Captains' Summer Exchange

The Captains' Summer Exchange (CSE) is a test exchange founded by Adi1008, birdylayaduck08, and SOnerd during the summer before the 2017-2018 competition season. Captains from schools submit two tests for different events during the summer (usually starting in mid-June) that undergo an approval/revision process, similar to those of SSSS and Captains Tryouts. In exchange for writing two tests, the school receives access to the folder of all approved tests. After the new year, tests from CSE are generally shared publicly.

CSE is announced through the SciOly Captains Facebook group for the coming competition season by a captain from one of the schools who runs it and requires the use of a team email (e.g. slhs.scioly@gmail.com) to participate to prevent team members who are not captains from participating. Participating schools sign up to write tests on a spreadsheet on a first-come-first-serve basis. CSE does not include any events that do not involve a test, such as Electric Vehicle, Boomilever, and Mission Possible or events that are largely "prompt-based", such as Experimental Design, Game On, and Write It Do It. Currently, CSE only covers events in Division C, although captains from Division B teams are allowed to write tests that are Division C-level.

The first iteration of CSE was run by captains from Seven Lakes High School and Blue Valley North High School and had 66 tests submitted from 33 schools across 15 states. Since then, CSE has grown rapidly, now being run by captains from Seven Lakes High School, Mason High School, Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, and New Trier High School and involves over 50 schools.

=Purpose= Although similar to SSSS and Captains Tryouts in theory, this exchange is not meant to replace either of them. Although SSSS takes place during the summer, anyone can submit tests or notes, making its tests unsuitable for tryouts. Likewise, while Captains Tryouts restricts participation to only verified captains, it takes place too late for many teams' early tryouts. CSE aims to fill a niche for an exchange that can provide tryout-grade tests during the summer for captains to use.