Hands-On problems
Hands-on problems are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. Some problems will have you creating towers or bridges to hold weight or span a gap, while others will have you move objects around a room. Because all hands-on problems need materials, they are the hardest to prepare for your team, but they are also the most unpredictable, so you need to practice a whole bunch of different ones to prepare your team.
General setup for hands-on problems in competition
Like I stated above, hands-on problems vary wildly. There's no standard or even most likely setup.
maximizing hands-on scores
- Practice all different types of hands-on problems, even though they're hard to set up.
- ASK QUESTIONS AND LOOK FOR LOOPHOLES. Basically all hands-on problems will have a major loophole, and by finding the loophole you can get an extremely high score.
- Don't touch materials until you have asked questions and have a plan!
- Teamwork is generally scored in hands-on problems. Thus, make sure to share materials and act like you like each other.
- Some teams work best if all the members have a role. I was always the first one to talk and coordinated the team's solution. Others might be great at asking questions, manipulating materials, or being cheerleaders. As long as they're being productive, that's what matters.
- Look at what is scored. Sometimes you'll be judged for creativity, while other times it will only be achieving the objective. This should switch your approach from creative to pragmatic.