National Test Discussion

[JoJoKeKe]

Once again someone has another question- me.

Would you please tell me the point difference between 8th and 7th in Fossils (We got 8th), and 7th and first for Division B?

Thank you so much.

[Luo]

Astronomy (14th) - Great as always.

Dynamic Planet (9th) - This test was awful. The questions were super basic and there was very little math. The entire test was 3 pages front and back and the answer sheet was 1 page. This was really surprising because it was the same proctor as last year's test, which was much better. This was definitely not a good test of one's knowledge on oceanography as evidenced by some top teams that placed very well at MIT (a very good and challenging test) placing in the twenties at this tournament.

Geomapping (9th) - I honestly don't know how my partner and I placed in the top 10, but just like all of Enrica's tests this was interesting, challenging and very long. Few if any teams were able to finish the test. I'm super hyped to have Enrica be the national proctor for dynamic planet next year.

Happy to hear you enjoyed the Dynamic Planet event at MIT -- I'll be sure to pass on your kind words to our event supervisor, who himself was a national champion in Dynamic Planet back in the day! Also I wholeheartedly agree about Astronomy always being great at nationals -- was one of my best memories from high school -- which is why we were so grateful to have Donna and Tad on board at MIT. Enrica too!

(1) Dynamic Planet: I love Dynamic Planet; I have for the 5 years I've been doing Science Olympiad. The concepts are so enjoyable to learn and satisfying to apply. Nevertheless, I know this may seem a bit hypocritical, but I agree with the majority that this test was too short and too easy. As some have cited before, the MIT test was incredibly challenging and well done, a true test of knowledge, problem solving, and performance under pressure.

I'll be sure to pass on your kind words to the Dynamic Planet supervisor as well!

It's about Time(12): I felt this was like any other Time test-- mix of everything and written well-- but I think it could've been harder. The format was similar to that of MIT.

I'll pass on this feedback to the It's About Time writer at MIT, who also contributed to the exam at nationals (and was on my flight back to Boston from Minneapolis!).

[appleshake123]

Time(20th):
Eh. The test was pretty easy, state level, although, like above, the Indian calendar and gravitational time dilation/other questions we may have missed may not have necessarily been from just general difficulty, but just unluckily not having remembered/looked over the information for the topic(Although those two mentioned are some things we REALLY should have looked over). On a side note, I know this event won't be back for my lifetime, but what does everyone think about the time-keeping devices that, in general, were very loud? While I know this wasn't the purpose of the devices, and I was lucky enough to not have any in my section, I feel like a constant loud ticking while I look at a weight swinging back and forth for 4-5 minutes might have made me pass out.


As a whole, I thought the tournament was very well planned. The activities Friday were amazing and the events were very very easy to find. I could tell the ceremonies had a lot of thought put into them, and the work put into it was evident(Madilyn Bailey was pretty awesome too). As a single complaint/request, may there be air conditioning at the opening and closing ceremony next year(pretty please)?

EDIT: So this post kinda had some technical difficulties and I realize now that it was a double post. So, uh, sorry? Idk what happens now. Do I go to jail?

For the time devices that are loud (like with an escapement or water clock peeing), I think if they really feel that the noise is necessary, then it is fine. I know when I was practicing with my partner, we had people annoy us with different rhythmic and random sounds here and there so we didn't stop counting when a watch goes off(PA State).

I surely hope for some form of cooling next year if my team can make it again, it is in Houston with high temperatures in the upper 80s! In a room with 1200 people, we will die without some form of cooling.

Edit: I mistook Rice University as the place for nationals.

[chalker]

Hello Chalker,

Sorry to be bombarding you with score requests but my friend REALLY wants to know how close she was to getting a medal in hydro (she got 9th).
Thanks for putting up with all of our unending requests! I hope this isn't sucking you away from your job at the ohio supercomputer center.

Lost on a tiebreaker

[chalker]

Once again someone has another question- me.

Would you please tell me the point difference between 8th and 7th in Fossils (We got 8th), and 7th and first for Division B?

Thank you so much.

Not sure why you want 7th since there isn't a medal for that. But it's 1 and 21 points.

[chalker]

As a single complaint/request, may there be air conditioning at the opening and closing ceremony next year(pretty please)?

I surely hope for some form of cooling next year if my team can make it again, it is in Houston with high temperatures in the upper 80s! In a room with 1200 people, we will die without some form of cooling.

Not sure what you mean about Houston. Nationals next year will be in Dayton at Wright State University. The ceremony's will be in the Nutter Center (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutter_Center), which is a HUGE arena capable of seating over 11,000 people. Temperatures won't be an issue at all.

[appleshake123]

As a single complaint/request, may there be air conditioning at the opening and closing ceremony next year(pretty please)?

I surely hope for some form of cooling next year if my team can make it again, it is in Houston with high temperatures in the upper 80s! In a room with 1200 people, we will die without some form of cooling.

Not sure what you mean about Houston. Nationals next year will be in Dayton at Wright State University. The ceremony's will be in the Nutter Center (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutter_Center), which is a HUGE arena capable of seating over 11,000 people. Temperatures won't be an issue at all.

Oh dang, I misheard Wright State for Rice whoops.

[Ionizer]

Dynamic(5): As said by other people already, the test was short and tiebreakers were probably determined by how well you drew the map. I am very happy with my placement.

Electric Vehicle(10): I know this technically wasn't a test(and this is a "test" discussion), but I'll talk about it anyway. This was my first time doing the event. Our car curved a little more than we expected it too, but overall my partner and I are happy with how we placed. We got our best vehicle score at any competition. I can't really say how well the event was run in comparison to other competitions, but I think it was run pretty well.

Cell Bio(16): This was my first time doing this event. From what I could tell, the test was pretty easy. What my partner and I probably messed up the most on was the microscope station. We couldn't really tell what was under the microscope (maybe because we never tried using the fine focus knob or any of the knobs for that matter), so we had to guess based on the context clues given in the fill in the blanks. On the second half of that station we also had to do some more guessing. Overall I am satisfied with how we did .

Wind Power (honorarily)(7): I say honorarily because I couldn't actually compete in it since I had a conflict with Dynamic. I put a lot of work into helping with the event, and I asked the people doing the event if I could honorarily count myself in, and they were ok with it. Apparently according to the people who did it, our blade did very well on high speed, but it barely spun on low speed because something was wrong with the rotor. I am very disappointed about this because if it had spun like it was supposed to, it probably would've medaled.

Invasive Species(48): I didn't think I did great in this event, but I didn't expect for it to be this bad. Our binder didn't have quite a bit of the information we needed for the questions. There was not a lot of time at each station so we had to be fast, and we weren't.

[jaguarhunter]

Hi chalker, could you let me know the difference between 6th and 7th in Div. C Anatomy and Physiology, as well as the difference between 1st and 7th? Thank you so much!

[chalker]

Hi chalker, could you let me know the difference between 6th and 7th in Div. C Anatomy and Physiology, as well as the difference between 1st and 7th? Thank you so much!

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