Compute This B

[aim4me26]

Yes

Kay -- thanks for letting me know.

[smartypants01]

I know this is a little late but what did people think of the NY state Compute This test. The questions were INSANELY hard.

[jschrep20wba]

2012 was my 2nd year doing compute this. my friend and i picked it up in 2011 because other people dropped it and we figured were pretty good at computers. That year we had no idea what to expect, and practiced a lot. We got a satisfying 3rd at regionals. (Did not qualify for states). This year we felt like pros at this event and decided to not practice at all. We didn't look over anything or talk about the event until the day of regionals. In my opinion, we blew away the NorthEast PA regional, placing 1st and finishing everything and had checked everything with at least 15 minutes to go. We qualified for states, and we still were lazy and did not practice. At states we felt less confident but went into it ready to win. It was clearly more difficult than regionals, and we used all the time. But we did manage to get everything including the tiebreaker done successfully. My philosophy for this event is thus: the supervisor looked up this info to find it for the test. Therefore, you can find it. Think like the supervisor. We made school history being the first to place at states for our school. We placed a solid 2nd. HERSHEY MIDDLE SCHOOL YOU GOT LUCKY.
I STILL VOW THAT WE ARE THE BEST THERE HAS EVER BEEN AT THIS EVENT. EVEN THOUGH IM NO LONGER IN B DIVISION, I DARE ANYONE TO CHALLENGE US. (overly confident yes.)
All said and done this has always been my favorite event and IT IS THE BEST EVENT EVER. Have fun this year competitors. Ill be jealous

[jschrep20wba]

WAIT WHY DID THEY GET RID OF COMPUTE THIS?! THIS IS NOT OKAY. IT SHOULD BE AN EVERY YEAR EVENT.

[AlphaTauri]

We didn't look over anything or talk about the event until the day of regionals. In my opinion, we blew away the NorthEast PA regional, placing 1st and finishing everything and had checked everything with at least 15 minutes to go.

That sounds...shockingly like my study plan back when I did Compute This. >.>

HERSHEY MIDDLE SCHOOL YOU GOT LUCKY.
I STILL VOW THAT WE ARE THE BEST THERE HAS EVER BEEN AT THIS EVENT. EVEN THOUGH IM NO LONGER IN B DIVISION, I DARE ANYONE TO CHALLENGE US. (overly confident yes.)

As an alum of HMSSO, I would not call winning an event at States for the second time in four years "lucky".

Personally, having done Compute This for two years, I'm glad that it's not returning. I feel that it doesn't really test anything beyond basic computer skills, except perhaps the skill of lightning-fast google searching. In my opinion, it's one of those events where someone picking it up for the first time can do just as well as someone who has spent long hours practicing - my partner and I were able to walk out of the 2009 States test 15 minutes early and win, despite the fact that I had never done the event before (my partner had done it that year at Regionals, I think) and we had never practiced.

[Paleofreakazoid]

We didn't look over anything or talk about the event until the day of regionals. In my opinion, we blew away the NorthEast PA regional, placing 1st and finishing everything and had checked everything with at least 15 minutes to go.

That sounds...shockingly like my study plan back when I did Compute This. >.>

Yeah, can't say we did much studying when we did Compute This...usually ended up with me and my partner fighting over whose name would go first in the header...

[zyzzyva980]

I can say what I think is one of the best qualities of Compute This is that it's one of those events that allows clear separation between teams that know what they're doing and those that don't. I helped run this event last year at a tournament and I found that many of the teams simply didn't complete the entire test.

I also think that it's a great help for skills that students will begin using almost immediately, researching information online and working with word processors and spreadsheets. These skills may be basic to us, but some students might not have very much experience with them- and this is the downside: Once you get any sort of experience in this event you can begin to dominate. A good event should have at least some parity in it.

[jschrep20wba]

We didn't look over anything or talk about the event until the day of regionals. In my opinion, we blew away the NorthEast PA regional, placing 1st and finishing everything and had checked everything with at least 15 minutes to go.

That sounds...shockingly like my study plan back when I did Compute This. >.>

HERSHEY MIDDLE SCHOOL YOU GOT LUCKY.
I STILL VOW THAT WE ARE THE BEST THERE HAS EVER BEEN AT THIS EVENT. EVEN THOUGH IM NO LONGER IN B DIVISION, I DARE ANYONE TO CHALLENGE US. (overly confident yes.)

As an alum of HMSSO, I would not call winning an event at States for the second time in four years "lucky".

I was just kidding haha. i dont think getting 1st at the state level could be a fluke in any event

[jschrep20wba]

We didn't look over anything or talk about the event until the day of regionals. In my opinion, we blew away the NorthEast PA regional, placing 1st and finishing everything and had checked everything with at least 15 minutes to go.

That sounds...shockingly like my study plan back when I did Compute This. >.>

HERSHEY MIDDLE SCHOOL YOU GOT LUCKY.
I STILL VOW THAT WE ARE THE BEST THERE HAS EVER BEEN AT THIS EVENT. EVEN THOUGH IM NO LONGER IN B DIVISION, I DARE ANYONE TO CHALLENGE US. (overly confident yes.)

Personally, having done Compute This for two years, I'm glad that it's not returning. I feel that it doesn't really test anything beyond basic computer skills, except perhaps the skill of lightning-fast google searching. In my opinion, it's one of those events where someone picking it up for the first time can do just as well as someone who has spent long hours practicing - my partner and I were able to walk out of the 2009 States test 15 minutes early and win, despite the fact that I had never done the event before (my partner had done it that year at Regionals, I think) and we had never practiced.

Yeah ill agree with you that its not very complicated and it doesn't require much studying as long as you're familiar with excel and are decent at researching. And with todays society most people are pretty tech savvy. Truthfully, the ease with which i could do this event is primarily why i enjoyed it! No stress involved which can't really be said for most science olympiad events. However, over my years of SO, i have also enjoyed those events that require lots of thinking and studying. I always enjoy a good challenge. Sadly, i dont think ill be doing division C this year

On another note, I do think in the future they DO need to have a computing event. It's going to be a large part of the future. I think it has to be more complicated and in depth than compute this, but i fear there aren't many supervisors that will take the time to make a test like this.

[jschrep20wba]

We didn't look over anything or talk about the event until the day of regionals. In my opinion, we blew away the NorthEast PA regional, placing 1st and finishing everything and had checked everything with at least 15 minutes to go.

That sounds...shockingly like my study plan back when I did Compute This. >.>

Yeah, can't say we did much studying when we did Compute This...usually ended up with me and my partner fighting over whose name would go first in the header...

YES OMG HAHA. A general rule of thumb: put one person's first in the excel doc and the other's first in the word doc. Just something i learned in my compute this career