Can you show me the histogram? Thx
@yellohighlightr
Please refrain from discussing the problems before 4/1, which is the probable final date the tests are handed in. I know that in cases of last year, some schools have received extensions up to 2 weeks.
Several schools are in Spring break right now, and most private schools are coming back mid next week. Many schools have already received extensions for this.
I know that you do ask a couple questions to confirm whether the person joining the Doc had taken the test. However, it’s so easy for a student who have taken the exam to download the Google Doc and send/release it to others who have not taken the test and received an extension (which may be longer than you’d expect). Remember, not every Semifinalist is not concerned about their own Finalist position (especially since they have already been recognized as a Semifinalist).
I understand the desire to discuss the questions myself, but satisfying that temporary curiosity is not nearly worth damaging your own chances.
If you do not care about your Finalist status, you can probably hold off discussing for a couple weeks. If you do care about your Finalist status, you most definitely should not discuss (especially on a Google Doc) the questions for the reasons mentioned above.
Just took the exam. Although I agree with the test discussion argument mentioned above, I still would like to know the general census on its difficulty
I know that recent years the cutoff has ranged from mid 50% to low 70%. With the middle usually being mid high 60s. Is this year slightly harder or easier? Like I know that the open was slightly harder due to its lower than usual cutoff.
@ykimnada - Compared to open exam, how did you fell about this exam?
The open exam I felt was kind of hard but I ended up doing very well (33.33). Now this is in relation to the practice tests I took from previous years. For the semifinal I took 2012 and 2011, both of which had the lowest cut offs in recent years, indicating their great difficulty. So this test compared to those 2 was slightly easier. But 2013, 2014, 2015 have no released tests and this is my first year taking it. So I was curious how others felt in relation to these most recent years. How about you?
Also does anyone recall the total points? I know it was 58 for A and 114 for B (some questions were removed). I forgot to count part C tho ;(
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@yellohighlightr Can you hold off until at least the 21st? There are multiple schools with extensions due to Spring Break. Ideally, it would be best if we didn’t discuss semis till after April 6.
Schools can have extensions? My school made me come in take it today even though we’re on Break right now
took it today! good luck everyone!
hey guys i’m new to this discussion! i’m taking the test on Tuesday. what do you think the cutoff percentage will be based on the difficulty? and does anyone know where i can find scores of past finalists? i’ve taken a few full semifinals and want to see how i match up
when do they send out camp emails and honorable mentions?
On the website it says that finalists are posted publicly on April 6th but I’m not sure if teachers get emails earlier than that.
Someone at my school who took the test got a letter that said they got an honorable mention, but their score is not on the website. Does anybody know why this is? because I had thought that people are still taking the exams.
Wait…already? That was really fast!
how many people took the semifinal?
@mikej3755 On monday (march 21), my teacher also gave my friend and I small certificates with “honorable mention, USABO Semifinals” on it. I was also wondering why it would say honorable mention, but I’m pretty sure it just means you made it to semifinals, not that you placed in top 60 or anything. Cuz some people in the US didn’t even take the test yet on 3/21. Plus, both my friend and I are nowhere near the level of top 60.
The small certificates with Honorable Mention is a certificate that recognizes you as a USABO Semifinalist.
We call top 50/60 “Honors” or “High Honors” but those are terms just borrowed from USNCO, and isn’t what USABO formally recognizes as
We had such a bad luck with that. My son was trying to do it for first time. Him and his teacher emailed them about registering online several times but we didn’t receive a single reply from anyone and there is no phone number to call so we were just waiting to hear back from them.
Hey, guys. This year I started USABO at my school. I did pretty bad on the Open Exam(14.93). Next year, I’m planning to take AP Biology and read Campbell’s at least once. How much would you say taking Anatomy & Physiology helps with the open exam and the semifinal exam? I don’t if I will be able to take this class next year, but I’m going to try to.