it says I know about using influence but I don't even know what influence in Go means. Can someone point me in the right direction here as to what the eval means. Thanks.

Let me introduce Robert Jasiek:

Your score is 215 from 300

You know a lot about using influence, but you don't like to play all-or-nothing games or games where you must kill your opponent's group inside of your moyo.
We might recommend that you use other influence-oriented fusekis, such as the Chinese family of fusekis (Low, High, Mini), takamoku-based openings, or tengen.
All of these openings are more flexible than san-ren-sei and it's usually possible to switch from influence to territory if the position requires it.

Your score is 225 from 300

San-ren-sei is a perfect choice for you!
We cannot promise that you will win all of your games when you use it, but we are sure that every game you play where san-ren-sei appears will be very exciting and enjoyable for you!

FWIW I answered randomly, without even looking at the positions, and got 200 out of 300! So I guess that says something about what this "test" means.

FWIW I answered randomly, without even looking at the positions, and got 200 out of 300! So I guess that says something about what this "test" means.

FWIW I answered randomly, without even looking at the positions, and got 200 out of 300! So I guess that says something about what this "test" means.

It was tested on different level players from 20-kyu to 7-dan, but most accurate for single digit kyus.

Sounds random to me.

Seriously, what does "most accurate" mean? How would you validate the test results? Not by rank, surely.

Meh. My understanding of influence is primitive at best. I must go look up the takamoku based openings though, have never heard of them before.

That I score this highly in the test given I've neither played nor studied nor played against the san-ren-sei makes me suspicious that I'm being sold something.

No it doesn't 0- 300 isn't skill its how well you could use sanrensei. if we took that test randomly 100 times i would expect the average to be close to 150, not 60.

I got 260 out of 300... mostly I just kept asking myself "What kind of crazy move would takemiya play here..."

I have a friend who plays san ren sei almost exclusively, and over the past few weeks, I've been trying to copy him. In general, you avoid the 3rd line like the plague, and give up fair amounts of territory in exchange for even more influence when your opponent successfully invades. But then comes the fun. Coming into middle game, you are seriously behind, but your opponent has left weaknesses, and from then on, win or lose, the rest of the game is played on your terms. 250/300