2018 Scobol Solo Discussion

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Stained Diviner
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2018 Scobol Solo Discussion

Post by Stained Diviner »

If you have anything to say about the question set, say it here. If you have anything to say about tournament logistics/experiences, say it in the thread of the tournament you are talking about.

Thank you to people who contributed to the set. Mike Laudermith wrote the Biology and Chemistry, Jack Lewis wrote the European History, Christy Jestin wrote the World History, Jonathan Suh wrote half of the Military History, Young Lee wrote the Religion/Myth and all Fine Arts, and Bradley McLain wrote the Social Science/Phiosophy. I wrote the rest. Jonah Greenthal and I edited.

Every round had one question each in biology, chemistry, physics, math, other science, US lit, Brit lit, world and Euro lit, poetry, US history, Euro history, world history, military history, painting, classical music, other fine arts, religion/myth, current events, geography, and social science/philosophy.
David Reinstein
Head Writer and Editor for Scobol Solo, Masonics, and IESA; TD for Scobol Solo and Reinstein Varsity; IHSSBCA Board Member; IHSSBCA Chair (2004-2014); PACE President (2016-2018)
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Re: 2018 Scobol Solo Discussion

Post by Amiable Vitriol »

Overall, I thought this was a reasonably consistent set. I did think there were a few ill-advised answerlines in the final. Robert Hayden (tossed up twice ever, both at open tournaments), Charles Bukowski, and Annie Proulx (both less egregious, but still difficult) stand out -- I don't think it's a coincidence that the only three tossups to go dead in the first forty were literature.

On a more positive note, this tournament did have a lot of representation of women in a variety of fields. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but if so, consider it noticed! It made me happy, at least.
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Re: 2018 Scobol Solo Discussion

Post by Stained Diviner »

The lit in the Championship was too difficult, and that was my fault. Jonah warned me about the Hayden question, but I left it in anyways. Sorry about that. I find it difficult to predict which championship questions will go dead and when the buzzes will be, and it's bad when my mistakes are systematic, which they were.

I always try to have women well represented in my sets, though sometimes I do a better job than other times. Thanks!
David Reinstein
Head Writer and Editor for Scobol Solo, Masonics, and IESA; TD for Scobol Solo and Reinstein Varsity; IHSSBCA Board Member; IHSSBCA Chair (2004-2014); PACE President (2016-2018)
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Re: 2018 Scobol Solo Discussion

Post by hcube »

I want to thank Mr. Reinstein for putting so much effort into this year's Scobol Solo set and tournament given his health situation--I am sure it must have been exhausting at times. The set overall was of high quality.

The science was very well written, and I really enjoyed playing it.

For me, the myth had the biggest issues in the set--it was really just too easy. First-lines such as "In a riddle, Odin whispered into this god's ear..." (Baldr) and "Odysseus was given a bag of these..." (winds) come to mind.
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Re: 2018 Scobol Solo Discussion

Post by jzlau2 »

I thought the set was well-written overall. The tournament went smoothly (with the exception of the server crashes) and I enjoyed my experience there.

I was fine with most of the distribution, but I have a few comments about the geography questions. Some of them were well-placed in the geography category, such as the ones about the Alps (Round 1), Morocco (Round 5) and Vermont (Round 13). These two tossups had a nice balance of physical geography and human geography. However, a few of the other geography tossups sneaked in some clues that belong in a history tossup. Geography tossups should ideally test knowledge on only the physical geography, demographics, economy, culture, and environment of a country, rather than its history, art, or current events, since there are separate categories for the last three. Still, I enjoyed playing most of the geography questions in this set.
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Re: 2018 Scobol Solo Discussion

Post by Stained Diviner »

Here is some data that either supports or refutes Hanson. Baldr was answered correctly in 27 out of 32 rooms, Set/Seth was answered correctly in 27 out of 32 rooms, wind was answered correctly in 32 out of 32 rooms, and Amaterasu was answered correctly in 24 out of 32 rooms. I believe that those are the only four myth questions he played in the regular rounds.

Ethan, Dylan, Govind, and Hanson all got Baldr from hearing 9.9% of the question. Kevin and Jarred got it soon after that. In the other 26 rooms, more clues were needed.

Timothy, Hanson, Eldon, and Ashish all got wind from hearing 14.2% of the question. There were a lot of people who got it soon after that. By the time 27% of the question was read, it had been answered in most rooms, which is an outlier.

Michelle, Jonathan, and Amy were the only people to answer Set correctly during the first half of the question. Six people got it shortly after the halfway point.

Sophie and Michelle were the only two who got Amaterasu before 10% was read. Hanson and Govind got it soon after that. Everybody else needed at least one-third of the question, and there was a good distribution of buzzes after that.

I don't really agree with the problem of putting some history clues in geography. The Alps was actually Round 2, and the Round 1 Miami question had some history. The only history clue in the Lake Ontario question was the Battle of Sackett's Harbor, which is an interesting fact about a part of Lake Ontario. Similarly, the Ohio River question referred to the Battle of Paducah. It also referenced the Northwest Territory boundary, which is a historical clue but also explains why the river is a boundary for many states. The Lake Maracaibo question did not have any history, though it opened with The Last Year of El Congo Mirador. The Croatia question linked history with noteworthy places in the country--Cathedral of Saint Lawrence in Trogir, Stari Grad Plain on Hvar, Battle of Vukovar in Slavonia. If I had written history questions with those answers, the questions would have been significantly different than they were, though a small number of the clues probably would have been used.

Another two stats I'll add just for fun:
The best buzz during the regular rounds was by Aristotle, who got Dover Beach after hearing "Daisy recites this poem twice."
The easiest question was seed: 10 people got it correct before 10% of the question was read, and 23 people got it before 20% of the question was read.
David Reinstein
Head Writer and Editor for Scobol Solo, Masonics, and IESA; TD for Scobol Solo and Reinstein Varsity; IHSSBCA Board Member; IHSSBCA Chair (2004-2014); PACE President (2016-2018)
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Re: 2018 Scobol Solo Discussion

Post by Stained Diviner »

The most difficult question was inductor. Only five people got it right, and they all got it at the end.

If anybody wants an Excel spreadsheet showing everybody's buzzes so they can do some data analysis, let me know. The spreadsheet has 17943 rows.
David Reinstein
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Re: 2018 Scobol Solo Discussion

Post by TylerV »

A big thank you to all the editors and writers that worked on this! This set was pretty fun to read and it seemed like everyone had fun at the Southwestern site.

I enjoyed the history in this set, which I felt did a good job of hitting a bunch of important answerlines. I also liked the amount of East Asian content spread throughout the various categories. The only category I was a bit disappointed in was film, whose answerlines I felt played it far more safe than other categories. That being said, I enjoyed every film tossup I read.

As for specifics, the only thing I feel the need to single out is that the lead-in to the Toyotomi Hideyoshi tossup isn't uniquely identifying and, more precisely, points to Konishi Yukinaga. Naturally, I wouldn't expect anybody to buzz with Yukinaga but I still think the wording can be made more precise.

Once again, thank you to everyone who worked on this set, it was a blast!
Tyler Vaughan
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Re: 2018 Scobol Solo Discussion

Post by Stained Diviner »

Thanks for the feedback. I am changing the wording in the leadin of the Toyotomi Hideyoshi question--Tyler's criticism is correct.

The only film questions in the regular rounds were on Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock. There was also a tossup on France in the Championship. It's fair to label those answerlines as safe.
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Head Writer and Editor for Scobol Solo, Masonics, and IESA; TD for Scobol Solo and Reinstein Varsity; IHSSBCA Board Member; IHSSBCA Chair (2004-2014); PACE President (2016-2018)
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Re: 2018 Scobol Solo Discussion

Post by Stained Diviner »

Please archive this thread.
David Reinstein
Head Writer and Editor for Scobol Solo, Masonics, and IESA; TD for Scobol Solo and Reinstein Varsity; IHSSBCA Board Member; IHSSBCA Chair (2004-2014); PACE President (2016-2018)
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