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Re: Simple Machines B/Compound Machines C

Posted: December 31st, 2014, 10:37 am
by samlan16
slytherin wrote:Just saying, there aren't ever 7 time slots at an event so (not to be rude or anything) but I'm pretty sure that's not true... Unless it's a prelim but that doesn't matter because your coach didn't really assign those to you..
1. Just saying, at Nationals DD has its own time slot, then there are 6 slots afterward... and people can double up on building events during one slot. (not to be rude or anything)
2. When I did 6 events in 8th grade, I was later selected for only 4 of them at Regionals, State, and Nationals. Like I said, doing >5 events is an experiment for the coaches to see if a competitor has more than 1 area of expertise, and if he or she does not, then they can pull the plug.
3. Invitationals (prelims) are good indicators of how well the team and other schools' teams will do that season as well as opportunities to get practice tests for future years. If your coach does not assign events at those... ouch.

Re: Simple Machines B/Compound Machines C

Posted: December 31st, 2014, 10:47 am
by slytherin
samlan16 wrote:
slytherin wrote:Just saying, there aren't ever 7 time slots at an event so (not to be rude or anything) but I'm pretty sure that's not true... Unless it's a prelim but that doesn't matter because your coach didn't really assign those to you..
1. Just saying, at Nationals DD has its own time slot, then there are 6 slots afterward... and people can double up on building events during one slot. (not to be rude or anything)
2. When I did 6 events in 8th grade, I was later selected for only 4 of them at Regionals, State, and Nationals. Like I said, doing >5 events is an experiment for the coaches to see if a competitor has more than 1 area of expertise, and if he or she does not, then they can pull the plug.
3. Invitationals (prelims) are good indicators of how well the team and other schools' teams will do that season as well as opportunities to get practice tests for future years. If your coach does not assign events at those... ouch.
Response to..
#1. As I only know of State and Regionals then sorry about that..
#2. My events given to me aren't a test, I've done all of them and placed 3rd or higher in all of them sooo... Don't think I'm an idiot ;) :twisted:
#3. Why would that be an ouch statement? Our teacher allows us to choose the events we would like to be a part of then cuts the team afterwards based on how well each person does.. Seeing the fact that out of around 60 people I was one of the 15 I happen to be very proud of myself..
Anyway, thanks for letting me know about #1. As for #s 2 and 3, do whatever you want to do man! [And anyone who's Indian (with the dot not the feather), I really hope you got that last part :D ]

Re: Simple Machines B/Compound Machines C

Posted: December 31st, 2014, 2:57 pm
by HeatherFeather
Something that was frustrating to me about the B event - the paper test and the physical 4 minute test are in the same room, so teams are just listening & watching the first teams up to get info on the ratios... it puts the first team up at a significant disadvantage, and turns the whole thing into a competition of who can cheat the best instead of who can get the ratios the fastest. Any chance of changing the test set-up for future competitions so that the 4 minute test is in a different room than the paper test?

Re: Simple Machines B/Compound Machines C

Posted: December 31st, 2014, 3:49 pm
by samlan16
HeatherFeather wrote:Something that was frustrating to me about the B event - the paper test and the physical 4 minute test are in the same room, so teams are just listening & watching the first teams up to get info on the ratios... it puts the first team up at a significant disadvantage, and turns the whole thing into a competition of who can cheat the best instead of who can get the ratios the fastest. Any chance of changing the test set-up for future competitions so that the 4 minute test is in a different room than the paper test?
That was probably either the proctor or the state director telling the proctors to do that, not the national office. But honestly, expect that to happen in any half build or half lab.

And about the cheating, you know that's when you should ask your coach to challenge, right?

Re: Simple Machines B/Compound Machines C

Posted: January 1st, 2015, 8:58 am
by chalker
HeatherFeather wrote:Something that was frustrating to me about the B event - the paper test and the physical 4 minute test are in the same room, so teams are just listening & watching the first teams up to get info on the ratios... it puts the first team up at a significant disadvantage, and turns the whole thing into a competition of who can cheat the best instead of who can get the ratios the fastest. Any chance of changing the test set-up for future competitions so that the 4 minute test is in a different room than the paper test?
Sometimes space is at a premium, meaning tournaments DON'T have extra rooms available or enough volunteers to staff them, etc. etc. When I've run events like this, I always setup the physical testing portion in the BACK of the room, making it that much harder for teams taking the test to 'cheat' by observing what's happening.

Re: Simple Machines B/Compound Machines C

Posted: January 3rd, 2015, 8:39 am
by HeatherFeather
I was told that this was how div B was always set-up, and that it was just part of the event :(... some of the teams had actually been training in expectation of it - planned for one person to be listening/watching, while the other was working on the written test :(.

We have a devise for this test that I think we will not bring to an invitational because we don't want anyone to copy it at regional... Can we contact event coordinators now with questions about upcoming competitions and how they will be set up?

Re: Simple Machines B/Compound Machines C

Posted: January 3rd, 2015, 10:02 am
by Unome
HeatherFeather wrote:I was told that this was how div B was always set-up, and that it was just part of the event :(... some of the teams had actually been training in expectation of it - planned for one person to be listening/watching, while the other was working on the written test :(.

We have a devise for this test that I think we will not bring to an invitational because we don't want anyone to copy it at regional... Can we contact event coordinators now with questions about upcoming competitions and how they will be set up?
Usually they'll give some information, but if it gives any team an unfair advantage (I think their's something in the General Rules about that) they probably won't say anything (and it's completely possible that the supervisor might not have even thought about the problem until someone brings it up or they encounter it in the competition).

Re: Simple Machines B/Compound Machines C

Posted: January 7th, 2015, 5:06 pm
by retired1
please help settle a disagreement-
Div B simple machines--
Find ratios!
Is this to be expressed as whole numbers, or fractions simplified or decimals??
Example- 40 cm on side 1 and 14.3 cm on side 2.

Re: Simple Machines B/Compound Machines C

Posted: January 7th, 2015, 5:31 pm
by Unome
retired1 wrote:please help settle a disagreement-
Div B simple machines--
Find ratios!
Is this to be expressed as whole numbers, or fractions simplified or decimals??
Example- 40 cm on side 1 and 14.3 cm on side 2.
Personally, this is another thing I always ask each individual supervisor . I think there was some discussion on this earlier in the thread.

Re: Simple Machines B/Compound Machines C

Posted: January 8th, 2015, 3:40 pm
by chalker
retired1 wrote:please help settle a disagreement-
Div B simple machines--
Find ratios!
Is this to be expressed as whole numbers, or fractions simplified or decimals??
Example- 40 cm on side 1 and 14.3 cm on side 2.
As always, this isn't the place for official comments / clarifications. We haven't posted a public FAQ about this, but I think at least one person asked it and the answer we gave was essentially that it's up to the individual event supervisor.