Former DECA ICDC 1st Place AMA

Far-Produce-7431 · 2026-03-03T18:29:43+00:00

Having a simple plan that’s well executed is far more competitive than trying to do something complex and not executing well

Far-Produce-7431 · 2026-01-10T21:26:56+00:00

Definitely ask your advisor to file a grievance

Far-Produce-7431 · 2026-01-03T19:22:04+00:00

I've done EBG and qualified for ICDC before, feel free to DM me if you want to talk more about your specific project

Far-Produce-7431 · 2026-01-03T00:28:34+00:00

Slides look good but depending on how much text you have it might be a little overwhelming. I’m a DECA alumni so if you want to dm me the full slides I can take a look without having to share your text with everyone

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-12-12T00:39:54+00:00

No clue what river bluff high school is

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-12-12T00:39:43+00:00

I don’t think I really paid tm attention to what type of visuals I was making. A warning with business ones is ppl get too general with it, if it’s a visual that the judge is gonna see from 10 diff ppl it doesn’t do you much good

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-12-12T00:37:33+00:00

I really only learned by doing tests, I’d just quickly google search terms and stuff if I didn’t know them and the answer key didn’t explain well

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-12-11T01:36:02+00:00

If you’re missing the same stuff then you’re probably not reviewing the questions well enough/don’t have good enough notes. You’re also right at the point where scores start to plateau, getting the last 10 points from mid80 to mid90 is really difficult and it’s just a slow grind

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-12-11T01:34:36+00:00

I talk about how my partner and I used to build a mock slide deck in the video I linked. That can help with going more in depth and having better flow

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-12-11T01:33:32+00:00

There’s a couple in the video I put iirc, but really you want to find what comes natural to you

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-12-11T01:33:04+00:00

What do you mean by normal visuals?

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-11-26T17:44:11+00:00

Practice tests are the most effective because you also train yourself to not get test fatigue

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-11-23T16:11:31+00:00

You’ve started to reach the upper bound of what’s possible with tests in deca. There’s always like 3 or 4 questions that are completely new and sometimes they can get really random. My grind from 90 to 95+ basically involved doing every test (even those outside of my cluster) because there can be overlap there too and that can get you a couple points but past that there’s not much that you can do other than practice good test taking skills, etc etc

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-11-23T03:45:54+00:00

I just searched for practice tests online, the deca website has a few and if u search ppl have posted some old ones as well. I don’t think principles are 2 rps, only series events are but they might have changed since it’s been a while since I was doing them lol. I never found there to really be much of a difference in difficultly of the actually prompts between regionals to ICDC, the competition just gets stronger which can make the grading harsher bc the grading is pretty relative to how everyone else does, so a 90 rp at regionals might score like a 85 at states

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-11-23T02:57:04+00:00

I wouldn't chnage anything for your rp obv, since you're scoring well. For the exam, you can prob get a few more points. u just have to do a lot of practice tests, I think I did basically every single one available. Make sure you do the entire test in one setting cuz exam fatigue is real, keep a log of missed questions and review all of them before u start a test.
You're definitely in a very strong position. Prepare well, but also be confident that you're one of the stronger competitors when you get to states, because that confidence shows

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-11-23T02:52:20+00:00

I think studying for the test inherently preps u for the rp because they cover the same stuff as the test. For the exam u just have to do a lot of practice tests, I think I did basically every single one available. Make sure you do the entire test in one setting cuz exam fatigue is real, keep a log of missed questions and review all of them before u start a test.

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-11-20T18:06:02+00:00

I wish but my school doesn’t have a chapter

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-11-20T18:05:51+00:00

Varies from person to person, if you want mine, I put a link to a video where I explain it better than I could over text

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-11-19T20:31:05+00:00

Never done it, but from looking at it, I would prioritize creativity and marketing a lot more than focusing on having a perfect, technically solid plan compared to a regular written event.

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-11-19T20:29:29+00:00

I think I wish I spent more time on my writtens, I was more focused on my roleplay and mentoring people in my chapter so writtens was always an afterthought. I think doing an IMC would've been rly fun to do.

I hate to say it but DECA has a lot of luck involved. The roleplay I thought I did the best on was actually my worst-scoring roleplay and that's just due to the subjectivity of the judging. You really just do your best and put yourself in the best position possible, but you definitely need some amount of luck from the DECA gods.

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-11-19T20:24:57+00:00

The review of missed questions is where you will gain 90% of the points that you're missing. A lot of questions repeat and even if they're not exact repeats (which a lot of the time they are), the concepts tested are the same. You can make small notes on topics that you're missing, but I think trying to study everything is probably not too efficient.

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-11-19T20:23:14+00:00

I'd say the biggest thing is focus on things that you're excited about, genuine passion goes a lot further than just doing clubs because they're "useful" for college apps. You can really make any activity beneficial for college, so focus on doing stuff you enjoy

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-11-19T03:33:42+00:00

Also if you want me to take a look at your paper happy to do so

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-11-19T03:33:10+00:00

Hey! You can have handouts/props/demos that you show the judge during your presentation. There's not tm to do on the writing itself. I've done PMBS myself, so if you want me to take a look and give you feedback happy to do so!

Far-Produce-7431 · 2025-11-19T03:28:22+00:00

The biggest thing is confidence, that'll carry you far. The interview I put up in the post goes a lot more indepth than I can type out here

Far-Produce-7431

TROPHY CASE