Trip Info: 2014

The 39th Annual ARML Competition will be held on

May 30th and May 31, 2014.

(The 2014 ARML Competition does NOT conflict with the SAT test date, which is scheduled on June 7, 2014)

Important Information About the Trip to the ARML Competition at Penn State (2014)

Friday May 30, 2013

• Departure: 

  • Time: 8:00am Friday May 30, 2014

    • Please arrive at Rhode Island College by 7:45.

  • Location: 

    • Parking Lot A, Rhode Island College 

• Lunch:

  • The bus will stop for lunch. 

  • Be prepared for about $10 for this lunch.

• Arriving Time at Penn State:

  • Around 5:00 pm

• Team Registration:

  • Team will be registered and get room keys. 

  • After the team registration, students will go to their rooms to unload their luggage. 

• Dinner:

  • The team will meet again after everyone has unloaded their luggage.  The team will walk together to the downtown (just outside the Penn State Campus) together for dinner.  It is more than a 1/2 mile walk from the dorm to these restaurants.  You may see hundreds of ARML students there. 

  • Be prepared for about $10 for this dinner.

• After dinner activities:

  • There will be some ARML activities (such as lectures, Song Contest, etc.), and you are free to participate.

• Lodging: 

  • All members of the Team stay in a dormitory at Penn State, with two people in each room.

  • There are separate dormitories for boys and girls. 

  • Team Rule: 

    • Lights out by 11:00 pm. 

    • It is imperative that all students obey the 11:00 curfew.  Students should be well aware of the importance of a good night's sleep.

Saturday May 31, 2014

• Team T-Shirt:

  • It is required that all RI ARML Team members wear the RI ARML Team T-shirt all day this day.

• Breakfast: 

  • You will go to the huge dining hall that is adjacent to the dorms.

  • Breakfast is served from approximately 6:10 to 7:20.

  • The team should sit together at breakfast.

• Competition: 

• The contest begins at 8:00 in a building to be assigned.  The team will go together at around 7:30 to the assigned building. 

• Team Round and Power Questions

  • The team will work the Team Questions and Power Questions together in their classroom, with a proctor waiting outside the room, giving them their materials and keeping time for them. The Team Questions require 20 minutes and the Power Questions 60 minutes. It is the Team Captain's responsibility to make sure that all questions are answered.

• Individual Round

  • After the Team and Power questions, all students go to the huge Bryce-Jordan Center for the Individual Questions.

  • There are five rounds of two questions each, with 10 minutes for a round. The correct answers are announced after each round.

  • IMPORTANT: The team should walk together -- this stadium is huge, and you will easily get lost since all of you have never been there before.

• Lunch

  • Lunch is scheduled after the Individual Round.

  • Lunch will be provided in the Bryce Jordan Center.

  • Every student and floor proctor will receive a “Boxed Lunch” that will contain a choice of turkey, roast beef, ham, tuna salad, or roasted vegetables.

  • Every lunch box will also contain bottled water, chips, an apple, and a cookie.

• Team Relay

  • Team Relay is scheduled after the lunch and at the same Bryce-Jordan Center where the Individual Round was held.  

  • Our team will be divided into five groups of three.

• Super Relay

  • After the Team Relay, the team will run a Super Relay, which is not part of the team score.  However, it is very fun to do (and watch -- you will know what I mean on that day).

• Tie-Breaker

  • This is the last event, we will see a special session called Tie Breaker -- this is for top individuals to compete for their rankings.  Students who receives perfect scores (10) (or if no one accomplished that, then those who receives 9 points) will do some tie-breaker questions in front of everyone.  They will compete against each other to become the first to submit the correct answer. The same thing is happening simultaneously in Georgia, Iowa and Las Vegas.

• Celebration

  • Winner will be announced when all of the above is done. 

  • The team will pick up a packet with the results, and go back to the dorm, pick up the luggage, take the bus ride back to Rhode Island College.

• Dinner: 

  • The bus will stop for dinner on the way back.

  • Be prepared for about $10 for this dinner.  

• Arrival at Parking Lot A, Rhode Island College: 

  • It will be probably around midnight. 

  • Students need to inform their parents before the bus arrives at RIC so that the parents will be there waiting for the students.

Essentials for the ARML Competition:

• Several sharp pencils;

• Erasers;

• Some blank paper to use as scrap paper (the amount provided there is often inadequate);

• A pillow

• A blanket

• (Penn State do provide clean sheets);

• Towel and other bath items;

• A rain jacket and/or a small umbrella is important, just in case of heavy rain -- as it happened in 2012 and some previous years -- It just seems that there is often cold rain there, and you will have to walk some distance often;

• A water bottle for drinking water;

• Cell Phone;

• Cell Phone Charger;

• Personal medication (prescribed by your doctor or approved by your parents);

• About $30~$40 for 3 meals (one lunch and two evening meals).