Rules

Participating teams at CupExS

The tournament does not require the participating teams to represent any particular school or country, but instead, they must be bound only by a strong desire and curiosity for science. Participants may register without being a team leader. A complete team is composed of six secondary school students along with one or two team leaders. However, in special circumstances, the reglament of the tournament allows for teams of five, four or even three participants. Secondary school graduates can participate in CupExS in the year of their graduation. The composition of the team cannot be changed during the tournament. The team is headed by a Captain who is the official representative of the team during the tournament. Each team must have at least one person aged 18 or above who will take responsibility for all the members of the team.

Moreover, Individuals are welcome to engage with us without a pre-existing team, as we are dedicated to facilitating team formation by connecting like-minded participants either within their country or globally. This collaborative effort seeks to integrate individuals into cohesive units, fostering synergy within the project.

Upon fully completion of the registration phase, the team-building process begins. It is noteworthy to emphasize that the preparatory phase is an integral component of the competition trajectory. Participants are urged to partake in a series of preparatory sessions, encompassing a diverse array of instructional mediums such as video lectures, online and offline training. In person sessions are scheduled in advance of the official commencement of the tournament. Consequently, participants are advised to plan their attendance accordingly, departing earlier to ensure active engagement in these crucial preparatory endeavours.

The Jury

The jury is composed of local specially prepared professionals along with team leaders from different countries. The local organising committee will make sure that the distribution of the jurors in the Science Battles is fair. One juror in each room will be assigned as the head juror who will introduce the teams and make all the announcements. All the jurors will be invited to the special preparation session before the start of the tournament. The team leaders cannot be members of the Jury in the Science Battle where their teams participate.

Rules and schedule of the tournament:

The first and second working days:

The first working day of the tournament will be devoted to physics and only problems P1, P2 and P3 will be presented on this day. The second working day of the tournament will be devoted to chemistry and only problems C1, C2 and C3 will be presented on this day. Each day is divided into three stages:

Stage 1: Sparring Session

Stage 2: Science Battle

Before the beginning of a Science Battle, the Jury and the teams are introduced by the head juror.

Three or four teams participate in a Science Battle, depending on the total number of teams. The Science Battle is carried out in three (or four) Stages. In each Stage, a team plays one of the three roles: Reporter, Opponent, Reviewer. The teams will switch roles throughout the fight. Each team will have each role once.

Stage 3: Experimental Race

Within the framework of the Experimental race, the teams will have to present how accurately they can work on the experiment and offer the best experimental results with the experimental materials provided on the spot.

The top 9 teams according to the rankings after the first two days advance to the semi-finals.

The third working day: Semi-Finals

The third working day of the tournament will be devoted to mixed problems of Physics and Chemistry, 3 problems in total. Those problems will be released to the teams directly in the course of the Semi-Finals. These Problems are research oriented and are solved by the Teams during the Semi-Finals. This day is divided into three stages:

Stage 1: Sparring Session

In the first part, one member chosen from each team will individually write a short test, and according to the results, the teams will be divided into the positions of speaker, opponent and reviewer in the science battle. The results of the test will also decide which problems the teams will be working on during the preparation time (the team with the highest score will be the first and the team with the second highest score will be the second to choose their problem. The team with the lowest score will automatically work on the last problem).

Stage 2: Preparation

During the preparation time teams will be working on their problems in independent rooms. The LOC will provide the teams with experimental materials and local experts who will assist them throughout this preparation

Stage 3: Science Battle

Before the beginning of a Science Battle, the Jury and the teams are introduced by the head juror.

Three teams participate in the Science Battle for the Semi-Finals. The Science Battle is carried out in three Stages. In each Stage, a team plays one of the three roles: Reporter, Opponent, Reviewer. The teams will switch roles throughout the fight. Each team will have each role once.

The top 3 teams according to the total rankings advance to the Grand Finale. The Finalist teams and the main problem of the tournament will be announced shortly after the Semi-Finals. During the preparation for the Grand Finale all of those 3 teams will be working on the same problem.

The fourth working day: Grand Finale

The Finalists will work on the experimental setup on the stage in front of an audience. Their workings will be broadcasted and they will be occasionally interviewed throughout the whole process. They will have to present their work and participate in the experimental race. The LOC will provide the teams with experimental materials and local experts who will assist them throughout this preparation. The absolute winner will be announced based only on the final Experimental Race.

Evaluation

Grading system

Sparring Session

For each correct answer to the test question, the captain will give the team one point. These scores will only determine the distribution of speaker, opponent and reviewer positions for the scientific battle, but will not be added to the final rating scores.

Science battle

The presentation will be evaluated based on how deeply the problem is solved and how accurate the correspondence is between the presented theoretical model and the experiment. The presentations will be scored by an honorary jury. The opponent and reviewer teams will also be evaluated by the jury based on how much they deepen the issues presented by the speaker and how precisely they analyse and catch interesting details.

The roles of the performers in the team:

The Reporter presents the essence of the solution to the problem, attracting the attention of the audience to the main physical ideas and conclusions.

The Opponent puts questions to the Reporter and criticizes the report, pointing to possible inaccuracy and errors in the understanding of the problem and in the solution. The Opponent analyses the advantages and drawbacks of both the solution and the presentation of the Reporter. The discussion of the Opponent should not become a presentation of his/her own solution. In the discussion, the solution presented by the Reporter is discussed.

The Reviewer presents a short estimation of the presentations of Reporter and Opponent.

Each participant can step on the stage maximum of 2 times during the science battle

Problem Acceptance/Rejection Rule:

During the first two working days if the reporting team will not accept the problem suggested by the opponent team, the opponent team suggests another problem and the reporter loses 15% of the scores. In the case of rejection of the problem for the second time by the reporter, 30% of the scores are lost. During the Semi-Finals the reporter team has two “free” rejections. If the reporting team will not accept the third problem as well, the opponent team suggests another problem and the reporter loses 5% of the scores. Any consecutive rejection loses 5% more.

If it is possible the opponent team is obliged to propose a problem that has not been presented yet to the reporter.

Stage regulations:

Science Battle Scoresheet:

With the help of the given scoresheet, every presentation of the reporter, opponent, and reviewer will be graded according to the detailed criteria. Under each box, a jury member will put down the score in accordance with the criteria. In the case of the reporter there is a maximum score of 50 and there are 6 penalty points for the wrong answers to the opponent, reviewer and jury questions. For the opponent there is a maximum score of 30 and there are 4 penalty points for the wrong answers to the reviewer and jury questions. For the reviewer, there is a maximum score of 20 and there are 2 penalty points for the wrong answers to the jury questions. After the summation of the scores from each of the boxes, the Final Score is calculated for each contestant. The backgrounds of the boxes are colored differently so the jury will not have trouble guiding themselves through the sheet and evaluating the contestants after three different stages, during the contestant’s preparation time.

After the jury has written the scores, the average score of the contestant is calculated. For this, a special calculator is used which works according to the following principle: we take the data of the jury’s scores and by using the student’s T distribution we create a 90 percent confidence interval. After having a fixed interval, we disregard all scores which are not in this interval (we also take into account the error of the jury’s score), and then we finally calculate the mean value of the remaining scores.

For a better understanding, the mean score calculator can be viewed below, with three different cases, their score data, and calculated mean scores.

Some results from Mean Score Calculator:

Experimental race

CupExS will provide all the necessary materials for the experimental races. Teams will compete only in the races corresponding to the problems which they presented. The maximum score in the experimental race will be 100. For each experiment, a certain preparation time will be given, so that the participants will get to know the experimental materials better, and as a result of some fixed number of attempts, their experimental score will be accepted.

In experimental races the winning team will get the maximum score and every other team will get their scores based on how well they performed compared to the winning team (for example, if in the Physics Experimental Races the winning team covers the distance in 20 seconds and the other team covers it in 25 seconds, the winning team gets 100 marks and the second team will get 80 marks).