A very sad thing happened today. My lucky pen for numbersense ran out of ink. =( Sorry for the weirdness of this topic. No one has posted in a while, so i thought i would let everyone know of my pen issues. Oh well. I'm gonna get some pilotMED pens. They look like they are worth purchasing.
Haha. Sorry for the weirdness of this. I am really bored. I am really tired of taking numbersense tests too. Its starting to get more of a burden rather than enjoyment.
Yeh. I know. I just wanna do well. So there is no point in me complaining about it. I'm just gonna suck it up. Sorry for complaining. That was stupid of me. Haha.
wow, try not to get fed up with it this early; sometimes I feel fed up with it but heck, I've been dealing with this stuff for more than 4 years now, I'm actually surprised that I kept myself interested in it for that long. You, on the other hand, has a long time and a bright future waiting for you; what will you do then if you get tired of it now??
I'm just messing with you; I think you've maybe overexerted yourself a little bit and was just tired. I don't know how many tests you're doing but I don't think i'll get bored and fed up with 3 or 4 Dr. Numsen tests a day. But if you're really doing 7 and more a day persistently, I suggest you to give yourself a break and lighten your load a bit, because any improvement will certainly be stymied by a lack of interest.
Everyone has a special pen that they love. I had one at the begining of the year that I absolutely loved. I wouldnt take a NS test without it, and then my brother stepped on it. Sigh*, I'm still getting over it...
Yeah, NS tests can get repetetive if you overdo yourself. I like to set goals for myself as I take them, like dont fall under 200 for 4 tests in a row, or make it to problem number 70, or get 100% accuracy, or even better do all of those things. Maybe rotate goals to practice different things, like speed for one test, accuracy for another, and creativity (like try to do problems in ways different than your used to on problems so that you can figure out new approaches as you go to new problems). Yeah, do crazy things like that. And, if you know anybody around you that would like to take NS tests with you, you should challenge them to an NS duel.
Wow, I certainly don't have Zack's belligerency. Indeed, the last duel I heard of was between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton... Zack is a lot more driven than I am because he sets goals from himself. I'm kinda bad at that. I don't have any goals, and I do wonder how Zack can aim for goals like "not fall under 200" or "make it to problem 70." Since you know practice will make you improve, then why would you even want to set these goals.... HONESTLY AND WITH ALL DUE RESPECT, I don't see the point here. Maybe it's because I'm not THAT competitive with myself, but why give yourself heavy enough a burden even BEFORE you start doing a test? When I do tests, I'm almost emotionless; the emotions don't come until I'm grading it. Thru grading, I see what I missed, why I missed. and think about how to improve, or refresh myself to whatever shortcut and related knowledge there is to it. THAT'S HOW YOU IMPROVE. I don't think I'd "challenge myself to finish the test/to get them all right." Without knowing the result (and there's no way of knowing it, I can tell you that for sure), what the point of even bothering with it. You guys seem to have WAY too much on your mind when it comes to NS. Learn then Practice, that's how you improve your scores--it's as simple as that. So as long as you're practicing, improvement is guaranteed; there's no need to worry about or attempt to expedite it. But, I admit things work differently with people, maybe it does help you guys when you have a goal to reach. An extra rush of adrenaline won't do you no bad. But honestly, instead of constantly reminding myself stuff like "I need to stay above 300 this time," I'd rather focus more on the problems, WHICH is actually the ONLY way that will increase my chance of staying above a 300. I've rephrased myself enough, but that's just my own opinion and psychoanalysis. By the way, Zack, allow me to offer my condolences to YOUR late pen.
I never think like that before practice. I always go over a few things, take the test, correct the stupid mistakes and ask questions on the forums on questions that i didn't understand. I guess thats how my score came up so fast. Its working for me pretty well, so ima stick wit it. I didn't take any tests today, but i did review over almost everything that i know. I learnt a lot of trig stuff too. Yay. I am realizing that i am putting forth too much effort by just taking tests. I need to spend more time learning stuff and seeing how it applies to numbersense. My goal for this year is to break 200 at state, but next year, 300s will be flying out this way and that. Look for my name, hopefully it will say something like: 2008 UIL State Numbersense 1) Nitesh Patel - 337
2009 UIL State Numbersense 1) Nitesh Patel - 391
Haha. In my dreams....rite? LMAO
It may seem far off, but thats what i wanna accomplish. 300s. May not be a big deal for yall, because yall have done it before, but this is a great challenge for me. :sigh:
Don't worry about; it's good to have ambitions and dreams, but don't let it overwhelm you. Believe me and believe in yourself---you've got it in you. You'll be up there. Whether you can make upper 300s is at the mercy of Mr. White himself. Cleanse your mind and focus on the knowledge and practice part. It sounds repetitive but it's true--you always do unexpectedly well when you don't expect anything.
Haha. I guess. You are right in a way cuz i never expected to make it to state in the first place. Weird. Hah.
I have a question, on the estimations around # 50, 60...there is always ridiculously hard questions with numbers to different powers and multiplying and dividing. How does everyone approach them? Do yall have those numbers to those powers memorized?
I think it's a novelty in recent years if not merely this year. A very ingenious and annoying type of question indeed that Mr. White has come up with. I guess there's only one logical approach to it--do your best to reduce first. Then it's either hardcore arithmetic or hardcore approximation, or if you are crazy enough a case, hardcore memorization.
Hey hey hey now.... I was just trying to come up with a way of keeping NS entertaining. You said that tests were becoming tedious, and I was trying to make things a little bit different for you. One thing that I used to do with Devon during the Science and Math tests was to bet on who would do better. We always had the same low stakes bet too, which was $5.00 per contest. My biggest winnings came at district when I made 20 bucks. Try that when youre with your team next year in NS. Now that'll be fun.
As for my methods... Taking tests and just trying to learn from them didnt do it for me. I did that for 3 years, and I couldnt break 230 in competition. Y'all dont understand how much I envy you all for being as good at NS as y'all all are. I can almost promise you that I spent more time and energy in UIL this year than any of you (if anyone did more than 4 tests a night, then I stand corrected). I tried everything, focusing on speed, accuracy, both, but I was never able to gain the speed I needed to consistantly make it into the 60s. Its frustrating seeing people like Vinay and Nitesh (no offense), who have the natural ability to pick up NS and in less than 3 months time be good enough to make it to state. Kinda makes me feel dumb. >.<
so yeah. Sorry for the convo killer, but I just think that you might be oversimplifying the process. Learning and practice does not neccesarily lead to success, it takes something that cant really be learned. Something inherent. A kind of intuition or feeling for the contest that others cant really learn if they dont "got it". And because of this quality, you dont have to practice as much. NS is like riding a bike, and the secret to getting better is just filling in the details as you go. For me, it was alot harder. Everytime I skipped a few days of practice, my score fell dramatically. Problems that I hadnt seen in a while I would have to relearn over and over. If I went from Dr. Numsen to UIL, my score fell. If I went from UIL to Dr. Numsen my score fell. Its like no matter what I did, my score could only worsen unless I had a regiment of four tests a night. Suddenly my scores started to improve near district. I was making 220+ on pretty much everything I did, and I was happy. (Mood seems to reflect on my tests). I kept this pattern up for a relatively long time, and it would've continued had it not been for the district test. I made a 176, which was kind of an insult to my previous scores. I took it in stride at the time, but then my scores started to suffer. I seemed to be averaging under 200 again, and by the time regionals rolled around, I knew I wasnt going to make it. I got a 170, and it was over. Easy as that. My one good year of NS all gone, because of one test. And now here I am, still very much angry about it all.
The betting idea is great. Haha. Nice thinking! I really didnt pick up numbersense that easily. My scores aren't very good anyways. I have been studying this math-magic site a lot, and then asking questions on forums. It hasn't been an easy ride, and my scores aren't going up that much. The only reason i made it to state is because i am in 3A. Otherwise i would be owned in the higher classifications. A 196 at regionals. Now that i look at it, woooo.....big deal. Its not all that great even though it got me to state. It got me sixth among all the regions in 3A, like state. Haha. Last year, my freshman year, i was making from 90-120. Being emarrassed at every fricking meet gets annoying at a point. So i decided to do something about it. I asked my coach, "What can i do to make my score better?" He said, "Take lots of tests." I was like, "Okay, where can i get tests?" He literally said, "I don't know." So i got online and googled "numbersense." I came upon math-magic.com. It's like a gift from God. I click on the link, and i find tricks galore. I find the forum. I meet unbelievably nice people like ya'll. I ask yall where i can get tests. Yall tell me texasmath.org. How much better can it get?
Everything that has contributed to the uprising of my score is from everyone in this online math community. Without yall, i would still be making 120s and crap and not know a single trick or anything.
Zack, I feel very bad for you because that one test ruined everything. I am truly and deeply sorry.
Thank you everyone.
Nitesh.
P.S.-Zack, me doing well in 3A isn't a very big accomplishment. All the people that beat me on the regional test were all seniors. On the Texas Competitive Mathematics site, there are compiled scores from regionals by different classifications. I didn't know that. It's pretty cool.
Nitesh, dont strip yourself of any credit. A 196 on that test WAS a big deal, considering the difficulty of the test. It would have gotten you 3rd in 4A as well. I just wish that I could have one more shot at it all or something. It took me 3 long years (even with the forum) to amass the knowledge and skills I have today, and you appear to have surpassed me considerably by now. I just wish I could be in your shoes, so that I could have the next 2 years to fine tune my NS skills and make a valid attempt at state. A 196 for me would've been a godsend for me: ample compensation for a year's worth of work.
I know I'm complaining. I'm ruining this forum; I'll be quiet now.
You aren't ruining this forum. Don't be quiet. Lol. I understand that i have 2 years left. In two years, i hope to have a fairly high score. But hey, i can't predict the future, so i will take each test as it comes. I have never broken 200 at a meet. You have haven't you?
