New York 2021

[vye904]

I'm reading through all of these posts post-B-regs and just getting more stressed.
Does Adobe Reader work as well on iPads as on computers? I think I've told my team dozens of different things on what's allowed between a month ago and now...

I have tested this to provide guidance to teams in our region, and found that "Adobe Acrobat Reader" on Android and iOS works. It allows the PDF to be fillable and maintains the summation functionality. You do NOT want the "Adobe Fill & Sign" app though - that will break the fillable portions.

I've been able to figure out the following:

• Windows/Mac/Linux - can use Adobe Reader. Foxit also seems to work and maintain summation feature. Broswer or OS preview modes typically seem to break the summations at minimum.
• Android/iOS - can use Adobe Acrobat Reader app.
• Chromebooks/ChromeOS - SOL, there seems to be no app that allows the PDF to stay fillable and preserve the summations.

[Unome]

I'm reading through all of these posts post-B-regs and just getting more stressed.
Does Adobe Reader work as well on iPads as on computers? I think I've told my team dozens of different things on what's allowed between a month ago and now...

I have tested this to provide guidance to teams in our region, and found that "Adobe Acrobat Reader" on Android and iOS works. It allows the PDF to be fillable and maintains the summation functionality. You do NOT want the "Adobe Fill & Sign" app though - that will break the fillable portions.

I've been able to figure out the following:

• Windows/Mac/Linux - can use Adobe Reader. Foxit also seems to work and maintain summation feature. Broswer or OS preview modes typically seem to break the summations at minimum.
• Android/iOS - can use Adobe Acrobat Reader app.
• Chromebooks/ChromeOS - SOL, there seems to be no app that allows the PDF to stay fillable and preserve the summations.

It's always Chromebooks, huh? They're barely any more a PC that a tablet it seems...

[thegroundsloth]

My not particularly helpful review of STAR:
- extremely inefficient, we had to refresh the dropbox login SO MANY TIMES just so we could access the tests
- Confusing, You can get dqed for the most random things ahhhh
- stressful, every time something goes wrong you must first mail your coach who then emails the nyso ppl, who must then respond, and even then you have probably bee dqed .....
- test quality : meh, would have been more fun to complete with stations, but none of my events (ornithology and fossils) were that bad.
In summary, I am not a fan of the STAR system and find it unfortunate as it is damaging to overall team participation and puts smaller teams at a disadvantage. Even though competing online is hard in general, I have never had this many technical issuese with scilympiad and am disappointed that there wasn't a better solution to the problems with privacy.

[Blesson]

Are there any particular reasons why NYSSO can't just switch to Scilympiad and modify things so no privacy laws are broken? It seems that from most if not all competitors' experiences, Scilympiad is better in almost every aspect, from having less technical issues, being easier to collaborate on, less confusing DQ rules, better cheating detection, and the list goes on. I'm hopeful that NYSSO will switch to Scilympiad for states, but it doesn't seem likely that they will.

[caitlinwithaC]

Are there any particular reasons why NYSSO can't just switch to Scilympiad and modify things so no privacy laws are broken? It seems that from most if not all competitors' experiences, Scilympiad is better in almost every aspect, from having less technical issues, being easier to collaborate on, less confusing DQ rules, better cheating detection, and the list goes on. I'm hopeful that NYSSO will switch to Scilympiad for states, but it doesn't seem likely that they will.

At this point, I think they're too far into the rabbit hole to back down now. Moving to Scilympiad would require having dozens of coaches ESs and test writers learn new administration techniques on a new platform, and that doesn't feel as achievable as it would have been if NY went with Scilympiad from the start (especially given that states is not that far away). I suppose there's something to be said for sticking with the decision, as terrible as it may be.

One of the primary issues with STAR - accessing the tests/keys - might be magnified come states-time; the average time it took to access the tests on Dropbox (at least for my team) was about 7-10 minutes, and that was for a region with 40 teams and therefore about 60-80 people (more for Codebusters, obviously) signing in to any given event directly after the password was released. For states, there'll probably be closer to 55 or 60 teams, and possibly upwards of 100 people trying to sign into an event at the time of the password release (assuming there aren't no-shows). I could see delays in accessing the tests run closer to 20-30 minutes if something isn't done to mitigate that.

I'm bad at writing summaries, so I'll just end this with a preemptive best of luck to everyone waiting for results and best of luck to those who make it to states!

[Blesson]

Are there any particular reasons why NYSSO can't just switch to Scilympiad and modify things so no privacy laws are broken? It seems that from most if not all competitors' experiences, Scilympiad is better in almost every aspect, from having less technical issues, being easier to collaborate on, less confusing DQ rules, better cheating detection, and the list goes on. I'm hopeful that NYSSO will switch to Scilympiad for states, but it doesn't seem likely that they will.

One of the primary issues with STAR - accessing the tests/keys - might be magnified come states-time; the average time it took to access the tests on Dropbox (at least for my team) was about 7-10 minutes, and that was for a region with 40 teams and therefore about 60-80 people (more for Codebusters, obviously) signing in to any given event directly after the password was released. For states, there'll probably be closer to 55 or 60 teams, and possibly upwards of 100 people trying to sign into an event at the time of the password release (assuming there aren't no-shows). I could see delays in accessing the tests run closer to 20-30 minutes if something isn't done to mitigate that.

Actually, I think the regional Dropboxes and tests were the same for every region, so every team in New York regardless of their region were trying to access the tests at the same time. Hopefully this means that if STAR system were to be used at states, the delay to access the tests wouldn't be as long or wouldn't exist?

[vye904]

Thoughts on teams meeting up to compete vs competing from home? There are pros and cons to both options, and I wanted to hear some other opinions. Doing a team meet-up definitely allows for more communication between both partners and coaches. It also ensures team members are submitting correctly. However, it also means slower school wifi, no monitors, and people who use computers can't bring their device to school.

[knightmoves]

Thoughts on teams meeting up to compete vs competing from home? There are pros and cons to both options, and I wanted to hear some other opinions. Doing a team meet-up definitely allows for more communication between both partners and coaches. It also ensures team members are submitting correctly. However, it also means slower school wifi, no monitors, and people who use computers can't bring their device to school.

I'm not sure having some partners in the same room and some yelling at each other over zoom makes for a particularly fair competition.

[Name]

I'm not sure having some partners in the same room and some yelling at each other over zoom makes for a particularly fair competition.

It'll still happen.

[Blesson]

Thoughts on teams meeting up to compete vs competing from home? There are pros and cons to both options, and I wanted to hear some other opinions. Doing a team meet-up definitely allows for more communication between both partners and coaches. It also ensures team members are submitting correctly. However, it also means slower school wifi, no monitors, and people who use computers can't bring their device to school.

Personally, I don't think there's a contest. Being able to communicate directly and more efficiently trumps all, and the negative sides of meeting at school can either be solved through other methods or are in comparison negligible. Slow internet generally shouldn't cause significantly worse test scores, and for us we used the school computers to take the tests. Especially this year using the STAR system, communication and efficiency are key, and I feel that meeting in person provide significant advantages in both these aspects.