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Yep! And this is why I was throwing the idea out there. I hadn't even thought of cheating.

drcubbin wrote:Yep! And this is why I was throwing the idea out there. I hadn't even thought of cheating.

I mean releasing rules to everyone early could work. However, they might need the extra time to refine the rules (and not have to release a ton of rule clarifications, which is annoying as we got tiered on a event when a builder didn't read some event clarification)
Also the problem most teams get formed when school starts and not over the summer, probably increasing the difference between top teams and average teams even more.

Yes, the test exchange is both a blessing and a curse. But in reality, it wouldn't be if events were administered using "fresh" tests and new (or at the very least "modified") questions. It is only our third year in SO and we have seen previous tests - in part or whole - used in invitationals every year as well as other competitions. Like other teams, we have come into events where entire tests are given and the team has that entire test along with the answer key in their binder - in spite of their being fully prepared to take a brand new test with completely new questions. I have written tests each year and it is always made clear to create a challenging and original test. Maybe if this were conveyed more clearly to the ES, test sharing wouldn't be as big a problem. After all, this is how the SATs work, and you never see an SAT exam reprinted in part or whole (similar individual questions being the exception).

And yes, reading the rules is a major concern, especially for the newer teams, whereas veteran competitors can recite the manual in their sleep

I got the impression that the reason state and regional tests weren't released was so they could be shared with other states and regions, of course I would prefer that this didn't have to happen but knowing that some supervisors are assigned to run events in my state only days before the competition happens (news flash NJ always needs volunteers), sometimes it honestly is impossible to find somebody with the time and knowledge to write a good test and they have to use an old one. Is there an official network set up for privately sharing between regional and state supervisors for different states, because such a thing could keep it pretty rare that a student gets to see the same treat twice while making it a bit easier for supervisors who know nothing about Science Olympiad to provide decent quality tests for their events?

EDIT: sharing is only one reason tests might be kept private, I'm aware that they're also kept private to prevent rules challenge spam and probably other reasons too

knottingpurple wrote:Is there an official network set up for privately sharing between regional and state supervisors for different states, because such a thing could keep it pretty rare that a student gets to see the same treat twice while making it a bit easier for supervisors who know nothing about Science Olympiad to provide decent quality tests for their events?

This is a really good idea. Im definitely going to find out if such a network currently exists and maybe form my own if it does not. This was definitely a problem at the regional directed this season and I ended up borrowing a tryout test from my old high school team which worked fine, but a network would be really useful.

For whatever it's worth, Illinois already builds an annual Regional test bank and has had a lot of successes with it. The idea is that, with so many tournaments (and so close together), staffing them all is challenging such that it's easy to find proctors with a cookbook event ready a month out or so as long as the events can be kept under wraps like a standardized test. And, if you have a good ES in your Region, they can opt to not use the emergency test, obviously. It makes me wonder if this is precursory to, eventually, standardizing events nationally (though, I'm not in favor of that for as useful as the test bank system is from an administrative standpoint).

knottingpurple wrote:I got the impression that the reason state and regional tests weren't released was so they could be shared with other states and regions, of course I would prefer that this didn't have to happen but knowing that some supervisors are assigned to run events in my state only days before the competition happens (news flash NJ always needs volunteers), sometimes it honestly is impossible to find somebody with the time and knowledge to write a good test and they have to use an old one. Is there an official network set up for privately sharing between regional and state supervisors for different states, because such a thing could keep it pretty rare that a student gets to see the same treat twice while making it a bit easier for supervisors who know nothing about Science Olympiad to provide decent quality tests for their events?

EDIT: sharing is only one reason tests might be kept private, I'm aware that they're also kept private to prevent rules challenge spam and probably other reasons too

This is a great idea. It reminds me of my time in school becoming a chiropractor and doing human dissection for a year. They told us that cadavers are purchased from as far away as possible. Turns out there was a case many years ago when a young med student was starting her dissection class, there was a close relative on the table staring up at her. So if tests were kept in an "administrative bank" and used for Regionals and States only, this could help quite a bit. If NY got tests from CA and FL got theirs from a SciOly bank in WA, it certainly would make life easy.

I’d like to say that if anyone would like a free test to start off with, feel free to PM me and I’ll send a couple over so people can make that 0-1 jump.

In an effort to try to facilitate the sharing of online test sets by our userbase, there is now a section on the wiki Test Exchange for users to submit links to full test sets. Currently, we do not have any sort of automated validation process for 2018 tests, so only tests from 2017 and before can be added directly to the wiki. If you have 2018 test sets, with permission from the tournament director to upload them, please PM me or one of the other various global or wiki moderators so that we may upload them for you. After nationals is over, 2018 test sets may be contributed in the same manner as test sets from 2017 and before.

This is not necessarily what will be used as the permanent solution, but it is functional for the time being to at least allow test sets to be posted in a central location with clear disclaimers and a specified takedown process.

EastStroudsburg13 wrote:In an effort to try to facilitate the sharing of online test sets by our userbase, there is now a section on the wiki Test Exchange for users to submit links to full test sets. Currently, we do not have any sort of automated validation process for 2018 tests, so only tests from 2017 and before can be added directly to the wiki. If you have 2018 test sets, with permission from the tournament director to upload them, please PM me or one of the other various global or wiki moderators so that we may upload them for you. After nationals is over, 2018 test sets may be contributed in the same manner as test sets from 2017 and before.

This is not necessarily what will be used as the permanent solution, but it is functional for the time being to at least allow test sets to be posted in a central location with clear disclaimers and a specified takedown process.

Wow! This is awesome news. Nice to see that something came from my little leak.

Its good to see that y’all all are listening