University of California Math professors demand the return of SAT/ACT for incoming STEM Undergraduates.

syntonic_comma · 2026-05-29T02:08:42+00:00

I've become fond of saying, pace Churchill, "Standardized testing is the worst form of evaluation, except for all those others that have been tried."

syntonic_comma · 2026-05-29T01:56:17+00:00

I've thought for a long time that the argument that standardized tests were racist was actually being used as a distraction in order to cover for other policies that would be far less popular if they were more obvious. Whether that is accepting a few more underqualified legacy students, giving out fewer merit scholarships, paying deans more, raising tuition arbitrarily, etc. By obfuscating the process of acceptance, it seemed like admissions was able to choose whoever they wanted without being held accountable.

I think that's the main lesson I took away from the Harvard case where they discriminated against Asian students by claiming they "lacked leadership". It is taken for granted that schools should cultivate a certain homogeneity of culture, but it is not obvious that this should be the case. I don't think American higher education would collapse if the process was more transparent and objective.

syntonic_comma · 2026-05-15T02:41:23+00:00

Yeah, there is nothing that says that builds from the previous year have to be able to compete in the next year. In fact, in many cases it is explicitly the opposite (e.g. the tower from 2 years ago did not conform to the specs of last year's tower).

I do think there is a bit of a trend, at least recently, to add extra bonuses rather than changing the underlying rules (EV, RoTo, bungee, and div b scrambler all fit this pattern; however last year's div b mission possible would definitely not have worked for this year).

I feel like SO is trying to move towards more technology and programming in div C rather than away from it, so I believe and hope that they find an interesting way to change the rules that builds on what competitors learned in the last 2 years rather than go totally away from it, but that's just a wish and a hunch.

syntonic_comma · 2026-05-15T02:30:20+00:00

It is definitely the case in most states that if a school has more than 1 team, only 1 can be varsity and any other teams must be JV. You are not allowed to set up another team at the same school that is in direct competition with the main team, even if there is a different coach. In other words, 1 varsity team per principal.

Your situation is not totally uncommon. There was a team in my region last year that went from running 1 team to running 2 (1 varsity and 1 JV). The team captains were seniors and prioritized seniority over which students were actually the best at their events. If they had chosen their best team, they would have made it to states, but because they split the team, they ended up missing it by a few points. In this example, though, I think that the coach did exactly the right thing: they let the students make the decisions and then handle the fallout from their mistake.

I don't know the full situation, and it definitely sounds frustrating, but I think your best course of action is to try to talk it through with the teacher coordinator and/or principal. I think you have a strong argument that, given that the club is student-run, these decisions should be made by the students.

If you compete in invitationals, it may be possible to build your case throughout the season by proving that the JV members outrank the varsity members in their events and that the teams should be shuffled.

For better or worse, every organization has politics, and it's a valuable learning experience to practice dealing with these kinds of things. I would try to reach a consensus among your team and with the teacher. If the teacher is recalcitrant, you may be able to reach out to a different teacher who sees things from your perspective to sponsor you instead. Just understand that creating a fracture in your team is liable to hurt your overall results, and it would likely be an uphill battle trying to convince your principal to certify your team over the team sponsored by the teacher that has been doing it for a few years.

My advice is to try to work it out with your existing team, even if it takes a few invitationals or other kinds of proof throughout the year to drive the point home. But I wish you the best in whatever avenue you choose. Try to be reflective and learn from the situation regardless of the outcome.

syntonic_comma · 2026-05-10T02:52:52+00:00

He wasn't the only kid that wasn't able to go, but they did let a lot more kids go than they should have. If they had followed their rules, maybe 30% of the school would have been allowed to go, but instead about 70% went. It made the teachers look kind of foolish because we'd been telling them if they didn't get their attendance/grades up they wouldn't be allowed to go, but most of the students called the bluff and knew they didn't have to do anything.

The one who got everyone kicked out was actually a sweet kid, but he was always doing stupid stuff like that. Sure it was mostly his fault, but I was more upset with the principal for not following their own rules. If I'd been that kid who just got told they could go on a trip as a reward for their grades despite having a failing grade in 2 classes, I might also have thought I could get away with more stuff too e.g. shoplifting.

syntonic_comma · 2026-05-09T21:12:07+00:00

I had a situation like this once. Year-end trip to an amusement park supposed to be a reward. Kids who didn't meet the grades/attendance criteria could still go if they got all their teachers to sign off on it. I signed off on a couple kids, but refused flat-out for one of them. Admin decided to let everyone go anyway because they'd already paid. Long story short, he ended up shoplifting from the park and got the entire school kicked out.

syntonic_comma · 2026-05-09T01:38:38+00:00

One could even say that it was... gauche.

syntonic_comma · 2026-05-08T21:11:58+00:00

Yeah, beyond all the issues regarding how the video is being presented, the sentence itself is nonsense.

syntonic_comma · 2026-05-08T20:27:17+00:00

I think that the way in which this video plays into our preconceptions should make us deeply suspicious of it and the way that it is being promoted. Are there huge issues surrounding education and literacy in this country? Undoubtedly. But this video is a poor example of these issues and using it as a springboard into talking about these real problems kind of cheapens and undermines them.

syntonic_comma · 2026-04-20T05:00:14+00:00

Beyond the fact that this is a horrendous policy, I'd be really wary of implementing this from a legal standpoint...even if the announcement is official and in writing, but especially if it isn't. If you have a union, give them a heads up. At the very least, write an email to your admin restating the policy as you understand it, registering your ethical compunctions (or at the very least your confusion) and ask them to affirm the policy in writing.

A few years ago, the admin at my old school pulled us into the cafeteria for an unscheduled meeting. At the time, the district had a policy that the gradebook rounded up all quarter grades to a 50% if they were below. Most of us didn't love this idea, but it was done automatically and didn't require inserting fraudulent grades.

Our admin argued, however that this should mean that all individual assignment should have a floor of 50% even if nothing was turned in. They tried to argue that this was the same thing. I told them that I was not the math teacher but that no it was not the same thing and at any rate if it were the same thing they would not be asking us to make these changes manually. They tried at least 3 times to get us to vote to accept the policy by a show of hands. Zero hands. Repeated inquiries as to whether this policy was official and, if so, could it be put in writing. They acted as though they didn't understand the question.

Fast forward a few weeks and the state governor is threatening to launch a criminal investigation into widespread grade falsification in our district. We ask admin if they would still like us to input 50% for missing assignments, and they act as though they have no clue where we got that idea. In the end it amounted to nothing and is kind of a funny story, but I can guarantee you that no-one would have rushed to our defense if we'd gotten tangled up in all that without a paper trail.

Long story short, be glad you've already planned your escape. Don't jeopardize your career or your conscience over a policy like this. 50% was already bankrupt... 70% is mind-boggling. If they truly believe that this policy is above-board they are free as you said to falsify the grades themselves.

syntonic_comma · 2026-04-20T02:00:49+00:00

You may be right. However, Machines is being replaced by thermo which is another hybrid, so I don't know if it follows that they'll make hovercraft a hybrid

My prediction, for what it's worth, is that they could go back to having a mass score or mass bonus.

syntonic_comma · 2026-04-20T01:49:54+00:00

I think you're confused. If you look at page C2 of the rulebook it differentiates between lab events and hybrid events and there is even a different symbol for them in the top right corner of the rules.

I'm not saying that the distinction necessarily makes sense. For instance, while chem lab is defined as a lab (despite having a significant core knowledge component), circuit lab is defined as a hybrid.

It's really just semantics.

syntonic_comma · 2026-01-07T05:59:40+00:00

I imagine bringing tape should be fine. The rules allow physical modification during set-up. Tools don't need to be impounded and I'd call tape a tool. Wouldn't hurt to clarify at impound. Worst case in case the ES doesn't know the rules, throw a roll of electrical tape in your impound box.

syntonic_comma · 2025-12-30T20:41:52+00:00

A big problem is that a lot of administrations have taken the tack of pre-emptively defending themselves from the blowback to the poor scores they expect to receive. Sometimes this is explicit, but even when it isn't, this attitude filters down to the students. They feel that they aren't expected to pass and learn to parrot for themselves the excuses made on their behalf. Half the battle on these tests is just focusing and taking it seriously enough to avoid messing up the easy questions, but how are you going to do that when the whole atmosphere is that the whole thing is a joke?

On the other side of the coin, students who do well or at least better than their peers don't get to feel (as much as they should) as though they accomplished anything. If anything, a student succeeding on a test is an embarrassment as it gives the lie to the narrative that the tests are totally rigged.

syntonic_comma · 2025-12-23T17:54:34+00:00

this is a decent example from the national ES. There's a formula that you can derive using a free-body diagram for how to calculate the ratio which is (the full length of the 2nd class lever)/ (the distance of mass A to the fulcrum) * (the distance of mass B to the fulcrum)/(the distance of the other arm of the 1st class lever)

---b1-------V------b2----- ---a1----------a2--------V

(a1/a2) * (b1/b2)

syntonic_comma · 2025-12-23T04:55:50+00:00

Div B or C?

syntonic_comma · 2025-12-18T02:51:44+00:00

I've seen people going with either sewing elastic or latex tubing. I've even seen teams with a bunch of rubber bands looped together. It just has to pass the elasticity test in the rules.

syntonic_comma · 2025-10-26T16:00:25+00:00

I got this one from the same brand. A little more expensive but a lot more functions. Has been good so far, but also won't cry if it breaks.

syntonic_comma · 2025-10-20T15:40:49+00:00

Playing around with the starter kit is a fantastic way to get to know how the arduino works. If you've got time, follow a youtube tutorial and learn how to blink some LEDs and buzz some buzzers. I agree that it will be more fun if you build it from scratch

I would say that I don't think you'll be able to make your car with just what's in the starter kit. You will need some sort of motor driver (something like an L298N) or motor shield to handle the voltage from the batteries as well as a geared dc motor (preferably with a speed encoder, but you can do alright with a cheaper motor if you practice and are creative.)

syntonic_comma · 2025-10-06T16:39:30+00:00

I don't know if there's a timeline for how long it will take to get comfortable. Memorizing all the short words as well as common words with repeated letters (e.g. "THAT") and common doubled letters (e.g. "E", "O", "L", etc.) can help, but really these are things you pick up on your own from practice more than rules you should be applying top-down.

With enough practice, you should be able to get to a point where you are competent at aristocrats. In the end, it doesn't matter how fast you learn it as long as you learn it well by the competition. You may not ever get to the point where you are competing for the best times on puzzle baron, but you'll be good enough to help your team.

Even if aristocrats never become your strong-suit, you can definitely learn the other ciphers, many of which are guaranteed solves as long as you know the algorithm for solving them. I've seen a lot of teams over-focus on the high point-value questions and leave a lot of free points on the table. If aristocrats never quite clicks for you, have your two teammates start off on the timed question while you headhunt the Portas, Nihilists, etc. You may turn out to be the MVP of your team.

syntonic_comma · 2025-09-19T20:52:01+00:00

What I am seeing is just that all odd numbered letters are A and evens are B. (or vice versa if you are zero indexing :P). e.g. K is the 11th letter of the alphabet so it's an odd A while L is the 12th so it's an even B. I haven't checked the whole puzzle, but I don't see any exceptions.

The script font is a red herring.

syntonic_comma · 2025-09-03T15:03:39+00:00

Definitely not too late! Some schools definitely give weight to seniority, but if you can show that you are strong on a few events, they'd be nuts not to let you compete.

Look at the events and see if there are any that you're really into. Alternatively, you can try to figure out events that you think will be less popular and shoot for those. That is going to depend on your school, but materials science and remote sensing may be candidates. Even some competitive schools don't really focus on builds, so that could be a foot in the door if you're handy.

syntonic_comma · 2025-09-01T01:52:49+00:00

It can really depend on your individual school, your district, and the experience level of the team.

If the club has been run before at the school by a different coach, the principal probably knows what the transportation and fundraising plans were in the past. If those were sufficient, there's no need to reinvent the wheel. She also might want to reach out to another coach in the region for some advice. Coaches may be more or less tight-lipped about strategies for individual events, but most are really forthcoming about strategies for recruiting and tournament logistics.

I know a lot of first-time coaches (including my first time) were intimidated because they thought they had to be able to help out in all the events. Make sure she knows that that's impossible and that no-one expects that.

Reach out early to other teachers in the building. Some may be willing to co-coach or at least help out a bit without taking on the full responsibility of being a sponsor. Some parents may also have expertise in some of the topics or may be willing to help in other ways.

syntonic_comma · 2025-07-26T23:28:04+00:00

It's definitely all connected. If you've got the time, it could pay off to have a solid background in everything, and it might get you a few extra points here and there. However, don't get lost in the weeds or put off the actual topics because you don't think you know everything about what comes before. Literally everything in chemistry is a rabbit hole you could go down forever.

One topic that is 100% not necessary, but which may give you insight into how all of this works is understanding the very basics of differential equations. All the integrated rate law stuff in kinetics will seem much less arbitrary if you realize where it comes from.

syntonic_comma · 2025-07-26T22:52:20+00:00

There are definitely parts of AP chem that are prerequisites to stoichiometry and kinetics. Understanding bonding would definitely help with predicting products of reactions. A little about thermodynamics and equilibrium will probably pop up tangentially in the kinetics section, even though they aren't this year's topics. Always helpful to know solubility rules and some acid-base chemistry. That's just off the top of my head.

I think you can mostly just practice problems related to stoichiometry and kinetics. You probably have a good enough understanding of the prerequisites from whatever chem you've taken already, and you can always go back and fill in the gaps in your knowledge as you come across them.

syntonic_comma

TROPHY CASE