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Hey just a quick question about the schedule: http://www.scienceolympiad2015.com/schedule_master.html. Based on past national tournaments the tentative schedule was indeed the final schedule, but we were wondering if any changes were planning to be made to this schedule?

When we were assigning events to our team, we noticed how the event slots seemed to have been arranged- with the building events "Walk In" and Disease Detectives during impound, it seems the rest of the events were assigned in numeric order downwards. In Session 1, Anatomy has teams 1-10, Astronomy has teams 11-20, Cell Biology has teams 21-30, etc. After Dynamic Planet with teams 51-60, then the next event Entomology has teams 1-10. Then for each event, the team numbers rotate each session. For example, for Anatomy, teams 1-10 go Session 1, teams 11-20 go Session 2 etc.

So each team ends up having the same events conflicting, but the event conflicts seem based primarily on their alphabetical order. For example if there was just one more event in between Forensics and TPS, then they wouldn't end up conflicting even though they are very similar. Looking at past tournament schedules, it seems the schedule didn't have this kind of pattern, as if the organizers specifically avoided certain conflicts.

Are changes planning to be made to this schedule? Thanks!

magicalforest wrote:Hey just a quick question about the schedule: http://www.scienceolympiad2015.com/schedule_master.html. Based on past national tournaments the tentative schedule was indeed the final schedule, but we were wondering if any changes were planning to be made to this schedule?

When we were assigning events to our team, we noticed how the event slots seemed to have been arranged- with the building events "Walk In" and Disease Detectives during impound, it seems the rest of the events were assigned in numeric order downwards. In Session 1, Anatomy has teams 1-10, Astronomy has teams 11-20, Cell Biology has teams 21-30, etc. After Dynamic Planet with teams 51-60, then the next event Entomology has teams 1-10. Then for each event, the team numbers rotate each session. For example, for Anatomy, teams 1-10 go Session 1, teams 11-20 go Session 2 etc.

So each team ends up having the same events conflicting, but the event conflicts seem based primarily on their alphabetical order. For example if there was just one more event in between Forensics and TPS, then they wouldn't end up conflicting even though they are very similar. Looking at past tournament schedules, it seems the schedule didn't have this kind of pattern, as if the organizers specifically avoided certain conflicts.

Are changes planning to be made to this schedule? Thanks!

It's impossible for us to avoid all potential 'conflicts'. It's very unlikely any changes will be made to the schedule at this point.

Is there a specific reason as to why the Division B and Division C award ceremonies at nationals are held at different times, other than carrying capacity limitations?

yterber wrote:Is there a specific reason as to why the Division B and Division C award ceremonies at nationals are held at different times, other than carrying capacity limitations?

IDK the reason, but that is sooooo nice. Having to sit through all of the other division's awards (while being fun to see their excitement) is a little boring, and having the opportunity to have a long dinner with your team before or after (depending on division) would be very nice.

yterber wrote:Is there a specific reason as to why the Division B and Division C award ceremonies at nationals are held at different times, other than carrying capacity limitations?

I'd assume it's just due to space limitations, but I can't verify that there's not some other reason.

fozendog wrote:IDK the reason, but that is sooooo nice. Having to sit through all of the other division's awards (while being fun to see their excitement) is a little boring, and having the opportunity to have a long dinner with your team before or after (depending on division) would be very nice.

I disagree, I would much rather sit through an awards ceremony for both divisions. I watched (or rather listened) to the New York Division C awards ceremony (it was the first time I've been through an awards ceremony for a single division btw) and the thing felt like it was over extremely quickly (well, that is if you don't include the stalling; the actual awards felt very rapid).

I'm not going to sit and complain that everything has to be perfect, but the division B awards ceremony is scheduled to end at 7:15. The idea of leaving a nationals award ceremony while it is still light outside seems very strange...

I'd like to sit through both divisions; I think it's fun trying to predict who the top teams are based off the medals

Same for all of us streamers! Although, at least this way we might have a gap to discuss the results from one division and get a little break before moving on to the next.

I like the ceremonies but they don't seem to go quickly to me. I'm trying to find a way to see if I can watch the division C NY awards ceremony cause it was apparently available streamed. I asked in the NY site already. If you watch from your living room the length isn't an issue. But if you are sitting on the bleachers it can be tough to watch the ceremonies that include Division B and C.

Crazy Puny Man wrote:I'd like to sit through both divisions; I think it's fun trying to predict who the top teams are based off the medals

Same; I've almost never felt that an awards ceremony was too long (last year's state was the exception, but that was intentionally drawn out by well over half an hour).

Unome wrote:

Crazy Puny Man wrote:I'd like to sit through both divisions; I think it's fun trying to predict who the top teams are based off the medals

Same; I've almost never felt that an awards ceremony was too long (last year's state was the exception, but that was intentionally drawn out by well over half an hour).

Last year's state awards XD...

Also, I did not hear about how they split up the awards. When I went, I was okay with sitting through C Division awards, but I guess capacity restrictions come first.

For the fun of it, I just read through the opening and awards ceremony stuff... wow, I do not recall any national tournament being that strict: "If you bring inflatable swaps, you will be disqualified. If you do not wear state- relevant attire for the Parade of States, you will be disqualified. If you do not wear business casual to the awards ceremony, you will be disqualified." Seriously, cut them a break!

And then from the FAQ:
"Can we cook in the dorms?" (I'm sure this means microwaving stuff) NO!
"Can we get into homerooms on Friday?" NO!