How to display most recent posts that haven't already been displayed with WP_Query?

Question

I have two content divs that each take up half of their containing div. My plan is to use WP_query to display the 6 most recent posts (3 in each.) It will go:

Div 1 -> post 1, post 2, post 3

Div 2 -> post 4, post 5, post 6

At the moment however it is displaying like this:

Div 1 -> post 1, post 2, post 3

Div 2 -> post 1, post 2, post 3

How can I get it to display the posts in the order of the first example? Please bear in mind that I'm still learning the Wordpress Codex.

        <?php 

        $args = array(
        'posts_per_page' => 3,
        'orderby' => 'most_recent'
        );

        $the_query = new WP_Query( $args );

        ?>

        <div class="grid_6 alpha">

        <?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post(); ?>

            <a href="<?php the_permalink();?>"><h2><?php the_title(); ?></h2></a>
            <p class="meta">Published on <?php the_date(); ?> by <a href="<?php echo the_permalink();?>"><?php the_author(); ?></p></a>
            <?php the_excerpt(); ?>

        <?php endwhile; else: ?>

        <?php endif; ?>



        <?php wp_reset_postdata(); ?>



        </div>

        <?php 


        $args = array(
        'posts_per_page' => 3,
        'orderby' => 'most_recent'
        );

        $the_query = new WP_Query( $args );

        ?>

        <div class="grid_6 omega">

        <?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post(); ?>

            <a href="<?php the_permalink();?>"><h2><?php the_title(); ?></h2></a>
            <p class="meta">Published on <?php the_date(); ?> by <a href="<?php echo the_permalink();?>"><?php the_author(); ?></p></a>
            <?php the_excerpt(); ?>

        <?php endwhile; else: ?>

        <?php endif; ?>

        <?php wp_reset_postdata(); ?>

        </div>

Answer 1

It appears that your first and second query are identical.

Perhaps you should add an 'offset' param in your second query.

$args = array(
    'posts_per_page' => 3,
    'orderby'        => 'most_recent',
    'offset'         => 3,
);