Experience with offering people a pleasant 3 hours on a gruelling (well, they can't know that) testing apparatus is that they'd as soon pick up a snake; like a cranky Taipan, or maybe a Cobra. So I know what's going through your mind as you contemplate the proposition. Do a fitness test? Find out for myself where my cognitive limit/theshold lies? Aaah ... tomorrow.

In the event that you might really be serious about doing it, some knowledge won't go astray before you take the plunge. You'll find a paper on the subject at: Testing.

A complex machine appraising you over three hours or so is one thing. There an quick and easy DIY option. It's simple and free, and even enjoyable - a computer "game" that, if used according to the instructions that follow, will provide you with a means for checking your cognitive fitness. The game can be downloaded from: JTed.

It is a game you downloaded to operate., so you can use it any time you like. Daily is good. A test - according to my rules to follow - takes just 10 to 15 minutes. (It is necessary to follow my guidelines for a fitness reading - rather than play the thing as a game challenge. Other times you can play it as you like.) And, of course, you'll get more out of brief DIY testing if you've done the real thing beforehand, as described in Testing.

If you haven't read The Tools you'll benefit if you do so first. It'll give you background on the critical cognitive skills and the effects of fitness - or an unfit state - on those competencies. Arguments in The Tools place the role of fitness appraisal in perspective, and underline the importance of routine and random self-checks on your brain fitness.

DIY Testing Time

JTed operation is straightforward - and itsinstructions are simple. Once you have practised a bit, the game can let you know how your cognitive muscles are functioning.

To use JTed as a diagnostic test, don't follow the instructions all the way. Complete the challenges in Level One - and no more. Once it switches to Level Two, stop the game and note your score and enter it in your Diary sheet. Over time you'll be able to use previous scores as benchmarks for comparison.

Obviously, the score will not always be the same for the same fitness state. The software will deal different degree-of-difficulty hands, so to speak, some easier than others. But with familiarity you'll gain confidence in a "reading".

The score you get at the end of Level One will be a Hard Benchmark (an objective measure). You will, with experience and regular practice, be able to tell how you're going by feel. That'll be a Soft Benchmark, and remind you of the argument in The Tools that explains how subjective judgement can be made more reliable through constant re-calibration.

Considerations

Amongst other conclusions in The Tools is the fact that peak cognitive performance coincides with the upper limit of your ability to think through your Information Processing. (That's the difference between a Competency and a Skill. The Competency is thought-through; task performance is intelligently managed.) You can achieve higher information rates by operating in the intuitive zone. (That's the Skill. Impressive, sure, but dumb.)

Thought through decision is obviously more reliable. Lots of decisions are embedded in skills and they are not to be trusted. Red Flag's take on Risk Management is lowest possible risk - and that means staying within the thinking through range.

In other words, when self-appraising using something like JTed, you don't want to get better and better beyond the point where automatic operation takes over. Instead, you are seeking to maximis - and measure - your intelligent peak of cognitive function. That's the reason for stopping at the end of Level One. (For a test. Go for it, by all means, in any other mode.)

Games such as JTed also provide exercise opportunities. They will help you achieve and maintain mental stamina - if used sensibly. Playing to the addiction stage is inadvisable for the above reasons.