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Hey anybody that is still looking at this,

This is my first year doing cell bio, and we're going to nationals. Our two seniors last year were beast and ended up with 4th at nats, so we got some seriously big shoes to fill. My question is: What should we be focusing on based on what trends you experienced people have seen in the past? How much of the test is the extra nats stuff (i.e. cancer, stem cells, etc.)? It would be awesome is someone could give me some words of wisdom haha.

Thanks

Out of the events that are being held this year, this one is my favorite, and with a teammate with a steel-trap memory, it might be our best shot at a Nationals medal this year (we've always been around 35th as a team with single events being sixth at best). It's good to know that genetics are essentially absent, because even though it isn't on the rules sheet, it is most assuredly cell biology, and it adds a lot of material. What's tough to gauge is the level of the questions that will be asked at Nationals; it seems like a substantial number of teams would ace a test that covers only AP Biology material, making it impossible to assign them placings. Does anyone have experience in this event at Nationals?

It's a real shame that this event was screwed up at Nationals. The test was far too easy for the national level, although it has to be said that at around 30 seconds per question if you split the test evenly with your partner, you both had to know the material stone cold. We finished fourth, but I'll always have the nagging thought in my mind that we could have actually won a test of an appropriate level of difficulty. Congratulations to the podium finishers, though.

so goodbye to cell bio.

quizbowl13 wrote:so goodbye to cell bio.

Cell Bio is better than the upcoming event.

to be honest, both a yes and a no suffice your statement.
yes, cell bio is a better event because...because...it just is, and it has to do with EVERYTHING in the cell.
on the other hand, no, because there is nothing hands on for cell bio, which gets boring.

quizbowl13 wrote:yes, cell bio is a better event because...because...it just is, and it has to do with EVERYTHING in the cell.

Exactly. In my opinion, a hands-on aspect to an event just isn't necessary when the material is so fundamental and, above all, so interesting. That said, to live up to its potential, it really needs to be in-depth, and in my experience, state and national supervisors make it too easy. It also really should include molecular-level genetics, and unfortunately does not. But there's no question in my mind that it's better than Microbe Mission (Protein Modeling is actually replacing Environmental Chemistry).

AustinRHL wrote:

quizbowl13 wrote:yes, cell bio is a better event because...because...it just is, and it has to do with EVERYTHING in the cell.

Exactly. In my opinion, a hands-on aspect to an event just isn't necessary when the material is so fundamental and, above all, so interesting. That said, to live up to its potential, it really needs to be in-depth, and in my experience, state and national supervisors make it too easy. It also really should include molecular-level genetics, and unfortunately does not. But there's no question in my mind that it's better than Microbe Mission (Protein Modeling is actually replacing Environmental Chemistry).

The rules are pretty restrictive about what you are supposed to include, and IMO it is never a good idea for a supervisor to write beyond the rules. Blame should therefore fall on the rule writers, not the event supervisors.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant that the rules were unnecessarily restrictive. That said, with a pretty limited set of topics, supervisors really should be doing a better job of including advanced-level material.