New York 2020

[BennyTheJett]

Disregard this post.

[NadiaT]

I'd suggest for Div C competitors to write for Div B, and alum to write for Div C. This would avoid any conflict of interest between the test writers and the competitors.

That's a great idea! We should see about organizing that.

[moonstar1222]

Assuming that this is not achievable, but maybe something could be reconsidered in the late spring... (under the assumption that things will at least be more under control, after seeing the decrease in COVID-19 cases being reported from
China...)

with people being denied testing right now and the testing kit shortage, I highly doubt the situation will calm down by spring...didn't think this would be how my last year would end

[NadiaT]

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

Seeing how there is a lot of confusion on what to do, and someone has to take command of the ship, I have created a spreadsheet where people that want to potentially write a test for a virtual tournament can sign up to write a test. The hope is to get some Division C members to write the Division B tests, and have our wonderful Alumni write the Division C tests (in order to be the most fair). These tests will be released publicly onto the forums, and the teams from the states that unfortunately got canceled can take them. I will (I guess) serve as honorary tournament director, but will definitely pass the torch to more experienced hands if they step up (yes I'm looking at you Windu34).... Sign up for the test writer slots will be on a first come first serve basis. I have excluded build events (but left in the half builds; they will be treated as solely a test), because of the tournament being online. I will post again when we hopefully fill all of our test writer slots. If someone has any ideas about grading, please post them, because that will be hard to organize, and I frankly have no clue how to approach this aspect of an online competition. If we sign up now, and start writing tests sooner, we could potentially look at releasing tests in the middle of April? That'd be pretty good....

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

EDIT: LMMM will run as a trial in both divisions xD

Thank you, @BennyTheJett!

[ET2020]

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

Seeing how there is a lot of confusion on what to do, and someone has to take command of the ship, I have created a spreadsheet where people that want to potentially write a test for a virtual tournament can sign up to write a test. The hope is to get some Division C members to write the Division B tests, and have our wonderful Alumni write the Division C tests (in order to be the most fair). These tests will be released publicly onto the forums, and the teams from the states that unfortunately got canceled can take them. I will (I guess) serve as honorary tournament director, but will definitely pass the torch to more experienced hands if they step up (yes I'm looking at you Windu34).... Sign up for the test writer slots will be on a first come first serve basis. I have excluded build events (but left in the half builds; they will be treated as solely a test), because of the tournament being online. I will post again when we hopefully fill all of our test writer slots. If someone has any ideas about grading, please post them, because that will be hard to organize, and I frankly have no clue how to approach this aspect of an online competition. If we sign up now, and start writing tests sooner, we could potentially look at releasing tests in the middle of April? That'd be pretty good....

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

EDIT: LMMM will run as a trial in both divisions xD

Thank you BennyTheJett! If we are unable to get enough alumni to write all of the Div C tests, we should contact SoCal to see if they are willing to do so.

[sciolyperson1]

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

Seeing how there is a lot of confusion on what to do, and someone has to take command of the ship, I have created a spreadsheet where people that want to potentially write a test for a virtual tournament can sign up to write a test. The hope is to get some Division C members to write the Division B tests, and have our wonderful Alumni write the Division C tests (in order to be the most fair). These tests will be released publicly onto the forums, and the teams from the states that unfortunately got canceled can take them. I will (I guess) serve as honorary tournament director, but will definitely pass the torch to more experienced hands if they step up (yes I'm looking at you Windu34).... Sign up for the test writer slots will be on a first come first serve basis. I have excluded build events (but left in the half builds; they will be treated as solely a test), because of the tournament being online. I will post again when we hopefully fill all of our test writer slots. If someone has any ideas about grading, please post them, because that will be hard to organize, and I frankly have no clue how to approach this aspect of an online competition. If we sign up now, and start writing tests sooner, we could potentially look at releasing tests in the middle of April? That'd be pretty good....

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

EDIT: LMMM will run as a trial in both divisions xD

Thank you BennyTheJett! If we are unable to get enough alumni to write all of the Div C tests, we should contact SoCal to see if they are willing to do so.

Could this virtual tournament be run in parallel with SoCal, using the same tests? I don't see why not

[builderguy135]

In my opinion, the test writer for each event should be the one that is the most qualified, not the first one to sign up.

Thank you @bennythejett!

[thecatgod]

On the topic of test writing, yesterday, at the NYC Division B regional competition, there were about 15 high school students practically running the events(with adult supervision of course!) and they all have had at least 2 years of experience in science Olympiad. When we heard the news, we were devastated and we immediately took it upon ourselves to organize our own "states" tournament. We asked our respective high school and they told us no, but then we saw this, and we would be more than glad to help write out the tests for division B. Thank you again for making this happen.

[BennyTheJett]

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

Seeing how there is a lot of confusion on what to do, and someone has to take command of the ship, I have created a spreadsheet where people that want to potentially write a test for a virtual tournament can sign up to write a test. The hope is to get some Division C members to write the Division B tests, and have our wonderful Alumni write the Division C tests (in order to be the most fair). These tests will be released publicly onto the forums, and the teams from the states that unfortunately got canceled can take them. I will (I guess) serve as honorary tournament director, but will definitely pass the torch to more experienced hands if they step up (yes I'm looking at you Windu34).... Sign up for the test writer slots will be on a first come first serve basis. I have excluded build events (but left in the half builds; they will be treated as solely a test), because of the tournament being online. I will post again when we hopefully fill all of our test writer slots. If someone has any ideas about grading, please post them, because that will be hard to organize, and I frankly have no clue how to approach this aspect of an online competition. If we sign up now, and start writing tests sooner, we could potentially look at releasing tests in the middle of April? That'd be pretty good....

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

EDIT: LMMM will run as a trial in both divisions xD

Thank you BennyTheJett! If we are unable to get enough alumni to write all of the Div C tests, we should contact SoCal to see if they are willing to do so.

Could this virtual tournament be run in parallel with SoCal, using the same tests? I don't see why not

That is my plan atm. This puts all teams with the same tests (similar to what nationals would be). I'm looking for some of my alums to sign up for C!

[waterlubber]

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

Seeing how there is a lot of confusion on what to do, and someone has to take command of the ship, I have created a spreadsheet where people that want to potentially write a test for a virtual tournament can sign up to write a test. The hope is to get some Division C members to write the Division B tests, and have our wonderful Alumni write the Division C tests (in order to be the most fair). These tests will be released publicly onto the forums, and the teams from the states that unfortunately got canceled can take them. I will (I guess) serve as honorary tournament director, but will definitely pass the torch to more experienced hands if they step up (yes I'm looking at you Windu34).... Sign up for the test writer slots will be on a first come first serve basis. I have excluded build events (but left in the half builds; they will be treated as solely a test), because of the tournament being online. I will post again when we hopefully fill all of our test writer slots. If someone has any ideas about grading, please post them, because that will be hard to organize, and I frankly have no clue how to approach this aspect of an online competition. If we sign up now, and start writing tests sooner, we could potentially look at releasing tests in the middle of April? That'd be pretty good....

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

EDIT: LMMM will run as a trial in both divisions xD

EDIT2: To clarify, only put your name next to an event if you both plan to write the test together. Only one test per event per division needs to be prepared not 6 xD.

I can write Division B tests, but be careful with that spreadsheet, as any virtual tournament can't be official Science Olympiad (so no SO branding, etc.) since SO's liability insurance doesn't cover virtual tournaments.
I'm currently working on rewriting event rules and planning something like that, where it would be tests about "Astronomy" and "Electronics" instead of "Astronomy" and "Circuit Lab."

I've also worked out some methods for timing test releases and grading, as well as running building events. Many of my plans are in this Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QUS ... sp=sharing

TL;DR we can 100% do this, but don't call the events by copyrighted names (eg call it "Infection Investigators" instead of "Disease Detectives") or reuse SOInc rules.
I like your idea of having C write B tests and alums write C tests.