Hey guys! So even though BEARSO was a few weeks ago, I was waiting until the public release of tests and histograms to make my event supervisor post. I've always wanted to make one of these!!
I had the incredible honor to serve as the
Geologic Mapping C Event Supervisor for BEARSO! I want to congratulate everyone on their participation in the first official virtual competition and the largest competition ever, it was no easy feat for anyone involved, so regardless of whatever time you took your test, whatever place you got, or however much you knew, you all helped to make history on October 10th!
Now, for everyone who took my test, y'all know what went down. Event supervising for such a large competition was honestly a daunting task at first. Writing the test was pretty challenging. Not only was it the first test I ever solo wrote, but I was trying to write it in such a way that it would be long and difficult for teams to cheat on the majority of questions since they were meant to be multi-step though-based questions, and at a level that would be challenging enough given the high caliber of teams going and the rules repeat, but also could be doable enough for all teams to enjoy at such an early point in the season.
So, yeah, it was a grind. I honestly think I spent upwards of 40+ hours on it, which even still feels like a low estimate, so it is definitely an understatement to say hearing the positive feedback everyone had for my test felt really great! I'm super happy so many people enjoyed it!
I'm attaching the distribution, even though you can already see it in the folder above lol. The distribution was a pretty solid normal distribution, which I found encouraging evidence that people took the test honestly and seriously, despite the unorthodox format. I thank everyone for doing so.
2nd place and 1st place in particular were pretty far ahead of everyone, but every team deserves commendation for their participation!
Now, onto the exam itself...
Most of the feedback I got on the test noted that it was really long and the content ranged from doable to rather difficult. This is exactly what I hoped to see! I understand the exam was long, however, I designed it that way to give teams plenty of options as to how they wanted to spend their time, and plenty of room for the scores to spread out, which as I noted they seemed to have rather well.
A good amount of teams struggled on the math questions, but I included formulas for those, so hopefully they can be a starting point on the road to familiarity with Geologic Mapping math. (when a test just gave an answer for a math question, it didn't help me learn at all haha, so I hope you all can get some use out of the key)
The multiple choice was designed to gradually get harder as it progressed, and cover a large range of topics from depositional environment to maps to basic geology. This was reflected in the numbers of questions I saw teams getting right, and I hope I did a good job in turning what could usually be a pretty standard recall event into a more thought and application based test.
A good number of teams did a great job with the map section at the end! It was great to see a lot of participants correctly read and interpret a real geologic map, such as what potential hazards and past depositional environments and rocks. That is the namesake of the event after all haha
Lastly, there was one question which NO TEAM got correct!! Number 64 stumped every team, and I gave approximately 1 point to teams who made a reasonable attempt with shown work. The formula is included so you all can have it going forward haha.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this was a super fun event to run. Although the chaos of supervising 183 teams at once (and having their questions disappear less than a second after they were sent so I barely could read them oops lol) was stressful, it was definitely a worthwhile experience to hear the level of satisfaction that so many participants got from my test, as well as to be a part of the team that helped with BEARSO. Undoubtedly worth every single second I spent on it!
Grading 187 tests was a grind, but it was fun. To everyone who messaged me during and after the test commenting on my references within the test, you are greatly appreciated, and were we doing this in person, I would've given you the biggest high five I could've. As for those who wrote funny joke answers on the test, though there was no space on scilympiad's grading platform to write comments or replies, they truly made me laugh (some personal favorites were the ones saying "I use magic to lift the rock up and get Joe's paper back!" and "I can't help her, I'm sorry Monika D:") and provided a much needed respite of the seriousness of grading. So I am thankful for everyone who made me laugh during grading! I wish I could write more personalized feedback for all the joke answers but I truly loved all of them haha
If you have any thoughts or feedback on the event, I'd love to hear it! If you want, you can fill out this Google form to let me know what you thought (
https://forms.gle/R8XohTJLefoJZkuo6). It's also always linked on my userpage, which is always linked in my signature haha. Any feedback is good feedback! If you have particular questions, feel free to message me on here or DM me on Discord (preferred, Giantpants#6460) or email me (addresses listed on the Google Form). Besides, the feedback may be helpful in improving my tests in case I write for you again
Lastly, huge huge HUGE thanks to:
-
bearasaurus for being such a nice person and for giving me guidance on formatting, what I was allowed to do for the test, answering my endless questions, providing support on tournament day, offering me the opportunity to write and supervise back in August, and being so supportive of my first ever solo writing experience! The Science Olympiad community will truly be indebted to you for your work on this tournament.
-
404ic for his work on score counseling and answering my questions about grading/re-grading, and also for being such a nice and supportive person as well. Thanks a lot my dude.
-
RobertYL for his work on compiling all the tests and histograms into the files after the competition. So soooo many files, I can't imagine that could've been easy, but he still went out of his way to contact me to make sure my events were good. That shows genuine care, which is awesome. Oh and he graded like 500 tests... Goodness...
-
Thuan for his work developing scilympiad, and even taking some time out of his schedule to meet with me/404ic to answer our questions about scoring. To answer a question directly like that again shows genuine care and interest in bettering the platform and helping the tournament, which in addition to his immense work developing the platform, deserves incalculable praise.
-All the event supervisors! You all are awesome people and are so deserving of congratulations, and it's because of you guys that the competition was such a success.
-All the competitors! Your willingness to try something new resulted in BEARSO truly becoming something beautiful! I'm so thankful to have had such a huge and geographically diverse field take my test! Such an honor, and I'm so thankful you all decided to participate.
Thanks to everyone for taking my test and for participating in BEARSO's Exciting and Revamped Science Olympiad! It was an honor to be an event supervisor, and a truly awesome experience!! Can't wait to write for y'all again at some point haha
I hope Michigan Scioly finds some way to incorporate a flying event into the state tournament. 