Bah! I missed that question on last year's test.  Congrats Sam on being the only 4A student to break 300.  I wish we were still in the same region (not really now that I think about it).  You've come a long way from your 170ish something last year at regionals and even farther from your double digits before that.  I thought this year's district was harder than previous years.  I went in expecting an easy 300, but failed.  Eh, my region is the lowest scoring in 4A in my opinion, so I should make it to state in 3 tests (NS, MA, CS).  I'm hoping to make it into top 3 number sense, but we'll see.  Did you qualify in any other tests?

Hey Vinay

Sam is right, the regional test will be alot harder than the district test, i remember last yr no one broke 300 in regionals and only a few broke 200. i agree with Sam about the strategy. Which is to slow down, read the problems carefully, and try to be as accurate as you can. Expect a long 1st pg, which may even take you 4 or 5 min, but i still think it is better to slow down. Don't worry about how far you get, instead, focus on how accurate you can be. Think about this: if you only get to problem 50, but you don't miss any, you get a 250, which i am sure is more than enough to get you to state. And i just check pretty much all the scores in ur region, i think 250 - 270 should be enough to get you to state (Lubbock has some good scores). Now, instead of analyzing those invitationals, i think it is better choice to analyze the two district tests.

good luck

quincy

Thanks, Michael.  Good luck on the triple crown (CS,NS,Math).  I'm going to miss our old region too.  I think the first time is always a little more special.  Anyways, hope to see you soon.

P.S. Orry Swift from Dayton (19-4A) got a 318 in case you hadn't heard. 

Ha, ya I said it would be tough, but definitly possible.  I REALLY hope the state level test features crazy hard questions, but that's near impossible with how the test is set up.  There's a one page list of all the topics that you have to know (about 20?), and each one can be quickly understood and mastered.  I enjoy tests at invitiationals (some of the harder Scroggs tests) that actually test you understanding of the implementation of Java, rather than mindless data recall.  If as many students did comp sci as math then they would have to make the tests harder because there would be dozens of people making perfect scores.  I HATE that!  I think I'll start practicing for the comp sci test, but there's not too much room to take down a perfect score!  I'm going to a programming contest with him this weekend at UNT. 

Side Note: If anyone here programs, you HAVE to do TCEA stuff.  It's extremely fun.  The problems are too easy and kind of random, but just like a UIL event they are under extreme time constraints so that's what sets people apart.  I enjoy USACO even more because you have to have a good understanding of standard algorithms and even more creativity to alter them.  It's applied creative math is all it is. 

Does anyone else think it would be a good idea to make a separate UIL event, possibly called Advanced Topics, that is something like a 20 question 2-hour test that requires high-level problem solving skills similar to the AIME?  UIL is great, but problem-solving higher level thinking tests are so much more interesting. 

Midlothian, eh? I think I've heard of you. I myself do comp sci, but this year I had some previous obligations in Social Studies to take care of, (much more work... sigh*) and so I am going to region in only NS and SS. I took the district 2 test for comp sci anyway and got a 186. I am probably the schools second best programmer, but I havent had the time to participate in anything other than UIL. I'm taking the Best of Texas CS tests and am currently in 3rd, behind Robby and some Waller kid. I guess its pretty good for a sophamore, especially one who taught himself Java in two weeks.

Are you competing in the O(CS)squared contest this saturday? If you are, you'll see Robby there. You cant miss him, he's the kid that resembles Jesus who is making up his own one man team. Good luck. He's pretty good.  

I havent taken any variation of the AIME since my glorious middle school days... I've looked into the contest, and I must say that it is very intriguing. I have never taken it... How do you sign up? Do you have to be nominated or do you just have to get your schools approval?   

With respect to the simplicity of the UIL CS tests I agree with you 100%. I took the state test from last year and I would have scored a 192, given that I did not choke at the contest. I'd say that the difficulty of the test mirrors the difficulty of the math test, the only difference is that the CS test goes by much faster. If it were longer, (like 60 questions in 55 minutes) I'd think that it would be a bit more challenging. 

Have you taken the hexco CS tests? They are a mockery of CS if you ask me. 40 useless programs performing meaningless tasks, with tedius overhead every other line of command. I took a hexco test in San Antonio a few months ago and it was very disappointing. I got through only 26 questions and got a 146. I fealt so bad after that test... Robby only got second at the meet. He was outscored by some guy from La Joya high school named Oscar. hahhaha! Oscar de la Joya!

Good luck to you at region man!

What is USACO? I've never heard of it.

Is there a contest from AMC for Juniors? I guess I missed the boat this year for the AMC 10, but I saw some of their previous tests, and they dont seem that hard at all. What kind of score would you need to advance in that competition?

Robby, if I may speak for him, has never done any onsite programming, but I understand that the process is relatively simple, so he should do well. He said that he looked at a practice test and he got all but one. As for the programming part, he was able to do all but one program in the allotted time, and I believe it was a calculator implementation. He plans to bring his C++ book to the contest because it has almost nothing but contest type implementations ripe for the stealing. By the way, he's only a sophamore (he wont be here next year though, he's going to TAMS).

The best of texas series tests make up a league in which you take the sums of the 5 tests the send your school in the mail, and the one with the greatest score obviously wins. They divide the state up by grade level and school size. I have looked everywhere on the internet for the source, but I have no idea who makes them (They are much like the scroggs tests, except not as accurate). Evidently they also make bio tests as well. I seriously dont know who makes them though.

And one last thing...

What are the UNT's? I havent heard of them either...  

USACO is the premier national high school programming contest which has a much different format than most contests.  It's generally 3 programs in 3-5 hours that stress algorithmic creativity rather than just a knowledge of your language and the ability to write bug-free code quickly.  You take it over the internet (generally just at your house).  Visit ace.delos.com/usacogate for training problems, or www.usaco.org for their website.  There's about 6 competitions throughout they year, one being the US Open.  The Open is on April 28th this year, so it may be too late for you or Robby to prepare if you have no previous algorithmic experience (working knowledge of Djkistra, Prim's, Kruskal's, Network Flow algorithms, Dynamic Programming, etc.).   

AMC 12 is for juniors and seniors.  It's actually the one that I took this year because I find it easier to make it in that test than the 10 (top 5% rather than top 1%).  If you're decent at UIL math you should be able to do the first 15.  It's +6 for a correct answer and +2.5 for a skipped question, so 15 right and 10 skipped would give you a 112.5, which was my score this year.  You need a 100+ to qualify for sure. 

Will Robby be programming in C++ this weekend?  I would, but my teammates only know Java, so I would feel bad using C++ and leaving them just sitting there for 2 hours.  I thought about going to TAMS, but I did a visiting weekend and wasn't too impressed, so I didn't.  I, too, would have gone with CS as my major focus, but TAMS seems to stress the physical sciences too much for my taste. 

Do you have a website for Best of Texas?

By the UNT test, I meant the test we'll be taking this weekend at UNT.  It's the UNT ACM programming contest.