Optics B/C

[Person]

Looking at the tentative div b schedule for nats this year, it seems like optics is not self-scheduled, even though last year it was.
I know this is tentative but I was just wondering if there was a reason for this?

It wasn't self-scheduled last year either (at least, not in Div C).

I think Froggie mentioned on IRC that self-scheduling was a PA thing, in which case it might still be this year.

[Froggie]

Looking at the tentative div b schedule for nats this year, it seems like optics is not self-scheduled, even though last year it was.
I know this is tentative but I was just wondering if there was a reason for this?

It wasn't self-scheduled last year either (at least, not in Div C).

I think Froggie mentioned on IRC that self-scheduling was a PA thing, in which case it might still be this year.

Oh it was a PA thing?
I thought it was nats too..
My bad.

[bhandzicsmith64]

Question, can you place a piece of paper over the laser shoot board so you can place your mirrors correctly?

[kenniky]

Question, can you place a piece of paper over the laser shoot board so you can place your mirrors correctly?

You should be able to. As long as you remove it afterwards and don't mark up/modify the box itself in any way, you should be ok.

[drcubbin]

Any good resources for this event? A lot of my questions have been pulled from college-level texts (AP-level questions are what I'd consider the "easiest" level in my tests) and even some graduate, and I was wondering what resources were considered to be "normal" difficulty for this event.

Creol, the College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida is sponsoring this year's event and will be posting resources to its website.

We are in Division B only 3 1/2 years and I have written Microbe Mission, Food Science and This year's Potions and Poisons. I am not sure how everyone else writes tests, but I try to go according to how this year's Disease Detectives rules read, "The level of questioning for B/C competitions should reflect the age-appropriateness for the two groups." I take this to mean it should be hard, but not unattainable. Even if they excel on the written component, there is always going to be something else where they will encounter difficulty as an "equalizing" force. I am sure we could all include questions that no one would ever get (I could throw in some doozies from my Organic Chem days), but (mainly for B Division) I would rather test them, than to have them resort to guessing because they have absolutely no idea what the questions even means. Does this sound correct? So you know, I am no softie either. Anyone else have an opinion on this approach?

[drcubbin]

In the 2018 manual, "A black surface with a ferrous metal component to which magnets will adhere is recommended. Directions and resources on how to retrofit an existing LSS can be found at http://www.soinc.org. Can anybody tell me where this is?

[Unome]

In the 2018 manual, "A black surface with a ferrous metal component to which magnets will adhere is recommended. Directions and resources on how to retrofit an existing LSS can be found at http://www.soinc.org. Can anybody tell me where this is?

Most likely chalker hasn't finished making it yet.

[drcubbin]

Thanks. I also saw on soinc.org

The mirrors may have magnets affixed to them to secure them in place on a ferrous metal bottom surface of the LSS

I am thinking not to count on this, but practice with it anyway. "Expect the best, prepare for the worst."

[kenniky]

If you're good with using the setup from last year, this year is the same but your mirrors won't move. So you should be fine.

[Froggie]

Question, can you place a piece of paper over the laser shoot board so you can place your mirrors correctly?

Keep in mind that you can't move the barrier mirror.