How does the qualification system work?
 

Hey Guys,

I have probably a pretty basic question about getting into regional. My team (138) just won a district event. I was talking to my mentor and he said he would have to see how we do in Rhode Island (we are doing another district competition in Rhode Island) to see if we have enough points.

My common sense would think that winning one district even would be enough to get us into a Regional in Boston but I was curious to know how the points work..

Re: How does the qualification system work?
 

Typically, it is. It will, obviously, depend on the total number of points in the system as a whole. (> 2 events teams actually pull points out of the system and push the min qualification points down)

In general you're safe to get into the NE FIRST Championship but you can't be 100% certain until all the points are done.

Re: How does the qualification system work?
 

DISCLAIMER: I'm not in New England, so the best I can give is Michigan's perspective


Winning an event isn't a sure "in", only Chairman's is. For example, last year at least one time was 2nd pick for the winning alliance at an event, but they didn't qualify for States (or the district champs, as your case would be). However, as TBA indicates you were #1 seed and then won, you are effectively a shoe-in

Re: How does the qualification system work?
 

Where would one find the point structure and requirements?

Re: How does the qualification system work?
 

Gotcha, Thanks guys. is there a website that will allow you to track these points? honestly I am really confused lol

Re: How does the qualification system work?
 

How do you know we were #1 seed?

Re: How does the qualification system work?
 

Its posted on FIRST's website as well as thebluealliance.com and countless apps created by the FRC public.

Re: How does the qualification system work?
 

I believe this link will be helpful. It is the link to the NE FIRST website's FAQ section. The original document for the point system can be found as part of the link "FIRST'S website".

http://www.nefirst.org/2014/02/04/ne...structure-faq/

Lower on the page is the structure for which teams will advance to the finals after the district championship.

Hope this helps everyone!

Re: How does the qualification system work?
 

First off, it was great working with you guys this weekend, and I look forward to seeing how the rest of your season plays out. [SPOILER ALERT] I'm pretty sure we'll see each other again in Boston.

This PDF has the standard points system that FIRST released in October.
http://www3.usfirst.org/sites/defaul...ing_System.pdf

To the OP's question, by my (UNOFFICIAL) count you guys earned 76 75 points:
- 12 Qualification Wins (2pts each): 24pts
- #1 Alliance Captain: 17 16pts
- 3 Elimination Rounds Won (10pts each): 30pts
- Industrial Design Award: 5pts

Maybe someone from FiM or MAR can comment on a typical cutoff for the District Championship based on their experience, but I'd say it's a pretty sure thing.* We are in a similar situation (my count has us at 63pts) and we are going to start planning for a trip to Boston.

*That doesn't mean you can slack off at your second District though.:D Any points you earn there still get counted toward your total to qualify for the World Championship.

Re: How does the qualification system work?
 

Actually for the alliance captain the points are 17-x with x being the alliance you are the captain of. So they would have earned 16 points for being the captain of the #1 Alliance which would give them a total of 75 points.

We will have to wait and see exactly where the cut off for earning a spot for the DCMP is.

Re: How does the qualification system work?
 

I really like the wording on point scoring posted here:

http://district.firstwa.org/scoring

Re: How does the qualification system work?
 

A typical MAR cutoff was well under 50 points. I agree that theoretically a single win isn't a guarantee, but it bodes well for the future since you're likely to do at least OK at a second event.

On the other hand, let's say you never won a match (=0 points) and were chosen for an elims alliance last (1 point) that happened to win the event (16? points). 17 points does not guarantee you anything, even with a blue Winners banner. Does that help?

Re: How does the qualification system work?
 

In the past, 50-some points was the over/under for qualifying for the MSC. However, with 15 district events this year, that number will go up. Usually if you played both Saturday afternoons, you made it. Now I suspect a lot of QF teams won't make it.

Re: How does the qualification system work?
 

If I remember right the cutoff for the last two years for MSC was just north of 60 points. I think for 2013 we had 68 points and we were biting fingernails for States.

To the OP you're probably good to go, but as others have said the only sure way is to play just as hard at your next event.

Re: How does the qualification system work?
 

NE FIRST should be posting standings at some point during competition season so teams can see where they stand. Ideally this will be done after each week of competition, but I'm not sure if that's their plan.

Re: How does the qualification system work?
 

The plan announced in NERD (New England Regional District) is for NE FIRST to post the standings on http://www.nefirst.org by Wednesday each week. This was announced in the NEFIRST blog back on February 4: http://www.nefirst.org/2014/02/04/ne...structure-faq/

Re: How does the qualification system work?
 

Thanks for finding that blog post, that's a good plan.