Is this allowed?...(important)

[Liv]

Wait @ my regionals I had to bring a calculator to ecology and I had A+R first, they let me have it with me??

[robotman]

Well then, I suppose it wouldn't hurt if I put my en.chem. notes in a page protector, right?

no it wouldnt

[andrewwski]

The answer to most of these questions is usually in the rules.

Why people don't read them is beyond my comprehension. And then people whine about being DQ'ed or tier 2'ed because they broke one of the rules that they "didn't know about."

Read the rules already!

[robotman]

yea but sometimes it good to get a different view of the rules and how they are read because some of the rules read differently to different people/teams

[Phenylethylamine]

Yeah, the rules are often up for interpretation.

I, for one, managed to lose my rulebook somewhere in the messy abyss that is our SciO coach's classroom, so I've been attempting to borrow other people's, but oftentimes that means I just don't have access to the rules. There's no way I'm the only one.

[andrewwski]

Get to a photocopier then - seriously, you shouldn't be doing anything without a copy of the rules right in front of you.

If there's a rule that you don't understand, then ask. There's a difference between asking for an explanation than asking a question clearly answered by the rules.

And if something is up for interpretation, then a clarification is necessary - contact your tournament supervisor. Nothing that anyone says here is official.

[Phenylethylamine]

I'm familiar enough with the rules of my events that at this point, it isn't a problem. If I have a specific question about what is or isn't in the rules, I can ask.

Some events' rules are very dense, and it is easy to miss a sentence when reading them. It's possible that someone could have already read the rules and just didn't realize that the answer to their question was there.

This could be a good place to ask first, though- if someone thought there were multiple interpretations of a rule, but everyone else was pretty much certain it was one particular meaning, they could get their question answered here without having to add to the already-overflowing workload of their tournament's coordinator.

[kjhsscioly]

Wait @ my regionals I had to bring a calculator to ecology and I had A+R first, they let me have it with me??

Most events supervisors make you put it down in the back of the room or on their desk, they just don't want to risk you having notes in its memory or something. I toted my stuff for most events around with me at all levels of competition and the supervisors either made me put it in the hall or back of the room, or just didn't care

[andrewwski]

I'm familiar enough with the rules of my events that at this point, it isn't a problem. If I have a specific question about what is or isn't in the rules, I can ask.

Some events' rules are very dense, and it is easy to miss a sentence when reading them. It's possible that someone could have already read the rules and just didn't realize that the answer to their question was there.

This could be a good place to ask first, though- if someone thought there were multiple interpretations of a rule, but everyone else was pretty much certain it was one particular meaning, they could get their question answered here without having to add to the already-overflowing workload of their tournament's coordinator.

Yes, being familiar with the rules is very important. I do mostly building events, and I know almost every spec by heart. I'm prepared to point out a specific line if the event supervisor questions the legality of something.

But the first thing you should do if you have a question is to look through the rules for an answer. You shouldn't just read them once, you should break them down and analyze them. Without doing that, you're going to misguide yourself when preparing for the event.

And yes, this is a good place to ask if you don't understand the meaning of a rule. But if it can legitimately be interpreted in more than one way, it's not worth the risk of assuming. Get a clarification.

But asking things like "how long does my bridge have to be" makes people look careless. Not as bad as "does anyone have tips for xxx," but still isn't worth wasting time over.

[sciencegeek100]

So at regionals, I was in ecology and one of the teachers form my school was the judge. Me and my partner were a few minutes late but we didn't know that it would be a problem since we had been late multiple times before and nothing had happend. After I was finished with the event our coach graded the tests told us that we came in first with a 76(:D) And then when the results were revealed, I found out that we weren't first, not even in the top 5. I later checked the scores on the net and found out that we were DQd for being late. Do they have a right to do this?

Well, late is something a judge is allowed to over look, but the head official can over rule... get over it, be on time if you want your test to count....