# Deletion Test Worksheet

*Signal Pilot Education — companion to Lesson 95: The Book on One Card.*

A book of rules is easy to admire and hard to justify. The test is not whether the book beats one of its members; it is whether every member earns its place. On the lesson's four-rule book, three of the four deletions improve it. This worksheet runs the same test on yours.

> **Educational only.** Trading involves substantial risk of loss. Not financial
> advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Every number in
> this worksheet is one you measure on your own record; the figures in the
> right-hand column are what the lesson measured on its own book, and they are
> there to be disagreed with rather than copied.

---

## 1. Put the book on one card

One row per rule, and one row for the book that holds them all. Use the same
bars and the same cost for every row.

| Rule | Net return | Turnover | Worst run |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| A | | | |
| B | | | |
| C | | | |
| D | | | |
| **Equal-weight book** | | | |

## 2. Delete one member at a time

Rebuild the book without each rule in turn. Nothing else changes.

| Book without | Net return | Better than the whole book? |
| --- | --- | --- |
| A | | |
| B | | |
| C | | |
| D | | |

| | Your number | Lesson 95's book |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Deletions that improve the book | | 3 of 4 |

A member whose removal improves the book is not diversification. It is a rule
you are paying to run.

## 3. Check the book against its best member

| | Your number | Lesson 95's book |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Best single rule, net return | | |
| Whole book, net return | | |
| **Does the book beat it?** | | no |
| Best single rule, turnover | | |
| Whole book, turnover | | |
| Best single rule, worst run | | |
| Whole book, worst run | | |

On the lesson's grid one rule beats the book and every three-rule book inside
it on net return, on turnover and on depth at the same time. If your own card
says the same, the book is a habit rather than a decision.

## 4. Write the sentence

> After deleting ____ , the book ____ . The member that earns its place least
> is ____ , and the reason I am still running it is ____ .

If the last blank is hard to fill in, that is the finding.

---

## What you are holding when this is filled in

One count and one comparison. The count is how many of your rules the book is
better off without; the comparison is whether the book beats the best thing in
it. Neither is an opinion once the card is filled in.

*Signal Pilot Labs, Inc. — /education/curriculum/professional/95-the-book-on-one-card.html*