Palmetto Regional Week 0.5

[Bluman56]

Originally Posted by Ginger Power

I haven't personally taken the training, but I'm managing 30 volunteers at North Dakota State University, and three of them are referees. I will say that the test for referees takes over 3 hours, and it is far from easy. I heard from one head referee that it was the hardest test he's ever taken, bar-none.

FIRST has taken many steps to improve the program, and a big focus seems to be volunteer training. Have faith that the referees have been thoroughly screened, and know the game well. I can't speak to how open the referee test is to the public.

I don't know about the referee test, but the inspector test is still far too easy. There are going to be scenarios that inspectors should be ready for and the test should point out pitfalls that teams usually overlook. Inspectors should be able to know from the test to look for certain things on robots that teams think is legal but is actually not. I still don't feel the test covers those scenarios well enough. Maybe I'm alone on this one, considering I don't see much discussion on it.