Getting (a LOT) better

[builderguy135]

Just win 4Head

Can you elaborate on this? Not sure what you mean and who you're talking to, sorry.

He's making a Twitch reference and in English he's basically saying "If you want to improve, then you just have to win."

ohhhh sorry lol

[kaurs]

My team worked really hard this year, but we didn't get any medals at states. I looked into past years and mostky Lakeshore wins. I'm not sure how to help my team catch up to that level.

[TheCrazyChemist]

My team worked really hard this year, but we didn't get any medals at states. I looked into past years and mostky Lakeshore wins. I'm not sure how to help my team catch up to that level.

Get tests to practice. They're really useful. Going to invitationals is also really helpful.

[MTV<=>Operator]

I would say if possible go to more invitationals. My team implemented a new strategy this year that we called study sessions. In other words, everyone on the state team doing a study event had to go to a session for 3 hours everyday after school and 4 hours on Saturdays. I did not experience this because I do only build events, but what I will say is that our team jumped up 5 positions from last year into 8th place in a pretty competitive state because of this. Also, as a team, identify your weaknesses (ex. certain events or event types/topics) and fill in the gaps. I know that many of the top teams know where they are strong and where they are weak and they put a lot of effort into fixing their weak points well before the state competition. Going to invitationals can help this process.

[Raven]

It's a bit late to chip in, but I hope I can help people in newer/fresher teams.

A few things my team does that I believe makes us very consistent in terms of doing well:
- The Grind: 3 hrs/day, 5 days/week, 5 hrs on fridays, no joke, of course we don't all come all the time, but people generally come at least 4/5 days of the week, I think the grind really is the key to success, top teams aren't "smarter" by any means, they just spend more time as a whole
- Communication: Everyone knows what's going on at all times. There's no forgetting to bring something, not doing something, everyone collaborates and works towards a common goal.
- Avoiding bombs: I find that the best way to overall improve scores is to not bomb events. Bombing can easily raise your score by dozens of points, while making a 4th place go to a 1st place is basically negligible in improving your score.
- Team Spirit!: no one wants to be *that* person that drags the team score down, it's a terrible feeling, we also have many team traditions, events, fundraisers, etc. and once you spend so much time with people it really just becomes a big family
- Teamwork: overall support for each other in various aspects: making tests/quizzes (especially code test, WIDIs, fermi tests, ID quizzes, etc. that requires less work/knowledge than an actual test)
- Invitationals for unexperienced members: helps people who are newer to adjust, and so when it is their time to compete, they are more prepared
- Practice tests: if you practice you get better

[Crimesolver]

question, how do you guys find the time to grind??????

[CookiePie1]

So my parents will usually make me go to bed if it's late and I'm not doing school homework. So what I do is come home and work on scioly first, and do all my stuff until I feel satisfied with the work I did, and then do my school homework. You might end up sacrificing some sleep, but that's not really an issue if you take the initiative to spend time to work on scioly.

Also, make sure you're meeting with your partners and using weekends to your advantage.

[cool hand luke]

As the previous poster said, focus on week events first.

Second, have realistic goals for improvement. I don’t know how your state is, what would be a realistic goal for the next year? Maybe some more experienced people can say what a realistic goal for improvement is in various sizes of state comps.

[Raven]

As the previous poster said, focus on week events first.

Second, have realistic goals for improvement. I don’t know how your state is, what would be a realistic goal for the next year? Maybe some more experienced people can say what a realistic goal for improvement is in various sizes of state comps.

Not sure about smaller states, but there's a newer team in our region (started up with around 3 years ago) coached by someone pretty close to our own team. They've had phenomenal improvement, going from second to last place their first year, to mid-low range their second year, and making it to states the past two years. Our region is also very competitive, so it's very impressive. It all came down to a lot of dedicated coaches and students. It's generally easier to increase low rankings, such as from 20th to 10th rather than jump from 10th to 7th, for example. Top teams usually have very solid ground on where they stand, but it is easier to surpass lower ranked teams by just working harder.

Also would like to mention Harlan Rowe Middle School, who, after a coaching change (I believe), jumped from off the radar to making nationals, so it's definitely not impossible to drastically improve. It just means that everyone needs to want to get up there and improve.

[cool hand luke]

Also analyze the results. Are there certain types of events you are better or worse at?