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The Builder · № 17

Passed a Real Test

Submitted a built thing for external technical evaluation, FIRST Robotics, Science Olympiad build event, maker competition, engineering fair, and it performed.

The idea

External evaluation is different from your parents being impressed. Judges don't care about effort. They care whether the build performs against the rubric. Read the rubric. Practice with it. Build to it. The kid who treats the rubric as a guideline loses to the kid who treats it as the specification. Most competition losses are the rubric being ignored, not the build being weak.

Steps
  1. Read the rubric first. Highlight every criterion.
  2. Build to the criteria, not to your aesthetic.
  3. Practice the demo. Most builders lose points on presentation, not engineering.
  4. Submit. Take the feedback.
What counts

A build submitted to external evaluation that performed against the rubric. A photo of the submission and score sheet is plenty.