| | Instructions for administering and grading GPML tests
Please note that much of what is in the "grading" sections can be bypassed if you are using the GPML scoring program at your contestTarget RoundAdministration
Before the first set of tests is passed out, make sure each student has five answer slips. They are to take each slip and write their name, grade and school. On one slip they should fill in 1 and 2 for the question numbers, 3 and 4 on the next slip, etc. They have one spare in case they need it. While the first pair of questions is being distributed (face down), explain to the students that " You will be given four pairs of questions in the target round, and the first pair is being handed out now. Once the signal is given to begin you will have exactly ten minutes to solve the two questions you have been given. Make sure your answers are written on an official answer slip before time is called. After ten minutes all official answer slips for questions one and two will be collected, and the answers will be announced. No calculators are allowed on the target round. Do not turn your questions over until the signal is given to begin. Are there any questions?" Once everyone is ready to start the first round, tell the students they may begin. Give a verbal time warning when one minute remains. After exactly ten minutes, tell the students to " Stop! Put your pencils down and hold your answer slip in the air; a proctor will be by to collect your answer slip." After all the answers are collected (students may keep their copies of the questions), begin to pass out the next set of questions. While the second set is being passed out, tell the students " The answer to question number one is _____; how many people answered question one correctly? [pause] The answer to question two is _____; how many people answered question two correctly?" After making sure every student has a copy of the questions for round two, begin the second round. Continue this pattern until all four rounds have been completed. If you wish, you can ask after the answers to 6, 7, and 8 are announced how many people have perfect scores up to that point. After the end of round four, make sure all the answer slips are sent to the grading room (either at the end of each round or all at once at the end of the fourth round, either way make sure the slips from each round are kept together)
Grading
There are two main goals of the grading process: ranking the students by grade and obtaining an accurate team score for each school. You will want to begin by grading each answer slip. Take all the round one answer slips and, after looking at the answers on a given slip, flip it over and write either a 1 (correct) or 0 (incorrect) on the back directly behind the problem in question. It might be advisable to have four people (or four teams depending on your staffing) working on this simultaneously so all four rounds can be graded at the same time. After all the answers from a given round are graded, it would be a good idea to count how many people got each question correct, as this will help if you plan to break ties. Once this process is complete for all four rounds, you will need to sort the answer slips by student. For each student, staple all four answer slips together, write the score (total number correct times 10) on the front of the packet and circle it. Now that you have a score for each student, you can begin to determine who the high scorers are in each grade. Sort the packets into grade (if you are giving awards by grade level) and then by score within each grade. If you wish to break ties, we recommend the following procedure. Identify which questions a student got right and add up how many people got each of those questions right. The lower number wins the tie. Here's an example: across the tournament, 80 people answered number one correctly, 60 for number two, and 50 for number three. Bob got questions one and three correct for a total of 130, and Mary got two and three correct for a total of 110. Mary wins the tie, because arguably she answered a more difficult set of questions. You should now be ready to fill out ranking sheets for each grade. Make sure you list every individual who scores at least 40 so GPML gets accurate results concerning who qualifies for state. Once the grade rankings are complete, sort the packets by school and by score within the school. (Sure this is a long process, but that's why we recommend doing this event first) On each school's tally sheet, write down the top six scores (or three in the case of small schools) from the school. After a school's top six (or three) scores are recorded, divide the sum by six (or three) to get the team score. Please note: if a school has fewer than six (or three) scores, do not average the scores for the team score; you must still divide the sum by six (or three). Place all the target round answer slips in each school's packet, and you are done grading the target round.Sprint RoundAdministration
Pass out a copy of the test (face down or with the problems otherwise unreadable) to each student, along with an answer sheet and scratch paper (both stapled to the front of the test if you prefer). Explain to the students that " You will have one hour to complete this test. There are thirty multiple choice questions. You will be awarded 4 points for each question answered correctly, -1 for each incorrect answer, and no points for unanswered problems. You may use any calculator approved by GPML [as of 2000-2001 the approved calculator list is the same as the SAT approved list]. Are there any qustions?" Give verbal time warnings when 30 minutes remain and when 5 minutes remain. Give the students exactly one hour to work, at which point they should be instructed to " Stop! Put your pencils down and hold your answer sheet in the air; a proctor will be by to collect your answer sheet." Collect the answer sheets and send them to the grading room.
Grading
Each answer sheet should be graded at least twice to guard against any errors. Add four points for each correct answer, subtract one for each incorrect answer, and write the score at the top of the test. Papers should be ranked by grade and then within each grade by score. Ties can be broken by item analysis the same way as in the target round, although this process is cumbersome unless the tests are computer graded. If any ties do arise (they are not as common as target round ties) you may break them however you see fit as long as it is done fairly. After ranking sheets are filled out, sort the tests by school, identify the top scores within each school, and file the tests in the packets. Again, if a school has fewer than six (or three) scores, do not average the scores for the team score; you must still divide the sum by six (or three).Team TestAdministration
Distribute one set of questions face down to each person (taking care to distribute the right test depending on whether a team is a large or small school), and give each team an answer sheet. Instruct the teams to indicate their school and all of their names on the answer sheet. Tell the students " You will have twenty minutes to complete the team test. Your team may work together but may not consult any books, other teams, or any other resources. You may use any GPML-approved calculators. You will be given ten points for each problem answered completely correct; there is no penalty for incorrect answers. Are there any questions?" Give a verbal time warning when 3 minutes remain. After twenty minutes, instruct the teams to " Stop! Put your pencils down and hold your answer sheet in the air; a proctor will be by to collect your answer sheet." Send the answer sheets to the grading room.
Grading
Award ten points for each correctly-answered problem and circle this number at the top of the answer sheet. All answer sheets should be ranked by score (paying attention to whether the answer sheet is from a large school or small school), and we recommend breaking ties by item analysis. After a ranking sheet is filled out for the team test, sort the tests by school. The highest score from each school goes in the team score box on the tally sheet, and all tests should be filed in the school's packet.Relay RoundAdministration
This is perhaps the most complicated event to administer, but it is the quickest to grade, which is why we recommend putting it last. It is best to arrange students so that each team of three is sitting in a row, one behind the other. Additionally, you may want to arrange the groups so that it becomes easier to collect the answer slips from the number three people; you will need to decide on the best arrangement, depending on the facilities available to you. Make sure each student has scratch paper, and each number 3 student (each team will have a 1, 2, and 3) has ten answer slips. Have the number 3 people fill out the answer slips while the first round of problems is passed out face down. Proctors should check to make sure they give each person the appropriate problem based on whether they are a 1, 2, or 3. For the first round, the number 1 person's question will be numbered 1-1, person 2 will have 1-2, and person 3 will have 1-3 (for round 2 the numbers will be 2-1, 2-2, and 2-3, and so forth). The information on the official relay round rules sheet should be read to the students and any procedural questions answered. Numbers 1 and 2 on each team should be instructed to tear a square of paper off their scratch paper when they wish to pass an answer back, or you may wish to furnish them with premade slips of blank paper to write answers on. When you are ready, tell the students to begin. After 2:45 announce " 15 second warning; number 3's need to have an answer ready and hold it up" . At 3 minutes, announce " Three minutes. Proctors, collect only the answer slips that are in the air. Students, continue working for another three minutes." After 5:45 announce " 15 second warning; number 3's, get an answer ready only if you want to change your answer" . At 6 minutes, announce " Six minutes. Proctors, collect only the answer slips that are in the air." Once all the answer slips are collected, read the answers in the manner described on the rules sheet. Pass out the second round of questions and repeat this process through all five rounds. After the relay round is complete, send all the answer slips to the grading room.
Grading
Arrange the answer slips by three-person team and staple each team's answer slips together. Assign scores in the following manner. For round 1, if a team turned in a 6-minute answer slip with the correct answer, they receive 5 points. If they turned in a 6-minute slip with an incorrect answer, they receive 0 points. If they turned in a 3-minute slip with the correct answer AND they did not turn a 6-minute slip, they receive 10 points. Please note this means if they turn in the correct answer at 3 minutes but an incorrect answer at 6 minutes, they receive 0 points. Compute the team's round 2 through 5 scores the same way, and add these together to get the team's relay round score. If you are giving awards for relay teams, you may want to rank the teams and break ties using item analysis. Otherwise, sort the answer slips by school, write the scores of the top two relay teams from the school (or top one team, doubled, for small schools), and file the answer slips in the school packets.
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