Invitational Hosting - question source

[wexs883198215]

So our school (Walter Johnson in Maryland) is working out the possibility of hosting an invitational in February this year. We have never done this before, and I was wondering where most invitationals get their questions. Is it always coaches of participating teams submitting tests? Are there situations where the host school writes the questions?

It seems if some question sets are housewritten, it would be a lot more convenient to mirror that question set somewhere for a fee. Distant teams could also co-write a tournament and each host it at their location with no overlap in field.

The reason I bring this up is that it would be troubling to not have enough submitted questions for events and therefore not be able to run all of the events.

[robotman]

For most invitationals in Texas each team that attends is required to Proctor at least 1 event so it makes it so that all the teams participate somewhat equally in the test proctoring and it also makes it so that more events can be covered

but even with this system the Host school normally proctors a portion of the events most of the time they are written by teachers with a strong background (high school mainly) and also the Middle school coached Do a ton in test writing
also if you have a local college/community college you may be able to solicite help from them

if you want some specific advice on the organization and such get in touch with Uncle Fester he normally helps with Invitational organization and can give you some tips if you ask him nicely

[binary010101]

We usually just divide the event load between the coaches of all of the schools that attend. If I remember correctly, at Regionals/States, the proctor for an event is required to write the test for it, it makes sense to have the system the same.

It seems if some question sets are housewritten, it would be a lot more convenient to mirror that question set somewhere for a fee. Distant teams could also co-write a tournament and each host it at their location with no overlap in field.

It would make sense to send packets to other teams if they were especially far away from the testing location, but, the integrity of the results would not be guaranteed, and there would be a noticeable delay in grading and handing out medals/ribbons.

[wexs883198215]

Thanks for the responses. I'm not sure if I understand why there would be a delay in medals or ribbons though. Also, I doubt teams try to cheat and share answers (blind faith in mankind?)

[binary010101]

If the tests are held in separate locations, it would be understandable that there would be a delay in grading and ranking the tests (since there are several sources of tests). Also, if the tests are held at separate locations, unless you distribute a full set of ribbons/medals to each location, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to award the medals on the same day the tests were held.

Am I correct in saying this?

[rockhound]

If the tests are held in separate locations, it would be understandable that there would be a delay in grading and ranking the tests (since there are several sources of tests). Also, if the tests are held at separate locations, unless you distribute a full set of ribbons/medals to each location, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to award the medals on the same day the tests were held.

Am I correct in saying this?

Or do you mean that you could sell your invitational test pack (like on soinc.org does) to teams that for whatever reason cannot attend the invitational? This would be a great idea since many teams from all over the country would want to get a set of tests using the current rules.

[rocketman1555]

Not really. Most invitationals give the tests to the teams that attend, and these often end up online, so it wouldn't be feasible to sell them. And not giving the tests back defeats the point of an invitational, because it makes it so the teams that attended couldn't study what they missed.

[wexs883198215]

What I was thinking of was holding two different invitationals at the same time at totally different locations on the same set of questions. This way, you wouldn't have to score against each other. This way, the questions wouldn't be online or anything like that.

[Flavorflav]

Not really. Most invitationals give the tests to the teams that attend, and these often end up online, so it wouldn't be feasible to sell them. And not giving the tests back defeats the point of an invitational, because it makes it so the teams that attended couldn't study what they missed.

I bet you could still sell them as a packet. If the price was right, people would buy them just to save the hassle of looking for them online. Also, I have not found the tests from most invitationals online.

[rockhound]

Not really. Most invitationals give the tests to the teams that attend, and these often end up online, so it wouldn't be feasible to sell them. And not giving the tests back defeats the point of an invitational, because it makes it so the teams that attended couldn't study what they missed.

I bet you could still sell them as a packet. If the price was right, people would buy them just to save the hassle of looking for them online. Also, I have not found the tests from most invitationals online.

Agreed. If they were good tests it would be worth it if they cost around the $16-$18 that the national test packet costs.

And as far as finding invitational tests online, from Ohio's 7 C-div invitationals last year I can only find the Mentor tests online. If anyone could tell me where to find any others (from any state) I would appreciate it.