Fossils B/C

[Cheesy Pie]

Like what?

[gneissisnice]

With fossils its always stations

Everyone keeps saying that, but it's not necessarily true. At the Wayzata invitational here, fossils was a solid test - no stations, no specimens, just a PowerPoint that cycled through pictures. It was a decent test, but from what I gather, a little unusual.
Please do keep in mind that Fossils isn't always stations, though. As in every test for every study event, it depends on the test writer.

But most state writers have the access to samples and specimens, and at higher levels, they are usually station tests. The powerpoint format sounds nice - it was that way for ornithology at regionals for us, but it got hard because the slides were between 15-45 seconds. And picture quality could be poor. To me, nothing beats a good real fossil.

It turns out my school has a fossil collection . I was helping a teacher clean the geology and astronomy closet (which is the size of a classroom) and there were so many specimens and rocks and minerals in there.

You can't exactly get many real specimens for birds, reptiles, or bugs (trees is generally easier, and you might see some real bugs sometimes), so powerpoints and pictures are generally the best you can do. Whereas fossils are significantly easier to get, are generally much smaller, and you don't have to worry about preserving them because they're made out of rock (as opposed to keeping a dead bird in formaldehyde, which would be kinda nasty, or a live bird in a cage, which is much trickier to set up for an event).

[paleonaps]

The nationals test for Birds in both divisions had specimens.

[Cheesy Pie]

Ahem ornithology?

[mingtian]

The nationals test for Birds in both divisions had specimens.

I mean, my states test was all bird specimens. Not that hard to get. There was even a red tailed hawk.

[paleonaps]

Apparently the B test had amazing specimens, but the C test...shiver. Terrible specimens.

[Kokonilly]

Apparently the B test had amazing specimens, but the C test...shiver. Terrible specimens.

Actually, I though the fossil specimens were pretty good...

EDIT: Oh, ornithology. >.<

[Cheesy Pie]

Tell me about it.

[anatomy]

All the competitions that i have competed in for fossils had amazing fossil specimens
i prefer specimens because then you can easily analyze them, and it makes it easier for you to identify the specimen.

[Cheesy Pie]

Yeah and pictures aren't always accurate.