Level 2 - Novice

The novice could operate largely independent of an advisor. It takes at most 15 minutes of mahjong to expose his novice style because he is still lacking in many areas. Novice players are those who pay school fees to play mahjong if they play against better skilled players.

Knowledge: They know some of the common game sets such as "Qing yi se", "ping hu" and of course "shi san yao". They have started to count folds ("tai" or "fan") too but may not be very proficient in it. Their knowledge of the rules are still incomplete but they would seem competent to some extent.

Skill: On the surface, they can play like an expert because they would have sufficient practice in stacking and drawing tiles. Other than that, their game depends more on faith and luck rather than logic and probability and they usually ignore the tiles that appeared on the table unless it affects them directly.

Playing Style: Mostly direct style. Depending on their personality, their styles would vary but on the whole its still direct. E.g. An emo person would play as their mood like, a cautious person will go for small but easy game sets, a boisterous one always try for big games.

Self assessment: If you believe in luck rather than skill in Mahjong, then you most likely fall into this category of players.

Reaching this level: Spend at least an hour to memorise the game sets and get a few rounds of mahjong in you. Getting to this level should be rather easy if you try. This is like the understanding level for revised Bloom's.