Hi, I'm wondering if someone is familiar with both the Graded Go Problems for Beginners and the Level Up / Jump Level Up series and can tell how their difficulties correlate? I own all four volumes of the GGPfB and am still working my way through them. Volume four is said to be aimed at 15-10 kyu (Japanese) and according to the preface "... if you could solve problems of the same difficulty during your own game, your strength would be higher than 10-kyu."

I have not seen the Level Up or Jump Level Up books but according to the blurbs the Level Up series starts at absolute beginners' level and works its way up through 10 volumes and then the Jump Level Up continues where the Level Up ends. Jump LU volume 1 is marked as 10-8 kyu (Korean) and Jump LU volume 5 as 2-1 kuy. Does this mean that it would be suitable to start with volume 1 of Jump Level Up after finishing the Graded Go problems for Beginners series? Are there other options you would recommend over the Jump Level Up series?

Thanks!

I'm pretty sure the ranks for GGPB are underestimates (i.e. the problems are tougher than that rank). It seems to be a general impression, e.g.

http://www.gobooks.info/h3.html

which is also what I found (I have that set). I also have the Jump level up series. I worked through the whole set in one go last year (the Jump ones). I wouldn't bother with the earlier ones (i.e. start at the Jump series) if you're doing GGPB vol 2 & 3 okay - but there are example problems/pages online I think. To a certain extent if they're a bit on the easy side it just means you can go through them fairly quickly and it's a good revision, though because I was lazy/busy it took me a couple of months to get through the jump level up books.

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I am John. John-I-Am.

Thank you, John!
I have not yet made it to volume four and it still looks difficult to me. I'm currently working on book three and reviewing book two, so I'm actually not in urgent need of new material right now. I'm also studying the Elementary Go Series at the same time and am not done with that either (and don't own the 38 Josekis or the Handicap books in there). Maybe I'm suffering from Go Books Aquisition Syndrome, or I just want to be prepared ...
Am I understanding you correctly that the whole Jump Level Up is worthwhile even when owning vol. 4 of GGPB? I don't have a go teacher so if the Jump books go at a slower or more thorough pace than GGPB 4 that could probably be a good thing for me.

Hi, well I'm also a sufferer of Go book buying madness but I don't think you can have too many problem books (the only cure it seems is to develop a more expensive hobby). It's been a while since I worked though the Jump level up series but after reading your post I've picked up GGPB vol 4 again and am resolved to try and finish it this time - I bought it years ago but found it too difficult when I got through book 3. I would say volume 4 is harder than the hardest Jump level up book, however at least one problem pair in volume 4 (problems 13 & 14) was covered over a series of pages in the jump series - I remember thinking I hadn't seen that particular topic covered elsewhere.

- you don't mention what rank you are at but I think if you go through volume 4 quickly reading out all problems without trouble and getting near 100% right I wouldn't bother with the Jump series - but then you're probably high SDK and might like to check out 501 Tesuji instead.

I guess problem books are sold as "book to get you to 5k" etc so the idea is you buy the book and it turns you into a 5k so why buy another book to get you to 5k?... however "book to get you to rank X" is (in my opinion anyway) a load of rubbish designed to sell books. Sure, problem books are the one thing that's ever helped me improve noticeably but it seems to me you just have to do as many as possible. Is it worthwhile owning the Jump series and GGPB v4? for me it has been so I'd say yes unless vol 4 is far too easy for you.

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I am John. John-I-Am.

A very good point!

I've now checked out all the reviews I could find for the Level Up / Jump Level Up. Almost everyone who worked through them like them and many find their systematic thoroughness helpful.

I didn't mention my rank because honestly I don't know. I'm a false beginner who just have started relearning go after a very long hiatus and haven't played against ranked opponents. (Not that I got very far last time around either, maybe 10-kyu-ish.) Currently I'm definitey a ddk but probably with a somewhat odd distribution of go abilities, having lost some pieces that should be very fundamental while I may remember some fractions of more advanced stuff I used to know. I know I studied the GGPB 4 last time around but not enough to really master it, and I remember thinking there was quite a step up in difficulty from vol 3 to vol 4. Right now I'm still working on volume 3. Volume 4 feels too difficult to be an efficient learning tool for me at this stage.

After pondering for a couple of days I think the best thing for me may be to get and work through some of the BadukTopia books to really hammer in the basics – doing as many problems as possible as you said. I'll start with the later Level Up volumes and will probably save the GGPB 4 until after the Jump LU series just like you.

Thanks for the input and fodder for thought!

I have the whole series and love them to be honest.. I've found nothing this systematic and thorough.. but in truly incremental steps so small you absolutely will get it by the time you are done.

I also have the complete series. For fun I started from "Level up #1" and gone up to "Level Up R1". It's good practice, but if you don't want the whole series, you could start about anywhere from "R1" up to "Jump Level up #1" (not to be mistaken with "Level Up #1".

As a KGS 8k-9k, I found "Jump Level Up #1" challenging enough without making my brain explode, but I guess starting a few books earlier would not hurt.