I am absolutely blown away by the quality of the submissions we received for the 2007 iTest Video Contest. (For more information on this side contest we ran this year alongside the actual 2007 iTest exam, go here.)
While no decision will be announced regarding the winner of this contest until the November 1 Nationwide Awards Announcement, I figured we could go ahead and post the four submissions we received here in the iTest Blog!
If you are out there reading this, and had anything to do with the conception or production of any of these videos, you should give yourself a hand. These are amazing. We look forward to using these videos to communicate with our sponsors (and potential sponsors!) the overall level of enthusiasm and passion that's out there for iTest events. These videos deservedly will be publicized heavily.
Also, the judging of these videos will begin immediately, but we're not going to disclose the exact process of determining the winner until November 1.
Without further ado, in randomized order, the YouTube version of each video...
1) "All Around the Table"
2) "Something to do with Apple?"
3) "Kitty Knows The Real Answer"
4) "To The Fifth Power Rangers"
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
2007 iTest Post-Mortem
Couple of thoughts I need to get down on the Blog before I forget them.
1) Excellent work by our staff. Dave Cowart did an excellent job handling the iTest website responsibilities amidst all his other things going on, and same for Mathew Crawford in answering emails over the weekend regarding specific iTest content questions.
The only reason the 2007 iTest went as well as it did, with as few people as we utilize, is because the effort started so many months ago. Thanks to Mathew, Nathan, and Zach for great questions. Dave, great job working on the site over time and continuing to fine-tune.
2) We've got to provide educators/sponsors with a dashboard where they can see all of their teams in real-time. This will cut down on a lot of the effort we had to do this year in helping teams change members, change Captains, and change passwords. This will be in the works very soon.
3) Along the same lines, we've got to do a better job communicating that once the competition begins, no changes can be made. Teams simply have to take responsibility for their selection of members and their all-important Team Captain.
That being said, I do want to experiment by adding the ability of team members to "mutiny" and change the Captain designation from one team member to another by virtue of a majority vote during the competition. This will likely only be possible once per team during any given iTest competition.
4) Procrastination is not a good idea in life, and it's not for iTest events either. We've been slammed with record server activity for two years in a row now at the very end of the competition. Get your answers in early. We've got to communicate this better as well next year.
5) Overall, great competition for us. Sets us up well for the launch of the iTest CS as well as another strong iTest Tournament of Champions run. We'll be looking for student input around the time of the iTest CS on what our next competition should be.
Now, we've just got to keep the financial contributions coming in. Students, if your parents are looking for a tax write-off...we've got your place to contribute!
Thanks for a great competition and to students, educators, and parents for your participation in the 2007 iTest. Now it's time to sleep.
1) Excellent work by our staff. Dave Cowart did an excellent job handling the iTest website responsibilities amidst all his other things going on, and same for Mathew Crawford in answering emails over the weekend regarding specific iTest content questions.
The only reason the 2007 iTest went as well as it did, with as few people as we utilize, is because the effort started so many months ago. Thanks to Mathew, Nathan, and Zach for great questions. Dave, great job working on the site over time and continuing to fine-tune.
2) We've got to provide educators/sponsors with a dashboard where they can see all of their teams in real-time. This will cut down on a lot of the effort we had to do this year in helping teams change members, change Captains, and change passwords. This will be in the works very soon.
3) Along the same lines, we've got to do a better job communicating that once the competition begins, no changes can be made. Teams simply have to take responsibility for their selection of members and their all-important Team Captain.
That being said, I do want to experiment by adding the ability of team members to "mutiny" and change the Captain designation from one team member to another by virtue of a majority vote during the competition. This will likely only be possible once per team during any given iTest competition.
4) Procrastination is not a good idea in life, and it's not for iTest events either. We've been slammed with record server activity for two years in a row now at the very end of the competition. Get your answers in early. We've got to communicate this better as well next year.
5) Overall, great competition for us. Sets us up well for the launch of the iTest CS as well as another strong iTest Tournament of Champions run. We'll be looking for student input around the time of the iTest CS on what our next competition should be.
Now, we've just got to keep the financial contributions coming in. Students, if your parents are looking for a tax write-off...we've got your place to contribute!
Thanks for a great competition and to students, educators, and parents for your participation in the 2007 iTest. Now it's time to sleep.
2007 iTest Answer Key
The 2007 iTest Solutions Manual (a thorough, extremely well-written document you'll want to check out) will be posted on the iTest site sometime tomorrow. Until then, here is the 2007 iTest Answer Key.
Many thanks to a great test-writing staff - Mathew Crawford, Zach Abel, and Nathan Savir - for an excellent job on the 2007 iTest exam. This is the caliber of event that we want students, educators, and parents to associate with the iTest organization.
PS...don't forget about the 2007 iTest Video Contest ... submissions due in 9/21. Check the August blog entry for more details if you haven't seen info already.
2007 iTest Answer Key
1. A
2. B
3. C
4. C
5. B
6. E
7. A
8. B
9. A
10. C
11. G
12. C
13. K
14. G
15. C
16. M
17. F
18. I
19. L
20. M
21. L
22. A
23. F
24. R
25. X
26. 300
27. 16
28. 72
29. 28
30. 10
31. 21840
32. 14
33. 80
34. 5
35. 96,433,469
36. 63.
37. 65
38. 19683
39. 13
40. 641999
41. 2004
42. 17
43. 751
44. 1109
45. 237
46. 2006
47. 1447
48. 13
49. 246
50. 1882
51. 516
52. 1536
53. 501
54. 1087
55. 225
56. 810
57. 57
58. 339
59. 17
60. 111
Tiebreakers: graded only if necessary to break ties among top national teams or for state championships.
Many thanks to a great test-writing staff - Mathew Crawford, Zach Abel, and Nathan Savir - for an excellent job on the 2007 iTest exam. This is the caliber of event that we want students, educators, and parents to associate with the iTest organization.
PS...don't forget about the 2007 iTest Video Contest ... submissions due in 9/21. Check the August blog entry for more details if you haven't seen info already.
2007 iTest Answer Key
1. A
2. B
3. C
4. C
5. B
6. E
7. A
8. B
9. A
10. C
11. G
12. C
13. K
14. G
15. C
16. M
17. F
18. I
19. L
20. M
21. L
22. A
23. F
24. R
25. X
26. 300
27. 16
28. 72
29. 28
30. 10
31. 21840
32. 14
33. 80
34. 5
35. 96,433,469
36. 63.
37. 65
38. 19683
39. 13
40. 641999
41. 2004
42. 17
43. 751
44. 1109
45. 237
46. 2006
47. 1447
48. 13
49. 246
50. 1882
51. 516
52. 1536
53. 501
54. 1087
55. 225
56. 810
57. 57
58. 339
59. 17
60. 111
Tiebreakers: graded only if necessary to break ties among top national teams or for state championships.
2007 iTest: Closing Thoughts
As the 2007 iTest wraps up, here are some thoughts and announcements: (cross-posted on the iTest website, www.theitest.com)
1) Check the iTest Blog after the competition ends for the Answer Key, as well as on a regular basis for iTest organizational news and announcements.
2) The iTest CS, the new high school computer science competition, will take place in the Spring of next year. Once details are locked down, they will be made public on the iTest Blog. This will happen over the next couple of months.
3) Make sure your email address can receive emails from "theitest.com" domain. This may require checking with a school I.T. administrator at your school or within your school system. We've tried to correspond with multiple students and teachers but have received "failure notices" because our email was blocked. We don't generally try the email again if this happens.
4) Please email us with thoughts, comments, suggestions, etc. on this year's exam. If you have generally positive things to say, make sure you include your name, school, grade (or position, if a teacher) if you don't mind us using your quote down the line.
5) The results of the 2007 iTest will be announced on Thursday, November 1, at 7 PM Central...as part of our annual iTest Nationwide Awards Announcement.
6) The iTest National Rankings will be published for the first time on November 1 as well. These Rankings rank the best math students in the United States, and will be used to determine invitees to the 2008 iTest Tournament of Champions. As indicated in a previous post, the iTest Rankings Index will be determined by 2007 iTest score and 2008 AMC 12 score.
1) Check the iTest Blog after the competition ends for the Answer Key, as well as on a regular basis for iTest organizational news and announcements.
2) The iTest CS, the new high school computer science competition, will take place in the Spring of next year. Once details are locked down, they will be made public on the iTest Blog. This will happen over the next couple of months.
3) Make sure your email address can receive emails from "theitest.com" domain. This may require checking with a school I.T. administrator at your school or within your school system. We've tried to correspond with multiple students and teachers but have received "failure notices" because our email was blocked. We don't generally try the email again if this happens.
4) Please email us with thoughts, comments, suggestions, etc. on this year's exam. If you have generally positive things to say, make sure you include your name, school, grade (or position, if a teacher) if you don't mind us using your quote down the line.
5) The results of the 2007 iTest will be announced on Thursday, November 1, at 7 PM Central...as part of our annual iTest Nationwide Awards Announcement.
6) The iTest National Rankings will be published for the first time on November 1 as well. These Rankings rank the best math students in the United States, and will be used to determine invitees to the 2008 iTest Tournament of Champions. As indicated in a previous post, the iTest Rankings Index will be determined by 2007 iTest score and 2008 AMC 12 score.
Upon conclusion of the 2007 iTest, check here for your official 2007 iTest Answer Key.
The 2007 iTest Answer Key will be posted here upon conclusion of the 2007 iTest (at 7 PM Central).
Monday, September 10, 2007
Having trouble joining an iTest team?
If you're having trouble joining an existing iTest team, make sure you're using that team's TEAM ID NUMBER to join the existing team (instead of any other team identifier).
The 2007 iTest begins in 2 days!
Get registered today by heading over to the iTest website and signing up!
With a competition written by noted textbook author Mathew Crawford, Princeton math club president Nathan Savir, and Harvard University's Zachary Abel, the 2007 iTest will not disappoint.
Educators, we invite you to download the PDF we'll make available on our site throughout the year and pull problems to supplement your curriculum year-round, well after the competition has ended.
And all of this...for free! Thanks to Southern Company, the Title Sponsor of the 2007 iTest, for making this possible.
If you encounter any issues getting registered or with the website at all, contact me directly at bradleymetrock@theitest.com, and we'll get you straightened out.
With a competition written by noted textbook author Mathew Crawford, Princeton math club president Nathan Savir, and Harvard University's Zachary Abel, the 2007 iTest will not disappoint.
Educators, we invite you to download the PDF we'll make available on our site throughout the year and pull problems to supplement your curriculum year-round, well after the competition has ended.
And all of this...for free! Thanks to Southern Company, the Title Sponsor of the 2007 iTest, for making this possible.
If you encounter any issues getting registered or with the website at all, contact me directly at bradleymetrock@theitest.com, and we'll get you straightened out.
Monday, September 3, 2007
2007 iTest Brochures Hit Schools Nationwide
Over the past week and heading into this week, 2007 iTest informational brochures should be hitting your school. These brochures were prepared in cooperation with our Title Sponsor, Southern Company, and explain how the iTest works and why students and educators should care.
The update to our website should be up and running by the end of the week, leaving plenty of time after that to get registered for the event starting on Thursday September 13.
The update to our website should be up and running by the end of the week, leaving plenty of time after that to get registered for the event starting on Thursday September 13.
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