Tips for a Beginner?

[kkmlnhn]

Hi guys, I'm sure this has been asked before, but I need to quickly learn how to do cryptograms (and other codes). Any tips? (This is for Science Olympiad Codebusters btw!)

[LLapp]

Welcome, kkmlnhn . . . I hope I pronounced that right. There are several forum threads with solving tips (search for "tips" in the Cryptograms Forum start page), but a better place to start is in the website tutorial. Go to the Cryptograms home page, then scroll down a bit -- there's a "tutorial" link in the text.

[IloveVarunfromLBSS]

ur cooked brother why'd u wait this late to learn

[brooklynwin]

Hi! I also do Science Olympiad, and the best thing I would advise is practice, practice, and practice. Something I did with my partners was to see who would be highest on the high-score leaderboard, and that motivated us to grind cryptograms. There are also websites online on how to learn some of the codes. Good luck!

[kurode]

Heh... are we all here for scioly.... ToT

[Tammy (CK)]

heyyy i'm here for codebusters too

I would say that getting familiar with word patterns is the most important thing. You'll start spotting them naturally as you play more cryptograms and complete more practice tests. For example, "that" is one of the most common word patterns you'll see on easier ciphers.

This site only covers Aristocrats, so watch videos/search online to master all the other ciphers in the rules (I heard that the Toebes site is very helpful, although I learned how to solve ciphers from an older teammate).

Good luck!

[miranda-8]

Why is my comment unapproved

[miranda-8]

Why is it always unapproved
why can't i write in all caps

[miranda-8]

image.pngwhat is this

[miranda-8]

it looks like I'm not raging because it doesn't allow me to write in all caps for some strange reason, but it you were there than maybe you'll see my rage

[kurode]

it looks like I'm not raging because it doesn't allow me to write in all caps for some strange reason, but it you were there than maybe you'll see my rage

might be because of the url ? X_X

[miranda-8]

maybe, you're right

[kkmlnhn]

thanks so much all! i'll definitely try everything ygs suggested.

alsoIloveVarunfromLBSS -- you are so right, i'm completely cooked, my team had to frantically switch events around because some people are missing our 2nd comp (in abt a month) so i gotta grind now haha

[miranda-8]

good luck kkmlnhn