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Count, don’t read

A row like 3 3 3 3: how many are there, not what do they say? The printed digit pulls against the count. More conflict, less time, as you climb.

  • Attention and speed
  • Timed
  • Endless levels

How it plays

A row of identical digits appears — say 3 3 3 3. Answer how many there are (four), not what they say. The options are the counts, so press the key for the count: key 4 for four.

When the digit and the count agree it is easy. When they disagree, reading gets there first and has to be overruled. Levels widen the counts up to nine, raise the share of rows that disagree, make the printed digit a neighbour of the count, and shorten the time.

Rows of number words (two two two) and rows of dots with nothing to read are settings; the dots are the baseline that shows what the conflict costs.

Keys

Space starts and skips ahead · 1–9 pick · Enter submits · Esc stops. On a phone, tap.

What it trains

This practises overruling an automatic response — reading — in favour of the one asked for. It improves this task; it claims nothing about self-control or intelligence in general.

Learn

How to get better at count, don’t read: the method, the techniques, what each new level asks of you, and the traps the wrong answers are made of.

Your approach to each question

  1. Look at the row as a shape — how many marks, how wide — before you let yourself see what the marks are.
  2. Up to four, take the number at a glance. Above four, split the row into two groups you can each see at once, and add them.
  3. Press the key for the count, not for anything printed: key 4 answers four. The options run from 1 to the level’s top count.
  4. If the count in your head matches the printed digit, give the row a half-second second look. At least half the rows disagree, so a match is the moment to check where your number came from.

Techniques and tricks

  • Split long rows in two

    Look at the left half and the right half as two small groups, each seen at a glance, and add them. It is quicker and surer than counting one by one.

    e.g. 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 is 4 on the left and 3 on the right: seven.

  • Use the width of a digit row

    In rows of digits every mark takes the same space, so the row’s length is its count. Learn how long four, five and six look and you can judge a row by its span.

  • Count marks, not values

    Let each mark be a tick in your head — tick, tick, tick — and never say its name. Reading the digit is what hands the wrong number to your finger.

  • Treat a neighbour as a warning

    From level 5 the printed digit is usually one away from the count. When your answer is one more or one less than what is printed, check it against the shape of the row before you press.

    e.g. 4 4 4 has three marks; 3 3 3 3 has four.

  • Count in pairs

    Between four and six, see the marks two at a time and add any one left over. Pairs are seen at a glance even when the whole row is not.

    e.g. 8 8 8 8 8 is two pairs and one more: five.

As the levels climb

  • The top count rises by one at levels 1, 4, 7, 9 and 11, from four to nine. Past four you cannot see the number at a glance any more, so start splitting rows in two from level 1.
  • The share of rows that disagree goes from a half to 65% at level 2 and 80% at level 5, where the printed digit is usually a neighbour of the count. This is the hardest step; slow down on near misses.
  • The clock starts at 3.2 s and shrinks at levels 3, 6, 8 and 10, then every level once the counts reach nine. It closes towards 0.6 s without reaching it, so the grouping has to become automatic.

Traps to avoid

  • Answering what is printed: 3 3 3 3 answered 3. The working names it — “the 3 is what the eye reads first”.
  • Off by one on a near miss: 5 5 5 5 5 5 answered 5. The printed neighbour pulls the count one step towards itself.
  • With number words, a row’s width lies: “three three three” is wider than “one one one one”, though it holds fewer. Count the words, not the space they fill.
  • Counting one by one past six as the clock tightens, and running out of time half way. Two glances of three or four beat seven single counts.

How to practise

  • In “Rows to include”, add “Nothing to read (● ● ●)”. Those rows show your plain counting speed, and the gap between them and the disagreeing rows is what the conflict costs you.
  • Once digits are steady, set “Printed as” to “Number words (three three)”, then to “A mix”, where the row’s width stops being a guide.
  • To train the hardest step on its own, leave only “Count and digit disagree (3 3 3 3)” in “Rows to include”.

Levels

Each question has a clock that comes from the work it asks for. There is no last level: at least one dial turns without end. Your level is judged on your last ten answers, every ten: 90% moves you up, below 80% moves you down, which holds most people near four in five right.

All of it is in the settings beside Start — how many answers a judgement looks at and how often it recalibrates, the thresholds, the time, which questions, how many options, and whether you see each verdict at once or review them together at the judgement. You can also jump to any level.

More attention and speed

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