I don't know exactly what brought me to SDK, but I remember that at DDK "In the Beginning" was the first real eye-opener - although "Opening Theory Made Easy" is far better but I read this later. Finally I knew how to start with my stones before entering the fighting stage ^^ Furthermore I easily gained two stones through "Graded Go Problems For Beginners Volume 1&2". Then I just solved hundreds of Tsumegos with goproblems.com and "Cho Chikun's 900 Elemetary Problems". That is all I did till SDK and till 7 Kyu or so I just bought one japanese Tsumego book. Since then,... oh dear ^^ A whole lot more.
Re: DDK - SDK Thinking back.
Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 6:14 am
by topazg
It varies greatly at different ranks, and is more comparable 1d+, but I think KGS SDK is the easiest SDK to achieve (not that this is intended as a put down in the slightest, very many congratulations on getting there POGO!).
Re: DDK - SDK Thinking back.
Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 7:29 am
by Chew Terr
topazg wrote:It varies greatly at different ranks, and is more comparable 1d+, but I think KGS SDK is the easiest SDK to achieve (not that this is intended as a put down in the slightest, very many congratulations on getting there POGO!).
Getting to 9k didn't feel big to me. The step from 11k to 10k on the other hand... It took me almost three months to get from 11k to 10k. Congrats on SDK. Only 9 stones to go until you're shodan
Re: DDK - SDK Thinking back.
Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 2:03 pm
by Toge
Here's a trick against those who just memorize joseki. Black could play big knight move to get perfect result if white just goes with the standard pattern. Joseki moves for white would be "a", which leads to complicated crosscut, and invasion at 3.
comment on Toge's post: bit of an off topic discussion. so I put it in hide tags.
this is what I know about the punnishment of (which is indeed usually considered to be an overplay)
white can play or b and wait to see want to do with the corner later (easy solution avoiding complications) to me it looks like the fight evolving from a favors black.
better is to directly go into the corner like shown below. more complicated variation because you have to make sure to immediately neutralize the outside thickness, for example like in the second diagram below.
Indeed a seems to be very rare (got 19 hits in my database). from my top diagram got 195 hits, b got 44 hits, both are easy and aim at the invasion on the 3-3 for later. Playing the 3-3 invasion immediately however seems to be by far the most popular (over 400 hits for the 3-3 move).
this is also explained in the free lessons I made that can be downloaded via the link I posted earlier. here it is once more for those interested.Lesson 1
Re: DDK - SDK Thinking back.
Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 2:53 pm
by Mosdefgo
Congrats on your milestone and improvement! Welcome to the club. (So to speak) I think I got to SDK and started to improve when I began to play moves that were outside of my "comfort zone." A lot of things like the keima, monkey jump and the negativity of an empty triangle were things that I learned by myself. However, I did find "Teach yourself Go" by Charles Matthews and Senseis Library to be very helpful to improving.
Re: DDK - SDK Thinking back.
Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 5:08 am
by Mike
I remember I was so focused on shodan that I actually didn't even notice going from DDK to SDK.. I really don't remember when it happened or how/why, I just kept studying and going on with the "real" prize in my eyes
From gokgs.com archives it seems it happened in April 2008.. That is depressing. I'm still not a proper dan, too inconsistent play.
(which is indeed usually considered to be an overplay)
or b and wait to see want to do with the corner later (easy solution avoiding complications)
Welcome to the club. 
(So to speak)