MEPX
Chapter 11 of 11All chapters
  1. 1How puzzles trick you
  2. 2All, some and none
  3. 3If, then
  4. 4Common fallacies
  5. 5Number sequences
  6. 6Words into equations
  7. 7Rate and work problems
  8. 8Elimination grids
  9. 9Knights, knaves and self reference
  10. 10Reading exactly
  11. 11Building the habit

Chapter 11 of 11

Building the habit

How to get better at these.

Explain your reasoning

Say out loud why the answer follows. If the explanation has a gap, the answer is a guess, and this is the quickest way to catch that before you commit.

  • Write down the answer you first thought of, then argue against it.
  • Time pressure is what these puzzles exploit, so slow down where it counts.

Learn from the misses

Keep the ones you got wrong and redo them a week later. Recognising the shape of a trick is most of the skill, and shapes repeat far more than the surface stories do.