Ornithology B/C

[sewforlife]

how involved were the questions? could you have answered them from the field guide alone? or would a REALLY good notes sheet be important?

I only wish I could have answered them from the field guide alone! I now know that a good note sheet is pretty important. I am going to change so much about my sheet for the next meet. It's kind of hard to say exactly what to put on it, because what kind of information you need will vary from test to test. The questions aren't too "involved", I guess, the answers for this one were usually just one or two words, not paragraphs of detail or anything.

thanks. I kind of get what you're saying, because if the rules say something, the test doesn't HAVE to be on that. esp. on last year's A+R test. the state test was only on things from our state, when it could/should be on any state!

[Paradox21]

Does anyone know what type of bird is on the cover of the Sibley guide?

It is a Red-Tailed Hawk. On the bottom of the back flap it gives the credit for all of the jacket illustrations.

[amerikestrel]

Does anyone know what type of bird is on the cover of the Sibley guide?

It is a Red-Tailed Hawk. On the bottom of the back flap it gives the credit for all of the jacket illustrations.

Ok, thanks.

[iYOA]

I was just at my first competition today (the Southland Invite, if anyone else was there) and I did Ornithology. One of the birds we had questions over was the Great Horned Owl. It asked what its family was, so my partner and I put Strigidae, which is what our guide and list said was correct. We got it counted wrong, though! Afterward,I checked it with the list and with my field guide, and again on Wikipedia just now. Am I totally missing something, or did they just check it wrong? My partner and I are not too happy...

for the identification, was it multiple choice?

[sewforlife]

I was just at my first competition today (the Southland Invite, if anyone else was there) and I did Ornithology. One of the birds we had questions over was the Great Horned Owl. It asked what its family was, so my partner and I put Strigidae, which is what our guide and list said was correct. We got it counted wrong, though! Afterward,I checked it with the list and with my field guide, and again on Wikipedia just now. Am I totally missing something, or did they just check it wrong? My partner and I are not too happy...

for the identification, was it multiple choice?

I've never encountered that before. I don't think they would make it like that. It might vary from state to state, but if you have your field guide, you should be able to tell.

[AlphaTauri]

I don't think that the identification would ever be multiple guess. It adds in the possibility that someone could have no idea, yet still get lucky by choosing the correct answer, which leads to the nightmare scenario of a unprepared team who gets lucky beating out a well-prepared team.

[Celeste]

The identification was not multiple choice on the test that I took. It just had a blank where you wrote whatever type of name it asked for. (common, scientific, family, order, etc.)

I agree with Alpha and Sew. Multiple choice questions aren't very likely for identification. It makes it a lot easier for everyone, and especially easier for unprepared teams. But, tests do vary depending on what meet it is. You should study for short-answer questions, and if you happen to come across multiple choice, lucky you!

[amerikestrel]

The identification was not multiple choice on the test that I took. It just had a blank where you wrote whatever type of name it asked for. (common, scientific, family, order, etc.)

I agree with Alpha and Sew. Multiple choice questions aren't very likely for identification. It makes it a lot easier for everyone, and especially easier for unprepared teams. But, tests do vary depending on what meet it is. You should study for short-answer questions, and if you happen to come across multiple choice, lucky you!

And the non-identification questions are also usually not multiple choice, right?

[Celeste]

And the non-identification questions are also usually not multiple choice, right?

Yep, they're usually short answer, too. I had one herpetology test last year that had a lot of multiple choice questions, but that's the only time I've encountered that. As a general rule, you should assume that things are going to be short answer.

[iYOA]

well at states, rocks and minerals was multiple choice(only the id, the rest was short answer) and so was fossils i think but at regionals rocks and minerals was pretty much short answer