Yeah, I was thoroughly impressed by the test; however, I was surprised that tsunamis, breaking ocean waves, and sound (besides the Doppler effect) were left out. I actually also agree that a station format is a very good way to separate top teams and show who had prepared for those types of questions, as the stress factor led me to forget to do the last step in my calculations at the seismic stations (however I was able to find what I thought to be the magnitude later on).sciolycoach wrote:First of all, thank you to all of you who competed in Crave the Wave this past weekend in Nebraska. I thoroughly enjoyed preparing, proctoring, and scoring the event and was very encouraged by the score distribution. Here are some GENERAL statistics (no information about specific teams will be released or provided by me, and you can get a copy of the test and key next fall on the test CD available for purchase from the national office)
The test was set up in 12 + 1 stations (one was done with all groups before the station work began). Students were given 4 minutes per station, which cut everything pretty close. There were a total of 159 points possible on the test. The stations included lab practical activities, other hands-on activities, conceptual questions, mathematics applications questions, and other application questions. I tried to make the test challenging but fair, and I was very pleased with the score distribution.
The high score was a 127.
The mean score was an 83.
The median score was a 90.
25% of the teams scored at least a 99
75% of the teams scored at least a 59
All of the teams scored at least a 25
The most difficult stations (by far) were the two earthquake stations; I suspect the students did not have enough time for those two stations, and while I suspected that may occur going in, I wanted to separate the teams. The top teams were able to plow through those stations, while others left them blank.
I am providing these statistics out of the "goodness of my heart" and I would NOT expect statistics like these from any other event supervisors. As a former SO student myself (but one who never was on a national-qualifying team) and a current coach (again, team has never qualified for nationals) I can understand the curiosity that many of you who competed may have, but I cannot release any more information.
I was particularly impressed with the very high level of sportsmanship I saw all day, including students loaning writing tools, being friendly to myself and others, and kids genuinely trying their best. You all should be very proud of your performance on Saturday, regardless of how the results ended up.
Again, it was my honor supervising this event and, as always, you student competitors surpassed my expectations and did quite well. Congratulations to all students on another very successful season! I hope everyone had fun and had a great experience, and I look forward to the opportunities and challenges that 2015-2016 will bring!
Andy Hamm
Crave the Wave 2015 National Event Supervisor
I'll probably make a public practice test myself next year, as I won't be competing.