Jumping: Jump maps. If you're a beginner try something like jump_beef or jump_academy, and then go up from there.
Strafing: Probably also jump maps
Deathmatch/Aim: DM servers (they can be found in the servers tab at the top of this website), MGE, and just playing pugs.

I do understand the importance of pugs and how they get you into engaged in competitive play but how do you know if they are balanced or how do you find an active group like I know pug.tf has a wide range of servers and runners but none of them seem to be running at the moment like Gem Pugs a really good pug place that was active but the runners just stopped and got busy and the server died almost (well not actually it is still up but it is dry without pugs) so if they are so important as scrims and tournaments but I just can't find any group that idolizes it like the way I see it as?

I think to improve is just watch other good players play and see what decisions and thought processes they do during games, I'm not sure what class you main but looking at top players who play your class and see how they play and try out what they do in your playstyle in the game to an extent

grinding mechanics can burn you out if there's no proper goal, but improving aim and game sense by just playing scrims/matches/pugs will climb you up in divisions. pugs are also good to find other people similar to your skill level to grind together

playing on a team with like-minded people is one of the best ways to improve. scriming/learning the game as a team together makes it easier to coordinate and know what to do in whatever situation you find yourself in. it's much better to play with the same people all the time then playing pugs with random people (more practice obviously helps)

watching your own demos to try and understand the flow of the game figure out why the other team did something or why you died in a situation is also very helpful. (going over your demos with a teammate or a mentor from a higher division is even better)

actively think about what you are doing while you play.

play for the team not for your stats

Get a mentor. Having someone who is a lot better than you tell you what you are doing wrong and how to fix that is the best way to get better the fastest. Grinding DM will take a while, but learning better positioning will make you a better player a lot quicker. (That is not to say dont grind DM, but it shouldnt be the only thing that you do)

having a routine or schedule. you can do any of those things mentioned above, but if you dont apply some kind of regularity behind it, then your efforts are for naught. make up a schedule that works for you and stick with it, and always be honest with yourself. dont set unrealistic goals as far as how many hours per week youre going to practice, dont beat yourself up for not having amazing accuracy or losing to certain opponents, just take everything as baby steps and youll get there eventually.

I feel like we've seen this thread like every month. I'm not saying that as a bad thing, it's good and normal that newer players wonder what is the most efficient way to spend their time. I just think that the answer to this question is less about what activity you should do and more about how much time can you spend on it.

Everyone above me in this thread is right : playing jump maps/DM will make you better at jumping/DM, watching yours or other people's demos will help your gamesense, scrimming and to a lesser extent (imo) PUGs will generally help with everything. I don't think there are like trade secrets like "play nosplash with double your sens" or something, if you look at every player or team that climbed quickly through the ranks, they all played a lot of the game, and I think that the time spent is more important than what you did assuming you were always trying to learn.

So I think my answer to the original question is : whatever you can do the most without burning yourself out. If that is demos, DM or even pubs (I know people who grinded pubs to train and it paid off for them). Sure, in a vacuum it's always going to be more efficient to ,for example, play a jump map rather than a pug if you wanna get better at jumping, but if you hate jump maps you won't get much out of forcing yourself to play them.

I read somewhere than when you ask people for helpful advice, they tend to answer with things they wish they knew back in the day and this is the case for me right now, so sorry about the rant and hope it helps the question a little bit.

One thing I always tell intermediate (mid/div2) skill level players to do is to write down a list of faults in their play and then tackle them one by one rather than half-ass attempting to fix everything at once. Most people I know who have done this end up becoming very good very quickly. Just like in real life, building good habits will make adopting other good habits even easier.

That and grind mechanics, and even then do that with a goal in mind. Play with a practise partner in MGE and commit more to hitting shots that will make you improve as a player rather than playing pub MGE to win vs unknown noobs. Play jump maps that push you of your current boundaries until you can become (more) consistent at the harder jumps that challenge you.

I just got into jumping a few months ago now and one thing to keep in mind about playing maps that challenge you is to find your comfort zone before trying to push yourself to improve your Jumper Skill. Don’t go trying to play tier 5’s for the “challenge” if you hardly even have tier 3’s under your belt. All that’s gonna happen is that you will sit there and suffer for hours at a time because you simply don’t have the skills developed yet.

I agree with Mak though. You won’t find improvement if the only maps you play are jump_oats and jump_blueberry (both fun maps that I recommend!!!), just be sure to establish your skill level and push yourself bit by bit to avoid frustration

Yea for sure an oversight from me to not mention that, normally would! I think I kind of implied it in "build consistency" but u explained it a lot better. I usually take like 40+/- mins to finish a map I find really hard and I keep grinding the same one till I can get sub 20 consistently.

snort a line

play pubs/mge to improve your aim and movement. watch good players match povs to improve your gamesense and idea of what you could improve positioning-wise. pugs are necessary to improve your callouts and coordination with teammates, although if you join a team and regularly play scrims/matches with a dedicated group of people looking to improve it will help you more than anything else by far.