National Test Discussion

[dcrxcode]

I think scores are definitely a major motivator in that seeing how close you were to medaling is fun, to say the least.

[Fluorine]

The number of people asking for test scores has grown a lot since the first. Can we remember that Chalker is only one person and does other stuff that answer our infinite amount of questions on scioly (or so I am pretty sure ) However, I have to say if you were 7th then it can be pretty easily inferred that you were pretty darn close to getting 6th as that is just usually how nationals goes. So does everyone already need to know something that they already sort of know (super wordy but.... yep)? The hard truth is that someone got more points than you and you came 7th. As from the great source of the Fast and Furious movie " It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile." So does knowing that score difference actually really matter?

[Bazinga+]

The number of people asking for test scores has grown a lot since the first. Can we remember that Chalker is only one person and does other stuff that answer our infinite amount of questions on scioly (or so I am pretty sure ) However, I have to say if you were 7th then it can be pretty easily inferred that you were pretty darn close to getting 6th as that is just usually how nationals goes. So does everyone already need to know something that they already sort of know (super wordy but.... yep)? The hard truth is that someone got more points than you and you came 7th. As from the great source of the Fast and Furious movie " It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile." So does knowing that score difference actually really matter?

In my opinion the difference between 6th and 7th should be as Insagnificant as the difference between 6th and 5th (morally speaking). Sure, if you got 7th you don't get a medal and get to go up on stage and have the crazy photographers tell you where to stand. But whether you were 5th or 10th, you can be satisfied that you were on a comparable level to the top teams in the event, and on a good day could have possibly been the best in that event.

[chalker]

Hey Chalker,

For division C Dynamic Planet and Geomapping, we got 6th and 3rd respectively. How close were we to winning gold? Thanks for posting about scores!

6 and 9 points

Hi, my team got 10th in Disease Detectives B and 16th in Crave the Wave. Could you tell me how close we were to getting a medal in these events?

5 and 8 points

[awesome90220]

Chalker, if it's not too difficult, could you find how close 11th in wind power was to medalling? If not, I'm okay with the mean max,min, etc.


Thanks!

As a side note, I'm very curious(and I'm sure at least some others are as well) as to how close the Japanese team was to top 6? 20th in forensics is insane

[dragonslikepi]

Chalker, could you please tell me how close I was to medalling in Invasive Species (I got 7th place) in Division B?

Thanks!

[mathgirl7]

Hi Chalker, would you mind telling me how close 2nd place in dp (divison c) was from 1st place? Also, many people have said the DP test was very close, so just curious: exactly how close the top 3/6 scores were and how were teams differentiated?
Also, how close was 15th place in chem lab and 21st place in ed from medaling and first place. Thanks! (Sorry for all the questions!)

[Unome]

Back to actual discussion of events...

Here's my comments for the events I did:
Fossils (6th): 20 stations, 8 questions each, with a mix of easy and difficult questions (btw what was the answer for the theropod height calculation? never figured that out). Some variance in station difficulty would have been nice, but I can see how equal points per station makes grading easier. It was certainly not an easy test, but it didn't really seem like it was difficult enough for nationals; I don't think we actually ran out of time on any of the stations, and frequently had time left over. Besides that, it was a very good test; instructions were clear, and rotation went smoothly. Overall: 8/10

Astronomy (17th): High quality, long and difficult, a mixture of easy and difficult, etc. Generally a good test, although I can sort of see what Adi said about the DSO section not being as difficult. A few typos, but the event sups clarified quickly. Overall: 10/10

Dynamic Planet (23rd): Stuck to the rules, but was way too short and easy (agree with reefownage in that it should have been 3-4 times longer) and overcentralized on certain parts of the rules while mostly excluding others (which I guess is a consequence of being short). Event supervisor seemed to know how to run testing, so at least we didn't have any weird things like untimed stations and such. Overall: 5/10

Geologic Mapping (26th): Probably the best Nationals test I've yet taken. It seems like Geomaps tests are either really easy or really difficult, and this was definitely on the difficult side. We barely finished, but really didn't know much so we ended up not doing most of the bonus (was a good bonus though). Use of a geologic compass was a bit annoying, since those are upwards of $100 for really cheap ones (we didn't even get one; figured that no one would ask about it, and until now no one did) so hopefully that doesn't return for the next rotation. Answer sheet was a bit hard to read with all the notations about what type of answer, but that wasn't really that important. Glad to hear the event sup is doing Dynamic Planet next year. Overall: 10/10

[vjindal]

Hi Chalker,

I am from Paul J. Gelinas JHS and I was just wondering If you could tell me the raw score difference between 2nd place and 1st place of division B food science.

Also would you be able to tell me the difference between 16th place and 6th place for division B Crime Busters.

Thanks
-Varun

[chalker]

Chalker, if it's not too difficult, could you find how close 11th in wind power was to medalling? If not, I'm okay with the mean max,min, etc.
Thanks!
As a side note, I'm very curious(and I'm sure at least some others are as well) as to how close the Japanese team was to top 6? 20th in forensics is insane

9 points and 52 points

Chalker, could you please tell me how close I was to medalling in Invasive Species (I got 7th place) in Division B?

Thanks!

You lost a tiebreaker

Hi Chalker, would you mind telling me how close 2nd place in dp (divison c) was from 1st place? Also, many people have said the DP test was very close, so just curious: exactly how close the top 3/6 scores were and how were teams differentiated?
Also, how close was 15th place in chem lab and 21st place in ed from medaling and first place. Thanks! (Sorry for all the questions!)

DP: 2 points, 6 points between 6th and 1st

32 points and 11 points to medal in the other 2