Pentathlon B

[EastStroudsburg13]

They don't need to study that much, they just need to have been exposed to a lot of science, so it makes sense to put mostly or all 8th and 9th graders on a potential Pentathlon team.

[amerikestrel]

Last year, I did the pentathlon, and my question was "What process formed the Grand Canyon?" Answer: erosion. My friend got "What killed the dinosaurs". No joke. We got second at regionals, not first because of a stupid puzzle.

[waawamellon]

last year, I got "what kind of energy does a toaster use?" and I got it first try: heat energy in
also, the hardest part for us was doing the puzzle at the end. it was a lion king puzzle 100 peice. the hard part was realizing there was TWO lions in the picture!!!!!

[amerikestrel]

And 8th grade, depending on what your school happens to teach in those grades. Maybe even 6th grade for some, it could prove useful.

My 6th grade science class was awful, pointless, and really easy. I got 100% on a pretest.

So, it seems like this event is more about putting the right people in it than it is about studying.

[AlphaTauri]

Ah, Pentathlon. Fun to watch, even funnier to record and play back in front of the whole school.

So, it seems like this event is more about putting the right people in it than it is about studying.

Personally, I think it has a large amount of luck involved, with picking the right people and those people picking the right questions. But I would definintely say it's more about picking the competitors than studying. (And then there's my school, which just puts 4 people who have a common event slot open on Pentathlon the week before the competition.)

[zyzzyva980]

last year, I got "what kind of energy does a toaster use?" and I got it first try: heat energy in
also, the hardest part for us was doing the puzzle at the end. it was a lion king puzzle 100 peice. the hard part was realizing there was TWO lions in the picture!!!!!

You must have been at the same practice competition I was at. Was that Platte City? Anyway, things I've seen on previous competitions that are really big are the pH scale, atomic symbols (esp. the ones like Mercury and Iron with no correlation b/w symbol and element at first glance) and anatomy of the heart. I think I've gotten those last two at least twice.

[SMS SO Rules]

how are u supposed to practice for this event?

The way our team practices for Pent is have the teachers come up with random science related questions and then have us do an obstacle course like thing .

The hardest thing I've ever done for pent was a team challenge where 3 people had mirrors and one had a laser pointer. We couldn't move from a taped on square on the floor. We couldn't do it nor could any other team at the invite, so we did a tie breaker and took 2nd place!!

[nn302]

Does anyone have any experiences from competition?

[49ers]

I really wish the event had been changed to Egg Drop but oh well....
anyways i really would do this event just because i did well last year(OK overall we got 30th but we failed the team part)

[zyzzyva980]

Does anyone have any experiences from competition?

If you're trying to get information about what could be involved, here's your answer: it could be anything. We've done puzzles, jump rope, archery- if you can fit it one room it might come up in pentathlon. Even, apparently, lasers:

The hardest thing I've ever done for pent was a team challenge where 3 people had mirrors and one had a laser pointer. We couldn't move from a taped on square on the floor. We couldn't do it nor could any other team at the invite, so we did a tie breaker and took 2nd place!!

If you're just looking for a good story, let me say that my team choked at "Operation" (the team challenge at last year's KS state) and our coach is making us play it to get ready for this year.