2017 Tabulation Rules and Guidelines

Transcription

1 2017 Tabulation Rules and Guidelines

2 Contents Introduction... 3 Debate Tabulation Rules and Guidelines... 3 Speech Tabulation Rules and Guidelines... 9 Speech Tabulation Rules and Guidelines Appendices Page 2 of 26

3 Introduction Welcome, Let s Get Started NCFCA Mission Statement The mission of NCFCA is to promote excellence in communications through competitive opportunities where homeschool students develop the skills necessary to think critically and communicate effectively in order to address life issues from a biblical worldview in a manner that glorifies God. Tabulation Software All NCFCA sanctioned tournaments will be tabulated using the NCFCA C-TaP software, which is programmed according to the rules presented in this document. The methodology and specifications for the tab program are included in this document for your understanding and validation. Any decisions required to be made in the tab room to execute the program and tab the tournament should follow the rules presented in this document unless special permission is granted in writing by the NCFCA Sanctioning Committee before the tournament begins. Debate Tabulation Rules and Guidelines Tournaments should include both Team Policy and Lincoln Douglas Debate. Both styles of debate will be calculated independently throughout the tournament and all rules apply to both styles. I. Tournament Set-Up A. Teams 1. Policy Team. A Policy Debate Team will consist of two people. 2. Lincoln Douglas Team. A Lincoln Douglas Debate Team will consist of one person. B. Number of Preliminary and Elimination Rounds 1. Preliminary Rounds. Each team shall debate six preliminary rounds in the tournament. In the event that an odd number of debate teams are competing, one team per round shall receive a bye, which is recorded as a win. 2. Elimination Rounds. The level of elimination rounds to be held shall be determined primarily by the level of tournament and the number of teams competing in that style of debate. a. Qualifiers shall hold the following elimination rounds. i. Finals - 4 to 6 Teams ii. SemiFinals - 7 to 14 Teams iii. QuarterFinals - 15 to 27 Teams Page 3 of 26

4 iv. OctaFinals - 28 to 55 Teams v. Double OctaFinals - 56 or more Teams b. Regional Championship shall hold the following elimination rounds, or elimination rounds sufficient for advancing all teams with winning records, whichever is greater. i. Finals - 4 to 6 Teams ii. SemiFinals - 7 to 14 Teams iii. QuarterFinals - 15 to 27 Teams iv. OctaFinals - 28 to 55 Teams v. Double OctaFinals - 56 or more teams c. National Opens and the National Championship shall hold elimination rounds sufficient to advance all teams with winning records. C. Pairing Debate Teams in Preliminary Rounds 1. Side Constraints. a. Three Rounds on Each side. Each team shall debate three rounds on the affirmative side and three rounds on the negative side. Teams that receive a bye shall debate three rounds on one side and two rounds on the other side. b. Side Balance. Side balance is normally accomplished by each team having the same number of rounds on each side (affirmative and negative) at each even numbered round. (i.e., at the end of Round Two, every team should have had one affirmative and one negative round. At the end of Round 4, every team should have had two affirmative rounds and two negative rounds. At the end of Round 6, every team should have had three affirmative rounds and negative rounds.) c. Same Side Prohibition. A team shall not debate the same opponent on the same side more than once in preliminary competition. 2. Club Protection Club Protect Teams. Teams from the same club are routinely protected from debating each other in the first two rounds, if possible. Each debate team may declare one club allegiance for protection purposes in preliminary rounds. 3. Power Matching. a. Pre-set Rounds. The initial rounds of the tournament shall be randomly paired. b. Power Matching. Power matching normally begins in Round 3 and continues for the remainder of the preliminary competition. Pair each round based on the results of the previous round(s), taking into consideration the constraints of the tournament. The method of power matching is to be high-low within brackets. (i.e., at the end of Round 2, all the teams with a record of 2/0 shall be ranked by speaker points. The 2/0 team with the highest combined speaker points shall debate the 2/0 team with the lowest combined speaker points in Round 3. The next highest team shall be paired against the next lowest team, etc. Continue to pair the teams until that bracket is paired. Follow the same steps with Page 4 of 26

5 each win/loss bracket. Always begin with the top bracket and proceed to the lowest bracket.) c. Byes. In the event that an odd number of debate teams are registered in the tournament, six teams shall receive a bye. A team shall not receive more than one bye during a tournament. During the pre-set rounds, the bye will be randomly determined. During subsequent rounds that are power matched, the debate team with the lowest record that remains unmatched once the power-matching has been completed shall receive the bye for that round, taking into consideration the constraints of the tournament. II. Preliminary Round Tabulation A. Recording Ballots 1. Official Ballots. Debate ballots for use in NCFCA tournaments shall be printed from the CTaP software. In an emergency situation, blank ballots are available in the tournament Dropbox. 2. Ballot Recording. Record each ballot by entering a win or loss for each team, and each competitor s individual speaker points and rank. 3. Team Speaker Points. To determine the team speaker points and ranks, add the speaker points and ranks from both team partners for each round. 4. Recording Byes. a. If there is a bye in the round, record a win for the team that received a bye. b. The speaker points and ranks for the team assigned the bye will be automatically re-calculated each round as the tournament progresses by determining the average of all other rounds completed. At the end of the six preliminary rounds, the final speaker points and ranks for the bye round will be determined by the average of the other five rounds. B. Ranking Teams 1. Rankings. Teams shall be ranked by win/loss record. 2. Breaking Ties. When two or more teams have the same win/loss record, the following methods shall be used in the specific order listed, to break the tie: a. Adjust for High-Low Team Speaker Points. Omit the ballot with the highest total team speaker points and the ballot with the lowest total team speaker points. The points from the remaining four ballots are totaled, and the team with the highest total wins the tie break. b. Total Speaker Points. Add the speaker points from all rounds. The team with the highest number wins the tie break. c. Adjust for Double High-Low Team Speaker Points. Omit the ballots from the rounds with the two highest and the two lowest team speaker points, totaling the speaker points from the remaining two ballot(s). The team with the highest number wins the tie break. d. Speaker Rank. The team with the best (lowest) combined team speaker rankings from all rounds shall win the tie break. e. Head-to-Head. If two teams faced each other in preliminary competition before this point, the team which won shall win the tie break. Page 5 of 26

6 f. Schedule Difficulty Opponent Wins. The team whose opponents won the most rounds up to this point shall win the tie break. g. Schedule Difficulty Opponent Speaker Points. The team whose opponents earned the highest combined speaker point total up to this point shall win the tie break. h. Adjusted High-Low Speaker Rank. Omit the rounds with the highest and lowest team speaker rank and total the combined speaker ranks from the remaining rounds. The lowest combined total shall win the tie break. i. Coin Toss. When all the above methods fail to resolve the tie, a coin toss may be used to determine which team wins the tie break. C. Determining Which Teams Advance 1. Qualifiers. a. Tournaments will advance the highest ranking teams from the preliminary rounds to the elimination rounds determined in Section I.B.2.a. b. Completely fill the prescribed bracket starting with the highest ranked teams. Break-even teams are allowed to clear, if necessary, to fill the bracket. Teams with losing records will not advance. c. Depending on the total number of teams in the tournament, some teams with winning records may not be needed to fill the prescribed bracket. These teams will not advance to the elimination rounds. 2. Regional Championship. a. Tournaments will advance the highest ranking teams from the preliminary rounds to the elimination rounds determined in Section I.B.2.b. b. Completely fill the prescribed bracket starting with the highest ranked teams. Break-even teams are allowed to clear, if necessary, to fill the bracket. Teams with losing records will not advance. c. Depending on the total number of teams in the tournament, some teams with winning records may not be needed to fill the prescribed bracket. Advance all winning teams using a partial bracket, if necessary. 3. National Opens & National Championship. a. All teams with winning records will advance to the elimination rounds at National level tournaments. Teams with break-even or losing records will not advance to elimination rounds at National Opens or the National Championship. b. Brackets shall be established based on the number of teams advancing to the elimination rounds. A partial bracket is acceptable. III. Elimination Round Matching and Tabulation A. Matching Teams 1. Ranking and Seeding. Elimination round pairings shall be established in accordance with each team s preliminary ranking. The highest ranking team shall meet the lowest ranking team, the second highest shall meet the second lowest, etc. Sample seeding brackets are available on the NCFCA website. 2. Locked Sides. If the two teams have faced each other once in preliminary rounds, the teams shall switch sides for elimination competition. Page 6 of 26

7 3. Flip for Sides. If the two teams have faced each other twice in the preliminary rounds, or have never met, a coin toss shall determine which side each team shall take. B. Scoring 1. Number of ballots per match. a. Each elimination round shall be at least triple-paneled. b. Each elimination round shall be decided by an odd-numbered panel of judges. 2. Recording ballots. a. Record a win for the team who receives the majority of judge votes in the match. b. Speaker points and ranks are not calculated in elimination rounds. C. Advancing through Elimination Rounds 1. Advancing. Teams will continue to advance through the bracket until they lose a round. 2. Partial Brackets. In the case of a partially filled bracket, the top team(s) which do not have an opponent in the round will advance to the next elimination round without debating. IV. Determining Final Standings and Awards A. Debate Teams 1. Champion. The team that does not lose an elimination round wins the tournament. 2. Finals. The team that loses the Final Round finishes in 2 nd place. 3. SemiFinals. The teams that lose in the SemiFinal Round shall take 3 rd and 4 th places. The final placing shall be determined by which team had the higher placing in preliminary standings. (i.e., the team that placed higher in the preliminary competition shall take 3 rd place and the remaining team shall take 4 th place.) 4. All Remaining Elimination Rounds. Follow the above procedure for each remaining elimination round until all teams that advanced to the elimination rounds have been placed. 5. Awards. Each debate team which advances to the elimination rounds will receive an award. B. Debate Speakers 1. Speaker Awards. The number of speaker awards recognized at a tournament shall be determined by the number of debaters participating in the tournament. For tournaments with 100 debaters or less, the top 20% of the speakers will be recognized. For tournaments with more than 100 debaters competing, the top 20 speakers will be recognized. 2. Speaker Ranking. Adjusted high-low speaker points shall be used to determine individual speaker ranking. This is calculated by omitting the rounds with the highest and lowest speaker points, and totaling the scores from the remaining four rounds. The highest adjusted speaker point totals receive the highest awards. Page 7 of 26

8 3. Breaking Speaker Point Ties. If the high-low speaker points calculation results in a tie between one or more speakers, the following methods shall be used, in the order listed, to determine which speaker will be ranked higher: a. Total Speaker Points. Total the speaker points from all six rounds. b. Double High-Low Speaker Points. Omit the rounds with the two highest and two lowest scores, totaling the scores from the remaining two rounds. c. Speaker Rank. Total individual speaker ranks from all six rounds. The speaker with the lowest speaker rank total places higher. d. High-Low Speaker Rank. Omit the highest and lowest speaker rank of each speaker and total the remaining four rounds. The lowest speaker rank total places higher. e. Head-to-Head. If two speakers met in the preliminary rounds, the speaker with the higher ranking in that round shall receive the higher speaker award. f. Coin toss. Page 8 of 26

9 Speech Tabulation Rules and Guidelines I. Tournament Set-Up A. Number of Preliminary and Elimination Rounds 1. One room. An event with only one room of competitors (8 or less total competitors) will have three preliminary rounds. 2. Two rooms. An event with two rooms of competitors will have three preliminary rounds and a Final Round. 3. Three or more rooms. An event with three or more rooms of competitors will have three preliminary rounds, a SemiFinal Round, and then a Final Round. The exception to this rule is an event with 17 competitors; when an event has 17 competitors, it will have three preliminary rounds and a Final Round or more competitors. An event with 64 or more competitors will have three preliminary rounds, a modified SemiFinal Round, and then a Final Round. B. Grouping Speech Competitors 1. Per room. A Speech room cannot contain more than 8 competitors. 2. Single Room Events. In an event with a single room of competitors, all competitors shall perform in the same room for three preliminary rounds. Speaker position shall be reordered for each new judging panel. 3. Events with two or more rooms a. Divided among rooms. Rooms will be divided as evenly as possible. b. Regrouping. Competitors are to be regrouped for each preliminary round. c. Paneling. Preliminary rounds will be paneled to optimize the number of instances that each competitor will perform against the other competitors in the event. The goal is that each competitor will be evaluated against as many other competitors in the event as possible. d. Speaker Position. Speaker position shall be randomized for each new judging panel. C. Setting Patterns 1. The speech events will be divided into two fairly equal patterns (Pattern A and Pattern B.) 2. The patterns shall be set after registration is complete. 3. The patterns shall be equally balanced taking the following criteria into consideration: a. Number of rooms. b. Speech categories. Platforms, Limited Preps, and Interps should be represented in each pattern and Apologetics shall be in Pattern A. c. Multiple entered competitors. If at all possible, a competitor should have no more than 3 events in a pattern. Page 9 of 26

10 II. Preliminary Round Tabulation A. Determination of Cumulative Scores 1. At the end of each round, the tabulator will add the ranks given to each speaker by each of the three judges to determine the competitor s cumulative score for that round (e.g. a speaker receiving a 3, 4 and 7 will have a cumulative score of 14). 2. The competitor s cumulative score in the preliminary rounds determines the competitor s standing in the event. B. Determination of Room Rank 1. Room rank is used for breaking ties and assigning sweepstakes points. It is determined by sorting the cumulative scores from lowest to highest (lowest cumulative score receives the top rank of 1) in each room of each round. Each room of competitors is ranked independently. 2. In the event of a tie in cumulative score, break the tie using the following methods in the order listed: a. Judges preference The competitor who receives the better ranking from the highest number of judges will be ranked higher. (See Appendix 1 for further instruction.) b. Decimal Conversion Calculate the decimal conversion of the judge scores. (See Decimal Conversion Chart in Appendix 2.) The competitor who has the higher decimal conversion receives the better rank. c. Middle Rank If the tie cannot be broken, give all three students the same middle rank. C. Leveling the Rooms 1. Tabulators will level the results of uneven rooms for fairness (e.g. if one room in the event has eight competitors and the other two rooms have only seven competitors, the bottom two places in the eight-person room are both given the rank of seven for tabbing purposes). 2. In determining whether leveling is necessary, each event and each round should be evaluated separately. For example, you may need to level Open Interpretation, but not Impromptu. 3. After tabulations in II.A. and II.B. (calculation of cumulative scores and ranks) are complete, level the room by changing the bottom scores to the number you are leveling to. Using the example above, you would change all 8s to 7s, in both the judge scores and the room rankings. (See Appendix 3 for further instruction.) D. Determining Final Preliminary Standings 1. Cumulative Score Rank the competitors in each event by calculating their total of all cumulative scores from all preliminary rounds in that event. Begin by ranking the competitor with the lowest total cumulative score in first place and move through the scores until all the competitors have been ranked into preliminary standings. Page 10 of 26

11 2. If there is a tie in the cumulative scores, break the tie using the following methods in this order: a. Room Rank Calculate each competitor s total room rank as calculated in II.B. The competitor with the lowest total room rank is ranked higher. b. Judge s Preference in Head-to-Head competition If the tied speakers were in the same room in any preliminary round, give the tie-break to the competitor who won in head-to-head competition. Take care to check each round. If the competitors in question went head-to-head in more than one round, you must factor in every affected round individually. (For example, if Student A and Student B met in both Round 1 and Round 2, determine the winner of the head to head competition in round 1 and then determine the winner of the head to head competition in Round 2. If a competitor won both rounds, give that competitor the tie break. If the competitors remain tied, proceed to the next tie break.) c. Decimal Conversion Calculate decimal conversion of all scores received in preliminary competition. (See Decimal Conversion Chart in Appendix 2.) The competitor who receives the highest decimal conversion score receives the higher standing. d. Sweepstakes Points Determine which competitor has higher cumulative sweepstakes points in preliminary rounds in the event. e. Coin Toss E. Verification of Data 1. All tabulation should be performed independently at least twice. These two should be verified periodically during the tournament, and must be in complete agreement for each round. It is preferable to verify after every round, but they must be verified before any break announcements are made. 2. Verification procedures After each round, the independent tabulators check that the student s complete names, cumulative scores, and ranks in order by event are exactly the same. Take extra care when checking siblings names. Because of time constraints associated with announcing breaks at larger tournaments, you may choose to verify the competitors names and prelim standings only through 4 or 5 below the break line at the end of the preliminary competition. III. Elimination Rounds Tabulation and Set-Up A. Advancing From Prelims (Determining Breaks) 1. The goal is to advance as close to 50% as possible. 2. Advance the top ranking speakers from the preliminary rounds into the elimination portion of the tournament using the following chart: Page 11 of 26

12 Number of Competitors Advance to Modified Semis or SemiFinals Advance to Finals B. SemiFinal Rounds 1. Grouping SemiFinalists a. Room size For SemiFinals, competitors are placed in two equally balanced rooms of five to eight competitors. For modified SemiFinals, competitors are placed in four equally balanced rooms of six to eight competitors. SemiFinal rooms must always be equal in size. b. Balancing Rooms Each room is balanced with strong and weak competitors by snaking based on preliminary standings. i. For SemiFinals - Snake the number in the pool as follows: speakers ranked 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13, and 16 are placed in Group A while speakers ranked 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, and 15 are placed in Group B. (See example of snaking in Appendix 4.) ii. For Modified SemiFinals Follow the same procedure as the snaking process for SemiFinals, except the speakers will be distributed across 4 rooms of competition instead of two. (See example of snaking in Appendix 4.) c. Speaker Order Speaker order in the SemiFinal Round shall be randomly determined. Page 12 of 26

13 2. Tabbing SemiFinals a. Calculate the cumulative score of the SemiFinal Round and use this to determine the room rank (again, lowest cumulative score receives the better room rank.) b. If there is a tie, use the following tie-breaks in order: i. Judges Preference The participant who receives the better ranking from the highest number of judges in the SemiFinal Round should be ranked higher. (See Appendix 1.) ii. Preliminary placing 3. Advancing from the SemiFinal Round to the Final Round a. Advance the top competitors from each room to fill the Final Round based on the chart in Section III.A above. b. Advance the same number of competitors from each SemiFinal room. C. Final Round 1. Speaker order will be randomly determined in the Final Round. 2. Tabbing the Final Round a. Calculate the cumulative score of the Final Round. b. Use the cumulative score from the Final Round to determine the Final placings (lowest cumulative score receives the better placing.) c. In the event that two or more competitors are tied, use the following methods for breaking ties, in the order listed: i. Judges Preference The participant who receives the better ranking from the highest number of judges in the Final Round should be ranked higher. (See Appendix 1.) ii. Preliminary placing IV. Final Event Standings A. For events with a single room of competitors 1. In an event with only one room of competitors, three rounds will be held and the Final ranking will be determined by the Final preliminary standings in that event. 2. Recognition of Competitors The number of competitors recognized at the awards ceremony will be determined by the following chart: Number of Competitors Recognize Page 13 of 26

14 B. For Events with more than one room of competitors 1. Finalists The final standings for the event are determined by the results of the Final Round. 2. SemiFinalists - If there are SemiFinalists in the event, their final standings should be determined by the following process: a. Put the SemiFinalists in room rank order. You should have two of each rank (two 5 th places, two 6 th places, etc.), one from each room. b. Look at each pair of ranked SemiFinalists (i.e. the two 5 th places). Go back to the preliminary standings to determine which SemiFinalist out of the pair should be ranked higher. The competitor with the better preliminary rank will be ranked higher between the two (i.e. the two 5 th place SemiFinalists will receive the Final rankings of 9 th and 10 th place). c. Repeat with each set of ranks until you have individually ranked every SemiFinal competitor. (See Appendix 5 for further clarification.) V. Sweepstakes A. The goal of the Sweepstakes Award is to recognize overall excellence and achievement in Speech events throughout the tournament. A competitor must receive points in a minimum of 3 events to receive a sweepstakes award. While sweepstakes awards do not affect advancement to a subsequent level of tournament, it is used as a tie-break in certain places and must be calculated identically at all sanctioned NCFCA tournaments. B. Calculation of the Sweepstakes Award 1. Assign Sweepstakes values a. In the preliminary rounds each room rank shall receive the following point values: b. In the elimination rounds each SemiFinalist that does not advance to the Final Round shall receive 3 points for performance in the SemiFinal Page 14 of 26

15 Round. Each Finalist shall receive the following point values for his standing in the Final Round. c. In single room events, the number of sweepstakes points earned in each of the three rounds is identical to the number of points earned in other preliminary rounds. There is no extra recognition for final standings in those events. 2. Add all earned sweepstakes points in one event together for the total of sweeps points earned in that event. 3. At the conclusion of the tournament, add each competitor s sweepstakes points from each event he is entered. 4. Sort the competitors by total points to determine the ranking. The competitor with the highest number of sweepstakes points is 1 st place, and so on. If total points are tied, use the following tie breaks in order: a. Count the number of events in which the competitor received points. The competitor that received points in the higher number of events is ranked higher. b. Compare the final finishes of the tied competitors. For example, if one competitor won an event, but the other did not, the competitor who won the event would be placed higher. c. Coin toss C. The number of Sweepstakes awards to present at a tournament is determined by the size of the tournament. For tournaments with 200 Speech competitors or less, the top 10% of the competitors will be recognized. For tournaments with more than 200 Speech competitors, the top 20 competitors will be recognized. Page 15 of 26

16 VI. Rank Adjustments Occasionally there is a need to make adjustments in the tabulation due to issues such as a rule violation or disqualification. These actions are rare and should only take place at the direction of the Tournament Director/Regional Director to the Compliance Director and with the oversight of the Tab Director. At times, the penalty imposed for an infraction of the rules will be to adjust the rank of the student with a 4 rank penalty or with a Non-Compliant Rank. Non-Compliant Rank is equal to Level plus one rank. At other times, a student will need to be removed from the entire event. A. To re-rank a student in a room where he has already performed, simply take each judge s worksheet in the round and re-rank based on the penalty received. Follow this process for each judge worksheet in the round, then re-tab the room, including reranking, if necessary. B. To remove a student from an entire event, follow the process outlined above for an NCR in each room where the competitor performed. He should also be removed from the panel of any remaining preliminary rounds. Be certain that any accrued sweepstakes points are zeroed out for that event. VII. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ADJUSTMENTS The Rules and Guidelines in this document shall be followed at the National Championship with the exception of the following: A. Setting Elimination Rounds Advance the top ranking speakers from the preliminary rounds into the elimination portion of the National Championship using the following chart: Number of Competitors Advance to Quarter- Finals Advance to SemiFinals Advance to Finals Page 16 of 26

17 Sweepstakes At the National Championship, the top 10% of Speech competitors will be recognized. Page 17 of 26

18 Speech Tabulation Rules and Guidelines Appendices Appendix 1 Judge s Preference (Section II.B.2.a.) Judges Preferences Determining the competitor who was ranked highest by the most judges. Between two competitors: Between Competitor A & B, Judge 1 preferred Competitor A over Competitor B, as did Judge 2. Judge 3 preferred Competitor B over Competitor A. Competitor A wins twice (Judges 1 & 2), so A wins the tie. Between three competitors: Compare each competitor independently against each other competitor. For example, compare A against B to determine the winner. Then compare A against C to determine the winner. Finally, compare B against C. If any competitor won two of the comparisons, they take the top place. The competitor that won one of the comparisons would be in the second spot and the competitor that did not win any would be in the third spot. Between Competitor A & B, Competitor A wins twice (Judges 1 & 3), so A wins. Between Competitor A & C, Competitor A wins twice (Judges 2 & 3), so A wins. Between Competitor B & C, Competitor B wins twice (Judges 2 & 3), so B wins. Page 18 of 26

19 Competitor A wins twice, B wins once, and C does not win, so therefore A is 1 st, B is 2 nd, and C is 3 rd out of the tie. In this case, the Competitors were tied at 5 th place, so A would be 5 th, B would be 6 th, and C would be 7 th. If a head-to-head comparison shows that each competitor won a judge, proceed to the next tie break. (For Prelims, see Section IV. B.2.b. For SemiFinals, see Section V.B.2.b. For Finals, see Section V.C.2.c.) Between four competitors: As with three competitors, compare each competitor independently against each other competitor, following the instructions above. Example 1: In the example above, our comparisons give these results: Competitor A vs. B = B wins A vs. C = A wins A vs. D = A wins B vs. C = C wins B vs. D = D wins C vs. D = D wins Competitors A & D each won twice, and B & C each won once. Therefore, A & D will take the top two ranks and B & C take the bottom two ranks. To break the tie between A & D for first place, look at the head to head comparison for each. When A & D went head to head, A won so A is first and D is second. And when B & C went head to head, C won so C is third and B is fourth. Page 19 of 26

20 If this process drops a competitor to the bottom or top of the room but the others are still tied, start over with the competitors that are still tied and look at Judges preference again, just between those competitors to determine the placing. Example 2: Competitor A vs. B = A wins A vs. C = A wins A vs. D = D wins B vs. C = B wins B vs. D = B wins C vs. D = D wins Since Competitor C did not win in any head to head competition, Competitor C would get the bottom rank. All the others took two judges each, so you would seek to break the three-way tie by judges preference between the remaining three. Page 20 of 26

21 Appendix 2 - Decimal Conversion Chart (Section II.B.2.b.) EXAMPLE Convert the Judge s rank to the corresponding conversion and add. Competitor with highest decimal conversion (Doe) advances. Page 21 of 26

22 Appendix 3 Leveling Rooms (Section II.C.) Leveling rooms mitigates for the issue of an uneven number of competitors within the rooms of an individual event. The least number of competitors in any room in a particular round of an event is used to level the lowest scores in all the rooms. Step 1. Determine the least number of competitors in any room during that particular round for that particular event. This will be the lowest score (called the Leveled Score) a competitor can receive in this event for the round. Step 2. Record the judge scores as awarded on the judge worksheet and rank the rooms without adjustments, based on the cumulative scores. Step 3. Level each room as necessary by adjusting each competitor s score to the better - their actual score or the Leveled Score. For example, Round 2 of Apologetics has one room with eight competitors and two rooms with seven competitors. The Leveled Score would be 7, and each judge score of 8 would be adjusted to 7. Step 4. Do the same with the room ranks. IMPORTANT NOTE: Change both the judge scores and the room rank after the room has been ranked according to the original scores. Room rank position is based on the original, unadjusted scores and not the leveled scores. Simple Example Page 22 of 26

23 More Complex Example: In this example, it appears that after you level the room Sarah and Bill should have swapped positions in room rank, but we do not make adjustments to the original room ranking, even though the cumulative scores shift. Page 23 of 26

24 Appendix 4 Snaking (Section III.B.1.b.) Snaking is the procedure utilized to panel the SemiFinal rooms after the preliminary round standings are complete. The following visual example is helpful to demonstrate how snaking balances the strength in each SemiFinal room. EXAMPLE OF SEMIFINAL SNAKING: Balance the SemiFinal rooms according to participant performance in preliminary rounds. Rank all participants in order of performance. If the top sixteen advance to SemiFinals, they are ranked 1st through 16th place. Snake the numbers in the pool as follows: EXAMPLE OF MODIFIED SEMIFINAL SNAKING: Balance the modified SemiFinal rooms according to participant performance in preliminary rounds. Rank all participants in order of performance. Page 24 of 26

25 Snake the numbers in the pool as follows: Sibling placement in each SemiFinal room may be considered as long as the room remains relatively balanced in strength. Speaker order in elimination rounds should be randomly determined once the panels have been set. Page 25 of 26

26 Appendix 5 Ranking Non-Advancing SemiFinalists (Section IV.B.2.) Put the SemiFinalists in room rank order (SF PL column). You should have two of each rank (two 5 th places, two 6 th places, etc.), one from each SemiFinal room. (For a modified SemiFinal, you will have four of each rank.) Take each pair of ranked SemiFinalists and go back to Preliminary Standings (Prelim PL column) to determine which SemiFinalist of the pair should be ranked higher. Student A with SF PL of 5 and Preliminary Placing of 2 would receive a final rank of 9 th place and Student B with SF PL of 5 and Preliminary Placing of 13 would receive a final rank of 10 th place. Continue with each set of placings until all SemiFinal competitors have been ranked. Page 26 of 26