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JustDroobles wrote:The rules do specify a tiebreaker.

Ties will be broken by comparing the point totals in the scoring areas in the following order: Total points for 1 - Variables, 2 - Procedure, 3 - Analysis of Results, 4 - Graph, 5 - Data Table.

Ah, maybe I should have read the rules more carefully before posting.

for the majority of the competitions, do they give you a printed outline for the write up and you just fill in the spaces or do they hand you blank printer paper and let you format it yourself?

personasaurus rex wrote:for the majority of the competitions, do they give you a printed outline for the write up and you just fill in the spaces or do they hand you blank printer paper and let you format it yourself?

It really depends on who's running the event at your particular competition, because everyone's style is different. However, most tests I have taken have four or five sheets of paper divided into each section of the rubric. Often, the title sheet also lists the major title headings, and this is what I would expect to see at most competitions.
Occasionally I have been just given a pile of blank paper and had to do the write-ups on that. Despite the fact that it is more challenging for me, as the writer, (or perhaps because of that) I actually prefer that format, because it allows us to allot our own spacing for sections (because we always run out of space in one section or another if they divide the page for us. It also makes for a slightly larger point gap between the teams, which is nice in an event where a single point can be three or four places difference. Those who have the rubric memorized generally do better on these than other teams, which are often at a loss without a list.

But most frequently, the pages will be divided up for you with the numbered headings for each section (ie. variables, experimental errors, etc)
Hope that helps!

butter side up wrote:

personasaurus rex wrote:for the majority of the competitions, do they give you a printed outline for the write up and you just fill in the spaces or do they hand you blank printer paper and let you format it yourself?

It really depends on who's running the event at your particular competition, because everyone's style is different. However, most tests I have taken have four or five sheets of paper divided into each section of the rubric. Often, the title sheet also lists the major title headings, and this is what I would expect to see at most competitions.
Occasionally I have been just given a pile of blank paper and had to do the write-ups on that. Despite the fact that it is more challenging for me, as the writer, (or perhaps because of that) I actually prefer that format, because it allows us to allot our own spacing for sections (because we always run out of space in one section or another if they divide the page for us. It also makes for a slightly larger point gap between the teams, which is nice in an event where a single point can be three or four places difference. Those who have the rubric memorized generally do better on these than other teams, which are often at a loss without a list.

But most frequently, the pages will be divided up for you with the numbered headings for each section (ie. variables, experimental errors, etc)
Hope that helps!

yes it does thank you so much! I'm doing this event in 2012 and all three team members are new to the event so we're a little lost. thanks!

In which case, i will recommend that the best way to practice is to run the practice just like an event, and do an experiment, and write it up. Also, dividing the workload early and assigning everyone jobs is a good thing, so everyone is responsible for a specific part of the rubric.

We have the writer doing most of the writing, and they start in right away as the other two do the experiment. (never spend more than two or three minutes deciding what you are going to do for your experiment- you need that time for conducting and writing it)

The other two record the data as they do the experiment, then one does all the math, while the other does the graph, the diagrams for procedure, and writes up the qualitative data. Often they wind up also writing some of the parts of the writer's section that are specific to the experiment, because once the writer knows what the experiment is and how they are doing it, they get straight to work.

Communication is important- make sure you are always referring to your variables the same way. Using speed one time and velocity another is a good way to lose points. And you don't want to have to redo everything when you find out that they decided to measure from the front wheels to the ramp, and you were still writing about the back wheels, because that was the original plan.

Here's a question - everyone's done the generic pendulum lab, and I'm pretty sure most people just change the lengths of string to change the duration of the period. Since T = 2π * square root of (Length/g), the correlation, if graphing the Length v. Period, would come out as a square root graph. Would it be wise to just graph (Length ^2) vs Period?

You should hypothesize an inverse root relationship, and then for your graphing section, do both a graph of transformed and untransformed data. You can then talk about the comparison in your analysis section. It makes for a much more thorough and impressive report.

How do you guys usually split the writing between the three people?

One person should write the most of the basic stuff before the procedure, like materials, variables, etc. Another person can assist with the experiment and write the procedure, collect data, etc, and the third can perform most of the experiment and finish whatever isn't done yet.

Here's how we split it up. Person 1 would write everything through the procedure while the other two conducted the experiment, making sure that they accurately followed what person 1 was writing. Then person 2 would write down the data, make graphs, and do statistics. Person 3 would finish up with the conclusion, further experimentation, experimental errors, etc, while persons 1 and 2 proofread each other's sections.