This is my first year doing the AMC 10. This blog is going to be a documentation of the scores and some future plans.
Before the test, I wrote a historical test every week. I probably did 50 of them. I thought I improved quite a lot, but it turns out that tests from 40 years ago were way too easy that I could even get 150 points sometimes.
There are actually 2 tests this time, a 10A and 10B. I decided to take both so I don't mess up. For 10A, I was super careful and double checked my work. I ended up completing 18 problems and left the rest blank, scoring 118.5 points.
Having a pretty nice score already, I went for speed mode on 10B and wrote a total of 21 problems. Unfortunately, I made quite a lot of mistakes and ended with only 15 correct, resulting in 96 points.
With the score I got on AMC 10A, I got the Certificate of Distinction and qualified for the AIME competition which is a way harder competition.
This year's honor roll of distinciton for AMC 10A requires 136.5 points, which is incredibly high. And the honor roll of distinction cutoff for AMC 12A is 150 points, which is quite unbelievable.
Overall, I'm quite happy with the results, and now I'm preparing for the AIME coming up and possibly the AMC 12 test for next year.
Five years ago, I came to AST with my sister to participate in our first-ever VEX competition. We were inexperienced rookies back then. Five years later, we returned to that same gym—but this time, my sister served as the Head Referee and I was the Match Emcee.
The growth has been incredible. Five years ago, there were only 20 teams. This year, we hosted 25 Middle School and 33 Elementary School teams over two days, including teams that traveled across the sea from Hong Kong. Seeing TAI-VEX and the local community grow so quickly is truly inspiring.
To prepare for the event, I spent time studying the game manual and the specific names of scoring objects. I wanted my commentary to be accurate and to properly represent the teams' complex strategies.
Throughout the weekend, I was able to observe the teams closely. Nowadays, top VEX IQ robots feature complex pneumatic systems, complete sensor integration, and high-level optimizations. But beyond the hardware, I saw the same passion and excitement that we had half a decade ago. These teams spent months building, strategizing, and practicing, just like we did.
To the students competing: Whether you went home with a trophy or not, you have already won because you chose to build and not consume. The skills you learn in VEX aren't just about mechanisms; they are about the engineering process, the ability to work under pressure, and communicating effectively with your teammates. Through successes and failures, you are getting closer to true "Excellence," which is something that can't be found in a plastic trophy alone.
Overall, it was an unforgettable experience. Thank you to AST for the opportunity to be an Emcee—it was truly an honor. Thanks also to the referees, scorekeepers, judges, scouts, field-resetters, and the tech team for making the event run so smoothly. I would have been much more nervous if it weren't for all the friends around.
There are certainly still improvements I can make as an announcer, and I look forward to working on those. Hopefully, in the future, I can find even more opportunities to talk about robotics.
Last month, we went to the PAS-VEX Signature Event. This is the first Signature Event I have been to. Tournament Champions and the Excellence Award winner will qualify for VEX Worlds.
Competition Introduction
This year, there are 72 teams from around the world that participated in this event, including the best teams from Taiwan, Vietnam, China, and other countries.
This event lasts 3 days in total. The first day was relatively low-pressure since there were only practice matches, which is why we chose to do the team interview and most skills matches on the first day. The second day is crucial as 6 qualification matches are played, almost confirming the qualification rankings. Finally, on the third day, 2 extra qualification matches are played, elimination alliances are selected, and the elimination rounds to determine the tournament champions are played.
Pre-competition Preparations
Before the competition, we did a lot of preparation. For 2 weeks, we basically practiced every day to tune our robot and practice driver and autonomous skills. Our robotics lab also hosted a small scrimmage with 11 teams. That was where most of our tournament strategies were developed.
Other than the match preparations, we also prepared decorations and gifts(stickers and cookies). We also familiarized ourselves with the team interview, as it is an important part of the competition.
Day 1
Finally, it was competition time. On the first day, we quickly did autonomous skills: we ran the stable route, and it worked, giving us 74 points. After that, we moved on to driver skills, running it three times. Although a few mistakes were made and we couldn't control the upper center goal, we still ended up with 83 points. This was below our expectations, but still good enough to secure us the 3rd place in skills.
Another important part of day 1 was the team interview. The interviewers were pretty nice, and we introduced basically every aspect of our team, including team organization, the notebook, robot details, programming ideas, and our strategies.
Finally, the 2 practice matches. We won both of them, including a match against a really great team, 50922T.
After the day, we were still busy testing the autonomous skills for day 2 and scouting our teammates and opponents. I slept at 12am, which was very late because we had to wake up at 6am the next morning.
Day 2
For our first qualification, we almost got the AWP but failed to load on the left side, though we still won. In the second match, we successfully ran the Solo-AWP strategy, getting the AWP, but ended up losing the match because one of our intake disconnected, completely preventing us from scoring.
On our third qualification match, our teammate 86254B was really good, and with them, we got an AWP and the win. The fourth match was quite unfortunate as both of our autonomous vehicles were unsuccessful and ended up losing auto. Luckily, we still won the match.
The fifth match was great because we got the Solo-AWP and ended up winning the match. For the sixth qualification match, we unfortunately failed to load on the right side during auto, so we didn't get an AWP, but won the match.
At the end of the day, we were ranked 6th on the qualification ranking, not low but not the highest. So we might be unable to choose our desired teams. At night, we looked at different possibilities and came up with a list of teams to possibly cooperate with.
Day 3
The seventh match was really important. We were against 78181A, one of the best teams. We ended up successfully running the Solo-AWP strategy and getting an AWP, though 78181A did so as well and even outscored us, losing us auto. Luckily, our teammate and I both did well and won the match. This match boosted us to the second ranking.
The last qualification match was very unfortunate since a block from the other side of the field flew here and disrupted our auto, cost us an AWP, though we still won the match. Ending qualifications with us in 2nd place.
Then comes the alliance selection part. Had the 1st place team, 50922T, chosen 66994T, our alliance with 66994T would be broken. Luckily, they didn't do that at the end, and we were able to fight the eliminations with 66994T.
Our strategy worked quite well, as we won the round of 16, quarterfinal, and semifinal matches with pretty big score differences.
Final 1, both of our autonomous ran well, and we won the auto bonus. Our teammate 66994T really dominated the right side long goal and the center goals. We faced some difficulties but ended up winning the left side long goal as well, taking the first final match with a 47-point difference.
Final 2 was a lot trickier. We lost the auto because the autonomous changed the strategy, and our auto didn't work well. The driver period was also really close, but 66994T secured 2 control zones, and we slightly won the left side in the last second. Winning by a narrow margin of 27 points.
Before the eliminations, judges came to us and asked for a second team interview, but we had to play the eliminations, so we didn't have time. After the finals, our second interview was cancelled, and we didn't end up with any judged awards, probably because we already won the tournament. It was really sad since we had spent countless hours writing the engineering notebook, but at least we qualified for VEX Worlds.
Conclusions
After the competition, we made a recap video with the best parts of each match. Feel free to check it out.
Huge thanks to all 3 of my teammates, our alliance partner 66994T, every team we have cooperated with, and every team participating in the event. Also, thanks to the PAS volunteers who made this event possible. Thanks to our coach and our sister teams, who taught us a lot throughout the season. Last but not least, parents who supported their kid to play VEX.
Through the 3 days of intense competition, we have gained a lot more than the award alone. We faced challenges, like the motor disconnection on day 2, or the auto malfunction in the final 2. They really tested our ability to stay calm under pressure. Luckily, we were able to end up winning the tournament.
We still have the Taiwan Open Competition before VEX Worlds, so we still need to keep improving. But I'm extremely happy and grateful for the tournament win.
Last weekend, we went to the American School in Taichung for the TAI-VEX event, which is the first major competition for our Push Back Season.
Our team, 66994B Unicorn Puncher, was lucky enough to bring the top 3 awards home: The Excellence Award, Tournament Champion Award, and the Skills Champion Award. This was a fun and enjoyable journey.
For the skills challenge, we actually practiced for around 2 weeks prior to the competition.
The autonomous skills code was mainly written by me, and I made sure it was as consistent as possible. Our first attempt scored us 60 points. The second and third autonomous attempts didn't go nearly as well due to problems with our intake system.
For driving skills, we have a bigger margin of error since we can control the robot. Though sometimes control zones can be tough to get. But finally, driven by my sister Jin, we ended up with a nice 84 points.
Our match schedule for qualification matches was extremely good. We were paired with our sister team, 66994T, once, and paired with 78181A, one of the top teams, twice. Unfortunately, though, we didn't manage to get the AWPs on these 3 matches because we had problems scoring into the lower center goal.
Overall, we won all but one match and got 1 AWP. This ranked us first in the qualification ranking. There are lots of great teams in this competition, but we chose our sister team, 66994T, as our elimination alliance partner because we have had experience working together.
Our first challenge was during the semifinals. We had 66994D, our other sister team, and 1791V, a very consistent-performing team, as our opponents. They did a great job using side wings to de-score our blocks. Luckily, we managed to swing the match back after intense battling around the long goals.
We fought a best-of-3 series of matches for the final matches. Our opponents were 17022A and 78181A. The matches were very competitive and had us stressed. We ended up winning 2 matches in a row. Our strategy was to defend and hold onto the long goals after securing the advantage in the autonomous period.
However, performing well isn't the only criterion for the Excellence Award. Teams also have to perform well on the Engineering Notebook and the Team Interview. Luckily, we have prepared for the notebook since the start of the season, and we have practiced the interview to clearly demonstrate our design processes, robot, programming, strategies, and team management. Finally, we are honored to receive the Excellence Award for this year's TAI-VEX.
We have found a few problems with our robot. So we might either improve our robot or make an entirely new robot.
The next competition for us is the PAS-VEX Signature Event in December, which has 3 spots for the World Championship. So we should prepare hard and aim for the awards.
From the start of the season, I have learned a lot from VEX, including programming concepts, strategic thinking, and communication. I'm also very excited about the future competitions and the great teams and robots from everyone.
