Hi um, I was one of the three writers of that test, and unfortunately, none of us were actually able to be there to proctor it. Now that I think about it, I realize we forgot to tell the person who was proctoring it (who was doing so for the first time ever) to make those density solutions. That's our fault, and we thoroughly apologize for it.c21k wrote:Wow, what a way to start! Props to your partner for surviving it and living to tell the tale For the division of material, my partner and I split the qualitative analysis. Then we assign other material based on our strengths. The leftovers we both study so that whoever finishes their section of the test can just do those parts. I also find that allotting time for specific areas of the test can be helpful for pacing purposes.olhs4n6 wrote:LostInTheSauce wrote:
Guessing you went to the Solon Invitational?
The Solon Invitational forensics was absolutely insane. My partner's first time doing it, so I had her literally just read and make lists of the suspects/what would implicate them. That alone took her 10 minutes (but she did find a bonus at the end of the instructions). We were lost at what to do with the plastics so I just put them in water and guessed from there... yikes... At least we got the person right. Any tips for how to divide/conquer better at regionals?
As for tackling the test, that test is actually a baby version of the one that my co-ES at MIT and I wrote for the 2019 MIT Invite (he was also one of the other two writers), and I'll say that the way you split is entirely dependent on what you and your partner each are comfortable with. For example, if someone can do powders really well and can't do polymers while the other person can do polymers really well yet can't do powders very well, then you can obviously definitely split that way. Or if one person is super comfortable with both parts of ID while one person doesn't, then you can have that person do all ID's and then the other person focuses solely on the crime/free response. Again, I can't comment on any one pair's synergy, so that's up to you to decide. But total trust in your partner is a must - if you want to finish the test, you absolutely will not have time to check over your partner's work, and you have to trust that they knew what they were doing. Some things for sure are that I would advise starting the chromatography right when the time starts and leaving ~20mins solely for the crime analysis, and at that time, your partner can either finish the rest of the ID's and/or tackle the free response and not start cleanup until 5 mins before time. That's how I would ideally approach it, but it does take quite a bit of skill to pull it off.
If this says anything, a couple lucky competitors got to start their forensics careers with my other partial brainchild in the 2019 MIT Forensics test...