nxtscholar wrote:In all honesty and in terms of placement, if the test was easy, then every person should have been subject to the same opportunities to place easily. I understand your frustration, but at this point in time, the best we could do is to simply direct "suggestions" to the coordinators of NJSO.
I would have no problem at all if the test was at least fair. If the questions was worded clearly, the meaning of the questions was apparent.
But that was not the case. If the question was not overtly obvious, then it was overtly ambiguous. It did not test your preparation for the event. It did not test whether you went the extra mile, and read extra information beyond the bare bones on the SO website. It did not test if you were willing to put in time to study for a relatively unfamiliar topic that isn't covered in school. The questions were simple. The questions that would have separated 1st from 26th place were the ones that made little grammatical or logical sense. It tested if you were lucky in answering the poorly worded questions, or if you were able to somehow decipher the obscure meanings (which I obviously failed at).
Certain ideas may seem very obvious if glanced on the surface, but become very ambiguous if you research closely enough. A lot of the questions threw the nuance right OUT THE WINDOW. It would be the equivalent of asking: Is gray black or white?
Gray is neither black nor white. How are you supposed to answer that? Well, gray is a combination of both black and white. But which one is the right answer? You ask the supervisor who replies, "Sorry, cannot help you with that. I am just simply asking you whether gray, the color, is closer to the color white or the color black. Fairly simple" (Directly quoted from the supervisor, with some obvious replacements) And so, questions like these, ones with a 50-50 shot for anyone who didn't even study the topic, were essentially used separate teams #1 to teams #26.
Of course, don't feel I'm targeting you nxtscholar with my anger. I'm just really angry with the way the States tournament was held.
How are we supposed to offer "suggestions" to the NJ State committee for next year? They were willing to get
anyone to write tests and not even inform them of the SO rules. Do we assume they genuinely care for us, and would be willing to read through our suggestions?
What if next year, they also put a notice two week before States, "We understand all the teams are very interested in the State schedule. We are working very hard and the schedule will be released shortly" and release the schedule a week before the tournament? And then I have to change partners again and start from the beginning to teach my new partner the event? Or next year I have the luck to choose an event that, when I walk into the room in the morning, conveniently see "Event cancelled" across the doors?
It's so funny. Us students are held to the highest standard. Building infraction? 2nd tiered. Writing overtime into Experimental Design? You have to stop writing, there's a time limit. Two weeks before the competition and schedules aren't out yet? They are busy and they are volunteering their time. Be lenient. Learn to handle event conflicts a week before the tournament because, seriously.
What about the event supervisors? Our Water Quality test, off topic and doesn't even meet minimum requirements. Would have gotten an F. Materials Science, a big fat 0 for not showing up the day of the competition and no notification in advance. Of course the supervisors don't feel any disappointment, don't feel their efforts were wasted and were down the drain.
I could have picked any random person from my team to do Water Quality. They would have done as well, if not better than the people who studied the topic. Why did I even bother to spend two hours calibrating my salinometer, go through every library book on coral reefs, beg teachers for resources, force my partner to go through practice tests on the Test Exchange? Why did people in NJ even bother to put any time towards Materials Science?
Luo wrote:
I am the founder of an organization called Science Olympiad at MIT that organizes MIT students to write tests for Science Olympiad tournaments and to volunteer at Science Olympiad tournaments. Our organization's membership is now in the dozens and includes alumni of many of the top national teams, including Solon, Fayetteville-Manlius, and West Windsor-Plainsboro South. We've written tests for three tournaments so far (including one-third of the events at one tournament) and hope to continue expanding our outreach in the future. Our goal is to host a Division C tournament of our own next year.
Science Olympiad at MIT reached out to New Jersey's state director to offer our help immediately when we received the news that New Jersey was struggling to find event writers and supervisors for its state tournament. We did not receive a response from the New Jersey state director. If a shortage of event volunteers arises again, we would be happy to help. Feel free to contact us at scioly [at] mit [dot] edu anytime.
Yes yes that would be very very much appreciated! Please contact the NJ State supervisor in advance for next year. On behalf of all the SO people in NJ, we would really appreciate tests and competitions that validate our time and effort.
According to the NJ State Website, the State Supervisor is Ms. Jennifer Wirt, and her email:
jwirt@livingston.org
Of course, a little minor concern. I am sure that the people in your organization would do their best for the competition to be fair. But, West Windsor-Plainsboro South happens to compete in NJ. I do believe people would want the tournament to be fair, but alumni like to visit their dear old high schools, especially with such a strong SO program making so many memories at West Windsor-Plainsboro South.
