Georgia 2016

[Unome]

Chattahoochee. Are you possibly an FSA alumni? (since there are so many over there)

Nope, I'm actually not from FSA, which is surprising, considering that basically 50% of Milton's SciOly is just FSA alumni.

XD Well, I don't know who you are, but you probably know who I am.

Anyway, Emory posted event specific rules for the state tournament. This is a catastrophe waiting to happen.

Briefly, no computers are allowed for Astronomy, a tier 4 is given if the test support block falls over in Bridges (do teams even have control over that?!), no microcontrollers are allowed to be programmed- meaning cannot be used- in EV (pretty much everyone at Hooch, Brookwood, Milton, and GSMST is screwed- I am definitely leaving out several other schools who use Arduinos), no Bunsen burners will be available for chemical burn tests in Forensics, tech doc in Robot Arm is only the practice log (the whole point of parts 1 and 2 is to make sure a helicopter parent does not build the robot), no flight logs will be checked in Wright Stuff, and everyone must bring a laptop for Proteins, Hydrogeo, and Game On (main concern = cheating).

I really wish I could use more angry smilies.

Seriously, did they not move state there to avoid another GA 2014?

And provided the ban on Arduinos in EV, just watch them do the same in Robot Arm. It would end up that an arm like this one would end up winning, even though an arm like that only scored ~10 points at GT. Seriously. I won with a >60 point advantage over that stupid thing.

While I can agree with you on Bridges and can't really comment on most of the others since I don't know that much about them, I'd disagree on Astronomy, since the rule was released early in the year (although at GPC a bunch of teams ended up bringing laptops and the proctors didn't even care so...)

Also, here's a team list for Div B State:

Bennett’s Mill Middle School
Blackmon Road Middle School
Campbell Middle School
Chamblee Middle School
Crews Middle School
Dickerson Middle School
Dodgen Middle School
Durham Middle School
East Coweta Middle School
Eighth Street Middle School
ET Booth Middle School
Five Forks Middle School
Flat Rock Middle School
Fulton Science Academy
Hightower Trail Middle School
JC Booth Middle School
Kittredge Magnet School
Lakeside Middle School (the one in northern Georgia)
Malcom Bridge Middle School (not a typo)
Oconee County Middle School
Richmond Hill Middle School
River Trail Middle School
South Effingham Middle School
South Forsyth Middle School
Stallings Island Middle School
Vickery Creek Middle School

There will be a total of 26 teams this year.

[radioactiveviolet]

Chattahoochee. Are you possibly an FSA alumni? (since there are so many over there)

Nope, I'm actually not from FSA, which is surprising, considering that basically 50% of Milton's SciOly is just FSA alumni.

XD Well, I don't know who you are, but you probably know who I am.

Anyway, Emory posted event specific rules for the state tournament. This is a catastrophe waiting to happen.

Briefly, no computers are allowed for Astronomy, a tier 4 is given if the test support block falls over in Bridges (do teams even have control over that?!), no microcontrollers are allowed to be programmed- meaning cannot be used- in EV (pretty much everyone at Hooch, Brookwood, Milton, and GSMST is screwed- I am definitely leaving out several other schools who use Arduinos), no Bunsen burners will be available for chemical burn tests in Forensics, tech doc in Robot Arm is only the practice log (the whole point of parts 1 and 2 is to make sure a helicopter parent does not build the robot), no flight logs will be checked in Wright Stuff, and everyone must bring a laptop for Proteins, Hydrogeo, and Game On (main concern = cheating).

I really wish I could use more angry smilies.

Seriously, did they not move state there to avoid another GA 2014?

And provided the ban on Arduinos in EV, just watch them do the same in Robot Arm. It would end up that an arm like this one would end up winning, even though an arm like that only scored ~10 points at GT. Seriously. I won with a >60 point advantage over that stupid thing.

Well, of course I know who you are, who could forget that annoying air horn at EVERy tournament and EVERY practice
And this entire thread makes me glad I'm not in any building events (well, I guess except for protein), because there always seems to be something that goes wrong with either Bridges, Wind Power, etc.
And what happened at GA 2014?

[Unome]

Nope, I'm actually not from FSA, which is surprising, considering that basically 50% of Milton's SciOly is just FSA alumni.

XD Well, I don't know who you are, but you probably know who I am.

Anyway, Emory posted event specific rules for the state tournament. This is a catastrophe waiting to happen.

Briefly, no computers are allowed for Astronomy, a tier 4 is given if the test support block falls over in Bridges (do teams even have control over that?!), no microcontrollers are allowed to be programmed- meaning cannot be used- in EV (pretty much everyone at Hooch, Brookwood, Milton, and GSMST is screwed- I am definitely leaving out several other schools who use Arduinos), no Bunsen burners will be available for chemical burn tests in Forensics, tech doc in Robot Arm is only the practice log (the whole point of parts 1 and 2 is to make sure a helicopter parent does not build the robot), no flight logs will be checked in Wright Stuff, and everyone must bring a laptop for Proteins, Hydrogeo, and Game On (main concern = cheating).

I really wish I could use more angry smilies.

Seriously, did they not move state there to avoid another GA 2014?

And provided the ban on Arduinos in EV, just watch them do the same in Robot Arm. It would end up that an arm like this one would end up winning, even though an arm like that only scored ~10 points at GT. Seriously. I won with a >60 point advantage over that stupid thing.

Well, of course I know who you are, who could forget that annoying air horn at EVERy tournament and EVERY practice
And this entire thread makes me glad I'm not in any building events (well, I guess except for protein), because there always seems to be something that goes wrong with either Bridges, Wind Power, etc.
And what happened at GA 2014?

In my experience, builds will be fine as long as you prepare for every scenario (then again, I've only ever done one build).

To paraphrase the problems of Georgia 2014 (at least, the parts that I'm aware of): For Exp Design, the experiment was structured such that the only viable experiment was flipping a coin. For WIDI, the proctor didn't have enough builds for all the teams, so upon realizing that once the first teams arrived, the teams that couldn't fit were dismissed and told to come back later. Not only does this mess up scheduling, but those teams that were dismissed had several hours to talk to their partners about the build (this event was thrown out). For Entomology, when the teams arrived to compete, they found no proctor. Someone in charge was contacted and it was discovered that the person that was supposed to be running the event was actually in Australia at the time. Attempts were made to rerun the event at a later time, but this apparently didn't work out, so the event was thrown out. There's probably more, but I was in middle school and don't remember that well.

[samlan16]

Well, of course I know who you are, who could forget that annoying air horn at EVERy tournament and EVERY practice
And this entire thread makes me glad I'm not in any building events (well, I guess except for protein), because there always seems to be something that goes wrong with either Bridges, Wind Power, etc.
And what happened at GA 2014?

In my experience, builds will be fine as long as you prepare for every scenario (then again, I've only ever done one build).

To paraphrase the problems of Georgia 2014 (at least, the parts that I'm aware of): For Exp Design, the experiment was structured such that the only viable experiment was flipping a coin. For WIDI, the proctor didn't have enough builds for all the teams, so upon realizing that once the first teams arrived, the teams that couldn't fit were dismissed and told to come back later. Not only does this mess up scheduling, but those teams that were dismissed had several hours to talk to their partners about the build (this event was thrown out). For Entomology, when the teams arrived to compete, they found no proctor. Someone in charge was contacted and it was discovered that the person that was supposed to be running the event was actually in Australia at the time. Attempts were made to rerun the event at a later time, but this apparently didn't work out, so the event was thrown out. There's probably more, but I was in middle school and don't remember that well.

And Rotor Egg Drop. The proctor took the scoresheet with him to the airport, so that was thrown out too.

[Unome]

Well, of course I know who you are, who could forget that annoying air horn at EVERy tournament and EVERY practice
And this entire thread makes me glad I'm not in any building events (well, I guess except for protein), because there always seems to be something that goes wrong with either Bridges, Wind Power, etc.
And what happened at GA 2014?

In my experience, builds will be fine as long as you prepare for every scenario (then again, I've only ever done one build).

To paraphrase the problems of Georgia 2014 (at least, the parts that I'm aware of): For Exp Design, the experiment was structured such that the only viable experiment was flipping a coin. For WIDI, the proctor didn't have enough builds for all the teams, so upon realizing that once the first teams arrived, the teams that couldn't fit were dismissed and told to come back later. Not only does this mess up scheduling, but those teams that were dismissed had several hours to talk to their partners about the build (this event was thrown out). For Entomology, when the teams arrived to compete, they found no proctor. Someone in charge was contacted and it was discovered that the person that was supposed to be running the event was actually in Australia at the time. Attempts were made to rerun the event at a later time, but this apparently didn't work out, so the event was thrown out. There's probably more, but I was in middle school and don't remember that well.

And Rotor Egg Drop. The proctor took the scoresheet with him to the airport, so that was thrown out too.

Didn't they just send out the scores after the fact? I'm pretty sure FSA got first in the event.

Also, the other three schools at Div B State are River Trail, Richmond Hill, and Eighth Street.

[samlan16]

Good news: we have clarification that microprocessors will be allowed in Electric Vehicle as long as they are on board the car and are only updated between runs.

[Unome]

Good news: we have clarification that microprocessors will be allowed in Electric Vehicle as long as they are on board the car and are only updated between runs.

Yeah, I saw it had been updated on the event info page (I check the site way too frequently )

Seeing as Div B State is in two days, I'm going to go ahead and start some predictions debate (am I the only one mentally making predictions?)

1. Dodgen - These top three could easily finish in any order but this is the one I see as most likely (e.g. ~30% chance ). Dodgen was ahead of FSA at Chattahoochee and won by 8 points regionals, and seems like the safest pick for first.
2. FSA - Likewise, FSA was slightly ahead of Vickery Creek at Chattahoochee and Friendship Christian, although this margin will likely be smaller than the 1st-2nd margin.
3. Vickery Creek - Whatever happens, this will be a close one. Maybe if Dodgen's invite hadn't been canceled another team would be here, but I don't quite think Vickery Creek has the experience needed to beat the other two.
4. Kittredge - Now things get tougher! River Trail has been in this spot for the last two years, but they seem to be worse this year, and Kittredge has been consistently in the top ten,
5. River Trail - Noting that Elkins Pointe no longer has a team, and River Trail just lost to Chamblee at Regionals, they could fall a long way, However, River Trail has a strong student base (or so we're told), and should still do well.
6. Chamblee - Sure, they beat River Trail at Regionals and have done well before, but they haven't been to State in at least three years. Same rule applies here as at Nationals (albeit to a lesser extent).
7. Five Forks - Even though they were 20th at State last year, they're a somewhat new team and just beat Booth and Rising Starr at regionals, so I can't really discount them for top ten.
8. JC Booth - I honestly don't know what to do here. Very few (possibly none) of their team would have been to State before, but they were ahead of Rising Starr at Regionals, so they could make it.
9. Crews - I believe last year was their first year (they placed 10th at State), so despite the loss to Durham at regionals I think they'll finish top ten.
10. Oconee County - Strong showing at regionals, and I can't really think of anyone else, so yeah...

Honorable mentions (that I don't feel like ranking): South Effingham, Bennett's Mill, Blackmon Road, and Dickerson.

[samlan16]

I'm only brave enough to pick the top 3:

1. Dodgen- they are JCB 2.0.
2. FSA- no brainer.
3. River Trail- because 42. I don't know.

[rfscoach]

I'm only brave enough to pick the top 3:

1. Dodgen- they are JCB 2.0.
2. FSA- no brainer.
3. River Trail- because 42. I don't know.

Going just a bit overboard on comment number 1 aren't you?
River Trail signed up for event slots dead last. That is not going to help their chances....

[Unome]

I'm only brave enough to pick the top 3:

1. Dodgen- they are JCB 2.0.
2. FSA- no brainer.
3. River Trail- because 42. I don't know.

Going just a bit overboard on comment number 1 aren't you?

Yeah... and what about Vickery Creek?