Florida 2019

[pgonscioly]

Thermodynamics(4): Again the test wasn't well written... It didn't test enough thermodynamics to distinguish the teams properly. I think placement depended a lot on the prediction of the temperature more than how well you knew thermo. I wish the test was more similar to the regional of UFSO (was the author changed?). However, everything else was ran well. Especially temperature recording. Better than MIT I would say. (7/10)

The thermo supervisors at states were different from the ones at the UF Regional. They modeled the temperature recording off of the North Carolina SO organizations videos - I'm glad that went well, the device testing part for thermo is quite seldomly done right.

Thermodynamics test were short and very easy. On side note Thermodynamics B test was more challenging than C.

There were some irregularities in thermodynamics events. Measuring stating temperature, dispensing hot water and handing over cotton ball. I understand rules are not clear for cotton ball but event supervisor should not take that as their defense. They also replaced some helper after first two slots and that made 3rd slot onward different than first two slots.

I know there was lot of discussion about quality of tests after FAU regionals on this forums and quality of some of tests in state was worse than FAU regionals

[demir]

Thermodynamics test were short and very easy. On side note Thermodynamics B test was more challenging than C.

There were some irregularities in thermodynamics events. Measuring stating temperature, dispensing hot water and handing over cotton ball. I understand rules are not clear for cotton ball but event supervisor should not take that as their defense. They also replaced some helper after first two slots and that made 3rd slot onward different than first two slots.

I know there was lot of discussion about quality of tests after FAU regionals on this forums and quality of some of tests in state was worse than FAU regionals

How do you compare Division B test to Division C again? You should get to see only one of them. As a coach, I am glad I did not hear anything being reused, "these were last year's rules", "they asked outer planets", "the test was trash" . I did hear "the test was super easy" which always scares me to death.

Overall, this was a very good tournament, but nothing is ever perfect. There was that one rude, and uncooperative building supervisor, who kept making his own rules and messing up everybody but in his defense he was consistently rude and uncooperative to everyone. No naming names, if you were in the event, you know. Most others seemed quite nice to me.

[Killboe]

Thermodynamics test were short and very easy. On side note Thermodynamics B test was more challenging than C.

There were some irregularities in thermodynamics events. Measuring stating temperature, dispensing hot water and handing over cotton ball. I understand rules are not clear for cotton ball but event supervisor should not take that as their defense. They also replaced some helper after first two slots and that made 3rd slot onward different than first two slots.

I know there was lot of discussion about quality of tests after FAU regionals on this forums and quality of some of tests in state was worse than FAU regionals

How do you compare Division B test to Division C again? You should get to see only one of them. As a coach, I am glad I did not hear anything being reused, "these were last year's rules", "they asked outer planets", "the test was trash" . I did hear "the test was super easy" which always scares me to death.

Overall, this was a very good tournament, but nothing is ever perfect. There was that one rude, and uncooperative building supervisor, who kept making his own rules and messing up everybody but in his defense he was consistently rude and uncooperative to everyone. No naming names, if you were in the event, you know. Most others seemed quite nice to me.

Well, I have partners in Div C (R.I.P To RCSA Rats). They said that the test was really easy, that they only had to use the calculators once. I believe it was almost exactly the same as Div B's, maybe the test creator thought Div C was a lower level than Div B? But it was a pretty poorly written test, the proctor was pretty bad as well. Hopefully it will be better next year. Also, results got changed and River City is now second place.

[pepperonipi]

Well, I have partners in Div C (R.I.P To RCSA Rats). They said that the test was really easy, that they only had to use the calculators once.

The Thermodynamics Division C test was definitely on the easier side - no doubt about that, and yes, we didn't necessarily need to use our calculators much for the exam, from what I can remember. That being said, the test wasn't something every team could blow through, as there were some harder questions towards the end of it.

But it was a pretty poorly written test, the proctor was pretty bad as well.

I can't say much for Division B, but the proctors for Division C were actually quite nice, I thought. They were actively trying to run the event and didn't appear to try and start any problems. I heard there may have been some problems with them earlier in the day, though.

[huppada]

Also, results got changed and River City is now second place.

Yes, I'm sure everyone is aware, you told us that the first time Congrats, nonetheless!


Anyways, back to event reviews

Anatomy & Physiology: I think the test was a good state-level test, not too easy but also not insanely difficult. For the past few years, I feel like the event supervisors had gotten lazier and lazier (one year, the test was copied from a set of multiple choice questions easily found online). I loved that this year we were able to see actual stations again. I really liked how the stations had us examining various vials and labeling fresh organs; it brought me back to how it was about 4 years ago. I personally wasn't able to get to all the 7 stations while finishing the written portion in the given time, but I feel like majority of the teams dealt with the same thing. Nonetheless, I believed this was a very well run event.

Disease Detectives: When I first received the packet, I thought to myself that this was literally the shortest DD test ever. It was literally about 6 pages long, all of them being FRQs. In my opinion, I felt like this was a regional-level test; it was easier than I expected. I also believe that this was the reason that all the schools placing in the top 10 were about 1 point away from each other. I would've been fine if this test was given to Division B, but I don't think it was competitive enough for a Division C state test.

Protein Modeling: I am in charge of building the on-site on my team, so I guess I can only review that portion of the test. The on-site was way harder than I expected, even harder than MIT's. I think this is a good thing, since it distinguishes the teams who know what they are doing from those who don't. My partners also told me that the test portion of the event was well-written, which I'm grateful for. Overall, this event was run pretty well (except for the little change in the scores that had to happen afterwards, but eh, that's ok).

Overall as a state tournament, I am a little disappointed in half of the event supervisors, to be honest. Many of my teammates came up to me afterwards saying that some of the tests were waaaaay to easy, which is never a good thing. As everyone knows, easy tests are not a proper indicator of which team are good and deserve a medal in that event. It's sad to see that some people in Florida still hasn't come out of that shell. On the bright side, I really appreciate how much the UFSO has done for us, personally at my regional tournament and generally at states. I'm glad there were at least some actual state caliber tests last Saturday.

[Killboe]

Also, results got changed and River City is now second place.

Yes, I'm sure everyone is aware, you told us that the first time Congrats, nonetheless!


Anyways, back to event reviews

Anatomy & Physiology: I think the test was a good state-level test, not too easy but also not insanely difficult. For the past few years, I feel like the event supervisors had gotten lazier and lazier (one year, the test was copied from a set of multiple choice questions easily found online). I loved that this year we were able to see actual stations again. I really liked how the stations had us examining various vials and labeling fresh organs; it brought me back to how it was about 4 years ago. I personally wasn't able to get to all the 7 stations while finishing the written portion in the given time, but I feel like majority of the teams dealt with the same thing. Nonetheless, I believed this was a very well run event.

Disease Detectives: When I first received the packet, I thought to myself that this was literally the shortest DD test ever. It was literally about 6 pages long, all of them being FRQs. In my opinion, I felt like this was a regional-level test; it was easier than I expected. I also believe that this was the reason that all the schools placing in the top 10 were about 1 point away from each other. I would've been fine if this test was given to Division B, but I don't think it was competitive enough for a Division C state test.

Protein Modeling: I am in charge of building the on-site on my team, so I guess I can only review that portion of the test. The on-site was way harder than I expected, even harder than MIT's. I think this is a good thing, since it distinguishes the teams who know what they are doing from those who don't. My partners also told me that the test portion of the event was well-written, which I'm grateful for. Overall, this event was run pretty well (except for the little change in the scores that had to happen afterwards, but eh, that's ok).

Overall as a state tournament, I am a little disappointed in half of the event supervisors, to be honest. Many of my teammates came up to me afterwards saying that some of the tests were waaaaay to easy, which is never a good thing. As everyone knows, easy tests are not a proper indicator of which team are good and deserve a medal in that event. It's sad to see that some people in Florida still hasn't come out of that shell. On the bright side, I really appreciate how much the UFSO has done for us, personally at my regional tournament and generally at states. I'm glad there were at least some actual state caliber tests last Saturday.

Just had to say it since the results got changed. (AGAIN for the 3rd time)

[huppada]

Has UFSO posted their test papers and answer keys yet? If so, can someone drop the link please?

[windu34]

Has UFSO posted their test papers and answer keys yet? If so, can someone drop the link please?

Link
Not everything is up yet - we are working on it. Note that none of the exams went through any sort of revisions process - Florida State does not currently do that.
It is our hope that UFSO will be able to host states at UF next year and the tournament will be under the direction of UFSO Eboard. We are currently already communicating with UF administration to determine if this will be something we can move forward with (the scale of the tournament is much larger than our regional and we have some administrative red tape to navigate before committing to anything).

[jaah5211]

Link
Not everything is up yet - we are working on it. Note that none of the exams went through any sort of revisions process - Florida State does not currently do that.
It is our hope that UFSO will be able to host states at UF next year and the tournament will be under the direction of UFSO Eboard. We are currently already communicating with UF administration to determine if this will be something we can move forward with (the scale of the tournament is much larger than our regional and we have some administrative red tape to navigate before committing to anything).

It would be great if the state tournament is hosted at UFSO. I really appreciated their efforts and how well they ran the events!

[huppada]

Has UFSO posted their test papers and answer keys yet? If so, can someone drop the link please?

Link
Not everything is up yet - we are working on it. Note that none of the exams went through any sort of revisions process - Florida State does not currently do that.
It is our hope that UFSO will be able to host states at UF next year and the tournament will be under the direction of UFSO Eboard. We are currently already communicating with UF administration to determine if this will be something we can move forward with (the scale of the tournament is much larger than our regional and we have some administrative red tape to navigate before committing to anything).

You guys ran Protein Modeling right? I didn't see it anywhere on the site...