this has been discussed ad nauseum several times before, notably in threads started by Jack Hurst in 2009, Clare Sudbery in 2009, Callum Todd in 2013, and Graham Harrison in late 2013. However, one caveat is that some of the advice is out of date as these threads pre-date the massive overhaul of the dictionary. e.g. On one of the threads Mark D mentions that "RELATION" only stems with four letters -F.A.S.H. That is no longer true. It now stems with more than double that amount.]
---------------------------------------------------
WHERE TO START
1. Play along with TV.
2. Get onto Apterous!!! [https://www.apterous.org/index.php] (if you are serious, this one is vital)
3. Play the board game.
4. Make / get word lists to learn.
5. Learn some times tables, and get familiar with numbers (particularly between 500-1000) that have multiple factors.
6. Make / get a list of stems and falseagrams. (Update it regularly. Learn it regularly.)
7. If possible, get friends involved. Perhaps attend some co:events? [https://focalcountdown.co.uk/]
---------------------------------------------------
IMPROVING YOUR LETTERS GAME
1. Get into a habit of daily play.
2. Use the Apterous “Superstats” (both your own, and those of other very active players) to identify recently most missed five and six letter words. Take note of the most common of these words, and compile a list to learn. (It is important that you focus on "recent" and not "all-time", as the recent ones are a more accurate reflection of what's common and valid in the most up to date incarnation of the ODO.)
3. Use the Apterous stemmer tool with any seven or eight letter words that you regularly spot.
4. See can you get a head-start by getting resources from others who have already made word lists / stemming & falseagram lists, and build on those.
5. After a day’s play, revisit your game log, and add any new useful falseagrams and stems to your list. (Personally I rank all of these memory aids on a scale of 1-5, depending on assumed difficulty and/or obscurity. Most common and/or easiest get a rating of '1'.)
6. Take time to learn the lists as you compile them, with a focus on learning the most commonly occurring words first.
7. Try face as many rounds as you can in a short space of time. To achieve this, it is advisable to practise with Speed or Bullet rounds.
---------------------------------------------------
IMPROVING YOUR NUMBERS GAME
1. Learn times tables for 25,50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, and learn them well, till that part becomes automatic.
2. To excel at 6s, you would need to have a very firm grasp of the more basic times tables (15-1).
3. Familiarise yourself with certain key targets. (sum of two primes, numbers with many factors etc.)
4. Practise on Apterous by playing numbers attacks against the weakest robot there [aka 'Prune']. (For the 20 rounds, do 4 x 6s, 4 x 1L, 4 x 2L, 4 x 3L and 4 x 4L.)
5. Learn the “4L tricks”, possibly by getting your hands on a copy of Chris Butler’s excellent guide to 4L, or a similar work.
6. Try some speed rounds to improve your sharpness. Perhaps customise your numbers attacks to a 20s limit.
---------------------------------------------------
IMPROVING YOUR CONUNDRUMS
1. Use the ascension conundrum attacks.
2. Choose a “Nice” conundrum attack to practise the types of conundrums you are more likely to get on the show.
3. Some people have a skill where they can instantly spot the solution. You can work on developing / honing that skill by trying bullet conundrum attacks occasionally.
---------------------------------------------------
OTHER GENERAL POINTS
1. It is ill-advised to over-practise. One suggestion given by a top player is to do 5 games a day (i.e. a letters attack, a numbers attack, a conundrum attack, a game against someone ranked lower than you, a game against someone ranked higher than you.), after that, if you want to play more (for fun) then do.
2. Don’t put yourself under too much pressure to play or to improve. Be patient. It may take quite some time for your practise / study to pay dividends as regards your day to day game-play.
3. Practise can be quite personal. What works best for someone else isn’t necessarily going to work best for you. Be mindful of that when taking any advice on board. If something is not working for you, don’t be afraid to ditch it, and focus on something else.
4. Try not to get overly obsessed with ranking, maxes, pro-rank, etc. That can get depressing.
5. Ignore other Apterous variants aside from versions of the ‘normal’ variant until after you have filmed. (Or at the very least keep these sorts of games as low priority.)
6. When compiling a stemming list, these 8 are gold:- ANGRIEST, NOTARISE, REACTION, ATROPINE, STEERING, CANISTER, PAINTERS, RESINATE. Very common, and very stemful.
7. It can be good to use rivalries. Find someone to achievably become better than, then repeat.
8. On the show you will face several consecutive games. Keep this in mind, and that fatigue may play a part when you do get to record. Set expectations low to avoid disappointment.
---------------------------------------------------
USEFUL RESOURCES
1. Apterous (for gameplay)
2. Apterous Superstats (for personalising word lists etc.)
3. List of Stems
4. List of Falseagrams. (e.g. http://wiki.apterous.org/Falseagrams)
5. List of commonly occurring obscure words.
6. List of tables.
7. List of powerful numbers targets with a cluster of factors.
8. Tool for generating anagrams.
---------------------------------------------------
CONTRIBUTE
If you know of any other worthwhile website, computer program, app etc… then share it in a comment below.
If you have already made your own word lists / stem lists / falseagram lists / numbers resources etc… and are happy to share them to give others a leg up, then let it be known and I’ll add your name into the “Useful Resources” section of this.
The aim is to edit and update the OP regularly as new info comes in. That way its usefulness will improve over time.
---------------------------------------------------
CREDIT
If you recognise a paraphrased (or sometimes even verbatim) version of something you vaguely remember writing somewhere once… it is probably because I have shamelessly plagiarised it. Virtually none of this advice is based on my own insights. (As someone who has never been on the show, whose peak pro-rank is 82nd, and who struggles to stay above 1300 in the rolling ratings… why would anyone care for my thoughts on how this game is played?!) All the info has been picked up from other sources… e.g. this forum, aptochat, the Countdown experiences series, etc. Credit certainly needs to go to the following people whose insights appear in some form:-
Kirk Bevins
Thomas Cappleman
Johnny Canuck
Sean Deloughry
Tim Down
Anthony Endsor
Robin McKay
Tracey Mills
Jon O’Neill
Charlie Reams
John Shaw
Zarte Siempre
Jennifer Steadman