Time points

[LW_8S_31]

Hi Harry,

I have a question for you: do we only get time points for part b if our answer is 100% accurate, or do we just need to have submitted an answer?

Once you have submitted you get a score. It will look like ***00@@@@ where *** is a three digit representation of accuracy (0-100) and @@@@ is your time points. That ensures that accuracy is more important than speed, but speed is a tie breaker.

Hope that makes sense,

Harry

[T]

I can see that I’ve got a score of 100 for part A and B for each of the challenges on the “Your Answers” section of the “Achievements” page linked to via the “My Account” page but cannot see any time points, is this because I registered using a teachers account (I believe that was what I was supposed to do since I am not eligible for any prizes) or am I looking in the wrong place?

We don’t publish the time scores, just the accuracy (which are only there so you can try to fix errors). The Leaderboard for each part B challenge is ranked by the scores described above, taking account of accuracy and time. Harry

[AES_of_spades]

Out of curiousity, what percentage of the original signups end up going to BP?
And do you go by scoring (‘all =1 and =2’), or by numbers(‘the top 200’), or by percentage (‘the top 5%’)?

We have around 200 tickets for competitors, parents and teachers and varying team sizes, so we have to be flexible and can’t really say in advance exactly how it will shake out, but we look to award tickets to those at the upper end of the leaderboard, taking into account scores. We ask a number of the leading teams to submit accounts of how they broke the final challenge which are taken into account when awarding the main prizes, and those can also be taken into account for BP tickets and medals, though we expect to offer tickets to some who do not get asked to send in their accounts. Sorry I can’t be more definite, it is just the way of things. But it does mean it is essential for everyone to check in on the site to find out if they have a message from us. Don’t just abandon it after next Thursday, we could be in touch using the message system throughout early January. Also keep an eye on the News page for updates. All the best, Harry

[T]

Has the deadline for 9B changed – I thought it said 23:00 on the 16/12/2025 yesterday and now it says the deadline is 23:00 on the 17/12/2025?

Nothing has changed here as far as I can see. The deadline was always 11pm Wednesday 17th Dec. Harry

[T]

I thought it would be interesting to see how many teams finished and finished before first deadline, the chart below shows this:

Hope you don’t mind, but I redrew the graph to fit the theme of the site – we don’t usually link to offsite sources. I might also use it in a news item if that is OK? Harry

[T]

I’m happy for you to use the graph in the news – regarding statistics I’d be interested to know the average team size of competitors that have reached different stages of the competition as that would likely show the benefits of working in a team (especially if you exclude from the statistics those not eligible for a prize).

Might be tricky to extract that (possible but tricky) but I will say that often individuals are faster than teams, but teams can achieve something together that the individuals themselves might not achieve. Harry

[Author]

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