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Inner clock

Nothing changes on screen. Press when you think the stated number of seconds has passed — the window narrows and the times grow.

  • Attention and speed
  • Timed
  • Endless levels

How it plays

The screen stays still on purpose: there is nothing to count. Press once, when you think the time is up. Pressing in the right window is right; the working says when it was.

Levels lengthen the time and narrow the window from a second to half a second.

Keys

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

What it trains

This practises judging short durations. It is practice at this, with no wider claim.

Learn

How to get better at inner clock: 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. Read the number of seconds, and start your count the moment the run starts — it starts with the first blank step, not when you are ready.
  2. Count steady seconds in your head with a filler that takes about a second to say: “one-thousand-and-one, one-thousand-and-two…”.
  3. Press during your last count, not after it. For 5 seconds with a one-second window, the window is from 4 s to 5 s — the whole of your fifth count.
  4. Press once only. A second press lands on a later step and counts as a wrong one.

Techniques and tricks

  • Count with a filler

    Bare numbers — one, two, three — are easy to rush. A filler such as “one-thousand-and-one” or “one-Mississippi” pins each count to about a second.

  • Aim just before the time

    The window is the stretch leading up to the stated time, never well after it. Aim for the middle of your last count, so a little drift either way still lands inside.

    e.g. 7 seconds with a half-second window: the window is 6.5 s to 7 s.

  • Calibrate from the working

    After each run the strip shows where you pressed and the working says where the window was. Early means your count runs fast — slow it; late means it drags — quicken it.

  • Count in bars on long times

    Past about ten seconds, count in bars of five, as a musician counts bars: “one-two-three-four-five, two-two-three-four-five…”. A long single count drifts more than short ones strung together.

  • Keep a steady body beat

    Tap a toe or a finger lightly on each second as you count. A beat in the body helps keep the count from racing as the moment comes.

As the levels climb

  • The times grow by a second most levels from 2 s, and each run adds up to five seconds more at random, so you never know the time before the run. The longer the time, the further a count can drift, so on long runs steadiness matters more than a quick start.
  • The window narrows from a second to 0.75 s at level 2 and to half a second at level 4, where it stays. At 0.75 s the window ends within a quarter-second of the stated time, before or after it.
  • With half a second to hit, aim for the second half of your last count rather than its start.

Traps to avoid

  • Pressing at the end of the last count, “…and-five”, which is already at or past the time. The window closes at the time, or within a quarter-second of it, so press while you are still saying it.
  • Rushing the final seconds. Suspense quickens the count just before the press; keep the last count as slow as the first.
  • Starting the count late, after reading the prompt again. The seconds run from the first step, so a late start makes every press late.

How to practise

  • Turn off “A perfect, fast judgement skips a level” so you settle at each window before it narrows.
  • Raise “Answers each judgement looks at” to 20 for a steadier verdict: one press is noisy, and a run of them shows whether your count is truly steady.
  • Once your count is steady, try a few runs on feel alone, then go back to counting and compare where your presses land.

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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