This page contains information not related to particular meets.

General Rules

See also the Policy for Inclement Weather and Other Emergencies as well as the statement of philosophy.

1. Regulations are designed to maintain the integrity of the contest while keeping participation high.
2. Variations of rules requiring president or board approval must be requested ahead of time. No post-hoc approvals will be granted.
3. In the event of a situation not covered by the rules, the head coach of the host school should make a decision. Consult with the president of the organization if time allows.

Written Events

1. (Contestants.) Each school may enter a maximum of five contestants at each event during league contests. Five contestants are allowed at the conference meet. The top three scores will count.

2. (Alternates.) Each team may designate additional students as alternates to take the test for the experience, except at the conference meet.

   • Host schools will accommodate at least five alternates per team per event.
   • Alternates’ scores will not be counted towards the team’s total, but their scores will be recorded and reported for individual records. An alternate with a perfect score will receive a ribbon.
   • A school may bring more than five alternates if permission is granted by the host school. Requests should be made at least two days in advance of the meet.

3. (Designation of contestants.) The official designation of students as contestants or alternates will be determined by the official online roster sheet submitted before the meet by the coach. A coach may not change the designation of a student on the team roster after the first five minutes of the respective event.

4. (Format and scores.) There will be four written tests at each meet, one at each grade level. Each test will consist of five questions, worth a total of 25 points. Questions 1 and 2 will each be worth 4 points, question 3 will be worth 5 points, and questions 4 and 5 will be worth 6 points each. No partial credit will be given. All answers must meet the following specifications unless instructions on the exam state otherwise.

   • Answers must be clearly written in the answer blank provided.
   • See specific rules on the allowed forms of answers.
5. (Testing protocol.)
   • The freshman and junior competitions begin at 6:15; the sophomore and senior competitions begin at 7:00.
   • Tests will be passed out face down so that no questions are visible.
   • Each test will be exactly thirty minutes in length.
   • If a student arrives late, the student is not given extra time at the end.
   • The person in charge will tell the contestants to turn their papers over and write their name and school on top, and then begin timing.
   • If no clock is visible, the person in charge will announce when fifteen minutes remain.
   • The person in charge will announce when five minutes remain.
   • When time is up, the person in charge announces the end of the contest and tells students to hold their papers in the air while they are collected.

6. (Materials.) The only materials students may use during the contest are: pens or pencils, erasers, calculators, and extra batteries. Scratch paper will be provided.

   A student may use a paper or offline electronic foreign language dictionary. If electronic, the student should demonstrate the capabilities to the proctor. It must not contain formulas or other content that would give the student an unfair advantage.

   We will disqualify the scores of any student violating rule governing electronic devices. (“All electronic devices except for contest-approved calculators must be turned off and out of sight during contests.”)

7. (Issues with questions.) Once a test has begun, no problems will be altered and no questions will be answered. If a problem is impossible because it is underdetermined or overdetermined, the correct answer is “the problem is impossible.” If a problem is ambiguous, the contestant should select what seems to be the best interpretation and solve it.

8. (Appeals.) Coaches should keep all tests for two weeks after the contests in case of appeal. The appeals procedure is explained in a separate document.

9. (Competing at two levels.) Students may compete in more than one event at each meet. However, it is the philosophy of the league that as many students as possible participate. As such, no student should be left at home so that another student may compete at two levels. Students may compete above their grade level but not below it. No one may compete as a contestant in both the oral and written events at a given meet.

Conference Meet

The format of events at the conference meet is different from other meets. In particular:

• No alternates are allowed.
• No orals at the conference meet.