Disease Detectives B/C

[dvd]

Were there any tiebreaker questions because I didn't see any? If not, how would they break a time, since time is not a tiebreaker.

[mister]

There probably were tiebreaker questions and they just didn't tell you which ones they were.

[bubblebrian]

The test was great! Eta and I (in B division) split it up, and we managed to finish with 15 seconds left! I am so happy with my 6th place medal, and Strath Haven beat us again!! Great job guys!

What did you guys think of the test?

I had to go with 10 min remaining!!! (stupid pentathalon)

got 12th

[ohdangggg]

:/ 16 or 17th place... don't remember. I thought we could medal for sure in it
The test was nice; not that hard, but... nice. Easy to split up, seeing as there were two problems heh.

[frogzorz]

The test was great! Eta and I (in B division) split it up, and we managed to finish with 15 seconds left! I am so happy with my 6th place medal, and Strath Haven beat us again!! Great job guys!

What did you guys think of the test?

I had to go with 10 min remaining!!! (stupid pentathalon)

got 12th

i love how you're so angry...12th place even with 10 minutes remaining?! that's insane! we got 11th place in can't judge a powder with time to spare, yet i am still in jubilation over this placing. i don't think i ever could have gotten 12th place with 10 less minutes. just think. you're one of the 20-25 best people in disease detectives in the whole country!

[mali_16]

Does anyone have an idea how to study for next year's disease detectives?
What topics do you predict should be on it?

[French_Toast]

Does anyone have an idea how to study for next year's disease detectives?
What topics do you predict should be on it?

Next year's topic is Food-Borne illnesses, so I'd assume reviewing the common ones in depth as much as possible, as well as keep a decent understanding of other diseases, and everything else that this event covers, should be helpful. That's what I'm doing, anyways.

[mali_16]

Don't mind me asking but how do you know this?

[French_Toast]

Don't mind me asking but how do you know this?

Well, It's not 100% official, but the tentative event list has it listed as the topic for next year.

http://soinc.org/sites/default/files/up ... -30-10.pdf

[eta150]

Its good that they're using food borne illnesses this year rather than population growth. The only test I took all year that actually focused on the topic was the one at nationals. Food borne illnesses should make for better tests.

[fossilgirl13]

I competed in Disease Detectives this year for Division B. We somehow managed 2nd place at Regionals because the test was very strange and easy. However, at States, we placed, well, not as high as we would have liked. I kind of like this event because I love working with diseases, but since we were not given a list of diseases (something like the list they give for ornithology or fossils), my partner and I were left in the dark, especially because we only have one coach who is rather incompetent. What I want to ask is, HOW DO YOU STUDY FOR DISEASE DETECTIVES?????
Thanks!

[ichaelm]

You don't need to know about specific diseases to know the fundamentals of epidemiology. Rather than focusing on characteristics of specific pathogens, focus on the broad science of epidemiology: the study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations (Wikipedia). The best resource to start with would be the CDC website. Learn how organizations like the CDC set up studies to observe those factors. Learn how epidemiologists use statistics to measure characteristics of diseases, risk factors, and treatments. Go through the CDC vocab list. If you really love epidemiology and have some extra cash (or nice parents), you can get this amazing book called "Modern Epidemiology." You can probably find it from amazon if you can't find it anywhere else. It is my bible!

http://www.cdc.gov/excite/disease_detectives/index.htm

[fossilgirl13]

Thanks!!!!!

[French_Toast]

Also, remember. You're allowed a reference sheet. USE IT! For a lot of the year, it seemed like a bunch of teams in Ohio were trying to memorize everything. While yes, you should understand everything, and know a lot about epidemiology, it's invaluable to have a good reference sheet. Plus, making it helps you remember stuff anyways, because you remember putting it on there(well, it does for me anyways).

Also, pay attention to the news. We got a decent amount of stuff about H1N1 at invitationals a few times this year, and it was really nice to have background information on it. If there's a certain disease that's been really prevalent lately, there's a good chance it may show up on a test. National disasters are important too. On one of our tests, we had to tell why Haiti was worse off(disease wise) after their earthquake than Chile was. They provided us with some information, but we couldn't have gotten full points without knowing other stuff.

Hope this helps