Should I suffer through the med lab student bowl next week

[Marble-faced Bristle Tyrant]

or should I just play video games outside?

(please bear in mind that if I take notes during the competition the sergeant-at-arms will throw me out, so making fun of it properly would be a challenge)

[jonah]

How similar is this to the Sputum Bowl?

[Stained Diviner]

It's probably classier than Sputum Bowl, just like Scrub Bowl.

[Marble-faced Bristle Tyrant]

No goofy terminology aside from team names, but it does include questions on, like, Bloom's taxonomy (as does the board certifying exam, apparently). If the actual competition is anything like the practice set we were given*, many of the questions are simply lifted from a widely-used exam review book with the answer choices left out. Protip to new question writers: even with the source listed, this is still plagiarism and a breach of question security!

It'll be an 11-team single elim bracket all run in two rooms, I presume because they could only find two games' worth of judges. Rounds are 20 minutes, but depending on what your priorities are, the questions are completely inappropriate for timed matches, what with some of them being case studies asking for multiple pieces of information and explanations and the teams having forever to consult (45 s, plus 10 or 30 if it bounces to the other team) and the judges trying to figure out if your response was sufficient and the moderator reading all of the "suggested response" if none of the teams get it right.

Regarding protests: "If you want a judge to clarify something, make sure it's for educational purposes, not argumentative."

Another good one: "You have to put yourself in the mind of the person who wrote the question."

*the set that has been sitting on the hospital share drive the whole year. The set that our teacher drew the rest of the class' attention to a couple months ago. The set that we are practicing on this week and "I hope you didn't look at too many of those questions"

[Stained Diviner]

This smells like Swine Quiz Bowl.

[Auks Ran Ova]

It sounds like you should definitely play video games outside.

[Marble-faced Bristle Tyrant]

I almost want to offer to coach next year's team, considering that a lot of the smart gameplay habits can't really be ingrained within a couple weeks, but then I remember the relative lack of practice material and that my ultimate reaction is "I hate this".

(also because I am not sure if I'll get a job at this hospital; if any of you know someone in Chicagoland who is looking for a lab/research technican please hmu)

[Aaron's Rod]

Parliamentary inquiry: Are there prizes; if so, how good are they?

[dtaylor4]

It's probably classier than Sputum Bowl, just like Scrub Bowl.

Not sure whether to be proud or ashamed of my hometown.

[AKKOLADE]

If you don't think it'll help you with a future test(s), then no.

[Marble-faced Bristle Tyrant]

I should clarify that I made up my mind not to play months ago; by "suffer through", I mean "cringe in the audience where I run the risk of getting thrown out if I take notes".
And it looks like Hiveswap isn't coming out this weekend, so "play video games" will probably be "explore casino hotel".

But yeah, speaking of helping with tests, it's pretty obviously designed to resemble the MLS board certification exam, except not multiple choice. The certification curriculum is divided into three cognitive categories, with level 1 being recall of facts and level 3 being problem analysis. In the competition, level 3s are worth the most points (it's set up like a Jeopardy board), but I feel like the actual distribution of difficulty is all over the place. It doesn't help that many of them are similarly vague wrt exactly what things they want explained, while varying in how detailed their "suggested responses" are. Our program director would admonish my classmates for not explaining enough for one question, only to rule a later answer incorrect when they overcompensated and gave unnecessary information (I think my classmates picked up on this inconsistency too).
(I have heard that the actual exam is scored in a similar way, but I am not so sure since the actual ASCP site seems to make a distinction between "difficulty" and "cognitive skill")

Our teacher also seemed very impressed with this other school that apparently has a really good team that gives "textbook" answers. I couldn't help but think of that part in 's book about those game show plants giving "improbably complete responses". Not that I think they're cheating or anything, just that I find it kind of... toolish? Just say the answer(s)! While watching our school's team practice today, I was also reminded of back when your second grade teacher would make you answer reading comprehension activities in complete sentences, eg "why did x happen?" "x happened because... " instead of just "because... " or even just "<insert reason here>". Good for little kids learning how to write, not so much for a timed game.

Anyway, I just had to vomit up some words on this quizbowl-like product.