Most Competitive Science Olympiad Event

[onshape]

Chem Lab ... we got last place at regionals from answering around 40% right at regionals (i think) (don't ask me how)

[onshape]

This thread feels one-ended now but I will not forget how our 90% correct (i think) ecology test yesterday got 14th place. That's my new vote.

[knightmoves]

This thread feels one-ended now but I will not forget how our 90% correct (i think) ecology test yesterday got 14th place. That's my new vote.

Oh dear. Your test was too easy.

This happens sometimes - I suspect it's when teachers who are new to science olympiad are event supervisors. If a teacher sets a class test, and most of the class gets 90%+, the teacher is happy. They've done a good job teaching the material, and the class has learned it. But a good SO test needs to be harder, to separate the scores across the board, but particularly at the top end.

I prefer it when the questions are more difficult, rather than more numerous. Some ES seem to like to set very long tests, and use "who can race through the most questions the fastest" as a separator. I'd rather have a shorter test with fiendish questions that is more a stretch of ability than speed.

[onshape]

And it gets worse. The team that shared a room with us came back from Ecology, saying "the only thing we didn't know was _____" (one single question near the end). They got 22nd in the event.

[knightmoves]

And it gets worse. The team that shared a room with us came back from Ecology, saying "the only thing we didn't know was _____" (one single question near the end). They got 22nd in the event.

...although your teammates might not be very good judges of what they actually knew. Back in Div B, I had a teammate who came back from a Solar System test after 15 minutes. "That was really easy. I knew everything, I checked it twice."

He got the scored test back, and got about 50%. As it turns out, many of the things he thought he "knew" were superficial and over-simplified.

If your teammates did actually place 22nd despite scoring N-1 marks, then I'd hate to be the person who has to tiebreak all the full-marks scoring tests...

[TheBananzas]

I think Codebusters is probably the most competitive because of how high of a skill cap there is. Like it's been an event for 7 years now (and it's possible for it to be permanent in the future) and still people are still getting better and better, all at similar paces.

[pumptato-cat]

I stand by my statement that there is no hardest event. It all depends on your competition. Codebusters at a regionals tournament in, say, Alaska, would not be as competitive as another event in California.