Scoring Configuration

Overview

CTSO Central's CMS allows you to create detailed multi-round scoring configurations for your competitive events. You can also select the advancement criteria, enabled categories, number of judges, and whether to carry over scores and materials between rounds.

By default, when you create a new competitive event, a single Preliminary Round is created. You can add additional rounds by clicking the Add Round button.

To view and edit the scoring configuration for a competitive event, click the "Scoring Config" tab in the CMS window. You can use the dropdown search bar to select your event from the list, or start typing an event (or its acronym) to search for it.

Adding a Round

1. Click the Add Round button.
2. Enter the round name and select whether the round is "Scored" or "Screening". "Screening" rounds are used to filter entrants for the next round, but whose scores are not used to determine advancement.
3. If you will be carrying over scores and materials between rounds, select the round you wish to source from in the dropdown. If you don't want to carry over scores and materials, select "No carry-over".
4. If you already have a schedule configured for this round, select the schedule you wish to use in the dropdown. If you don't want to use a schedule yet, select "No schedule".
5. Select whether you want to carry over scores, materials, or both by checking the appropriate boxes. These will be sourced from the round you selected in step 3.
6. Select the advancement criteria. The advancement criteria is the criteria by which entrants will be advanced to the next round. You can select from Top Overall or Rank in Section.
7. Select the enabled categories. These categories are from what's configured in the Categories tab of the Competitive Events entry. For more information, see the Competitive Events page. For each category, you can configure:
   • Whether to enable this category for this round.
   • Whether to carry over scores from the selected round you specified in step 3.
   • Whether to carry over materials from the selected round you specified in step 3.
   • A score multiplier to apply to scores for this category (i.e. 1x, 2x, 3, etc.)
   • The number of judges to use for this category.
   • The source of the scores.
8. Once you're finished configuring your settings, click the Save Changes button at the top.

Editing a Round

You can edit rounds with the same form as adding a round. Simply click the round you wish to edit and edit the desired sections. Once you're finished, click the "Save Changes" button at the top.

Locking a Round

To prevent accidental changes to a competitive event's scoring and advancement settings, you can lock the event's scoring configuration. Once an event's scoring configuration is locked, it cannot be edited until unlocked. To lock an event's scoring configuration, click the Lock button at the top. To unlock, simply click the Unlock button at the top.

Deleting a Round

To delete a round, click the icon. You will be asked to confirm the deletion.

Score Normalization

Score normalization corrects for judges who tend to score higher, lower, stricter, or more lenient than others, so a participant's ranking isn't skewed by which judge happened to score them. It affects rankings, reports, and transcripts; advancement between rounds uses raw scores by default. You configure normalization per scoring category, per round, from this screen.

There are two normalization methods: Full adjustment, which is the default, and Shift-only. In both cases, participants' raw scores are never changed. To set score normalization options for a round, click the icon in the scoring category you wish to configure.

Viewing Normalized Scores

If you have configured score normalization for a round, normalized scores are hidden in the scoring grid by default. To view them, simply click the Show Normalized button at the top. For each scoring category, you'll see a new column with the normalized scores indicated by (norm). You'll also see a colored value with a plus or minus indicating how much the score was adjusted through normalization. An additional column named "Norm. Total" will also display the student's new normalized total.

Normalization Methods

Full adjustment (the default)

Full adjustment lines up two things for each judge. It lines up where their scores sit on average and how far apart their scores are spread out. This effectively fixes a judge who marks everyone high or low. It also fixes a judge who bunches everyone together, scoring a whole section between 84 and 86 so real differences barely show.

This option is best when you want the most complete and accurate normalization. It treats a judge's spread as part of what needs fixing, not as a result.

One thing it cannot do, however, is separate two competitors a judge scored identically.

Shift-only

Shift-only lines up only where each judge sits on average. Unlike the method above, Shift-only leaves the spread alone.

In practice, every competitor a judge scored moves by the same number of points, in the same direction. A tough judge's whole group slides up together. A generous judge's whole group slides down together.

Because the group moves as one, the order inside it never changes. The exact point margins between those competitors never change either. All that changes is how the group lines up against everyone else.

One thing to be clear about, however, is that the group does not move by the full gap. Instead, it moves by less. How much less depends on how many competitors the judge scored.

Pick shift-only when you want the most conservative, easiest-to-explain correction. "The tough judge's whole section moved up by the same amount."

Choosing between them

• Use full adjustment for the best and most complete normalization. You accept that a narrow or wide spread is treated as the judge's doing, not the competitors'.
• Use shift-only for the most conservative normalization method. You accept it will not rescue a competitor buried behind a judge who scored everyone nearly the same.

If you're unsure, we recommend starting with the default. Switch to shift-only when you are absolutely sure you want to leave the spread alone.