If you're trying to stop settling for "good enough" in Trials, get familiar with reliable resources like ARC Raiders Coins early, because your prep matters before the drop even starts. ARC Raiders has that special talent for making every run feel like a near-death experience. You land, you hear shots two buildings over, and your brain immediately starts doing math you didn't ask for. The funny part is that surviving isn't the finish line. Not in weekly Trials. The difference between a messy 2-star and a clean 3-star is usually a handful of small decisions you repeat all match.
The score isn't just about being cracked at aiming. It's tempo. It's spacing. It's knowing when to fight and when to leave a fight unfinished. You can beam one squad and still end up with a mediocre rating if you spent forever doing it. I started getting consistent 3-stars the moment I treated every minute like it had a price tag. Rotate with purpose. Loot with a plan. If the objective is across the map, don't "maybe" your way there. Go. The game rewards squads that keep momentum without turning into headless chickens.
What kills most runs is the classic combo of greed plus panic. Somebody overextends for a box. Somebody else tries to hero-revive in open ground. Then the whole match turns into a slow-motion collapse. Trials scoring feels allergic to chaos. Keep your squad upright. If you take a bad trade, reset behind cover and stabilize. If you're burning all your time farming a stubborn zone, call it and move. Speed matters, but clean speed matters more. Fast deaths are still deaths, and nothing drags a rating down like repeated wipes and recovery scrambles.
Bonus challenges are the quiet cheat code. They're annoying, sure. Nobody wakes up thinking, "I hope the game forces me into a weird weapon setup today." But those side tasks are often the gap between "almost" and "nailed it." Build your run around them instead of tacking them on at the end. If the bonus wants a certain damage type or gadget, commit early and let your squad play around it. You'll feel slower for the first few minutes, then you'll realize you're scoring points while other teams are just chasing fights.
And yeah, sometimes the problem isn't your brain, it's your kit. If you're constantly losing DPS races, failing boss burns, or getting bullied by armor you can't crack, it's hard to play "smart fast" at all. That's why a lot of players choose to pick up game currency and gear through ARC Raiders Items before the weekly reset chaos starts, so they can enter Trials with a loadout that actually fits the plan. You'll still need clean rotations and discipline, but having the right tools makes those 3-star runs feel way less like a coin flip.