Dux of the Forum

[Saffron]

Right, kids – school is in! The search is on, as NoHints put it so nicely, for the Forum SmartyPants, otherwise known as The Dux/Valedictorian of the Forum
The New Year brings a different type of competition where you can be involved in as few or as many of the stages as you want. The full comp will be made up of 5 rounds – each being based on different school subjects – English, Science, Music, Maths and Humanities/Art, but if you don’t want to be/can’t be part of all of it, there are plenty of opportunities throughout to win special mentions and other awards.

The full comp lasts for a loooooooooong time, and will be interrupted for things like Valentines Day and Easter…..but should give you something interesting to do in between ;)

Here’s how it works:
Points are gained in each subject round via various methods, and are added together to give a final Grade for that subject. Each subject (whilst not necessarily having the same scoring method or number of points to score) will carry the same weight for the overall Grade – ie each subject will be converted to a Grade out of 100, and the total Grade will be out of 600. Each subject, however, will have its own Master, so if English is your forte, you can enter that round only and be happy being the Master of English.

Note this is not an academic test/quiz where the answers can be easily found via Google – it involves some more….unusual and interesting ways of gaining points related to each subject - some involving skill, some involving luck, and some of which have been shamelessly lifted from ideas in the forum games section ;)

How the bonus points work:
You get 25 bonus points the first time you enter.
These Bonus points can be used by you at any stage - but once they are used, they are gone.
You can use them in a round you do not enter to get 25 points for that round, however, most rounds have a total maximum points of around 200, so it's not likely to do much.
At the end of each round, I will post what the maximum score possible for the round is, and you need to tell me BEFORE the closing date for that round whether you wish to use some bonus points.
You do not need to use all 25 points at the same time, you can spread them across rounds.
Any bonus points you do not use before the end of the competition will be added to your total Dux score.
The rounds will be done in the order listed - ie English, Science, Music, Maths, Humanities/Arts. (I have combined the Humanities and Art rounds to even up the max points available in each round.)

More about Bonus Points:
Your final score for each round will be calculated like this:
(Total points gained from the questions + any bonus points you choose to use) DIVIDED BY (the total maximum points available in that round +25) * 100

Note that maximum points are not likely to be gained by anyone in any one round due to each round having some kind of poll that ranks a particular answer....however, the maximum points available in each round (not including the 25 bonus points) is between 180 and 280. I really don't want to commit to any more detail as I am still finalising the later rounds.......but hopefully that gives people some info to work on for their bonus points.

What prizes can I get?
There are three levels of prizes, which I am currently talking to da bosses about:

The Dux of the Forum (DOF) will be the person with the highest Grade when adding the weighted scores of all 6 subjects plus any bonus points together.

Special Plaques will also be given to the Master of each subject – ie the entrant with the highest Grade in that subject, and

Honourable Mentions will be offered to winners of some of the rounds within some of the subjects – these will all be notified as they come up.

Instructions: Just follow the instructions as I put them up ^^

[Buffers]

I'm intrigued

[Capt_Sparrow]

Umm what's a dux?

[db1986]

Oooh, this looks interesting.

Just to clarify, (Dux, lifted directly from Wiki)
Dux (plural: duces) is Latin for leader (from the verb ducere, 'to lead') and could refer to anyone who commanded troops, such as tribal leaders.

[NoHints]

I think this meaning is more likely:

Originally Posted by wikipedia.org/wiki/Dux

In schools in Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Iceland, Dux is a modern title given to the top student in academic and sporting achievement (Dux Litterarum and Dux Ludorum respectively) in each graduating year. In this usage, Dux is similar to the American concept of a valedictorian. The runner up may be given the title Proxime Accessit (meaning "he came next") or Semidux.

The forum is slightly lacking in troops to command for the Roman meaning to really be valid...

The search for the Forum Smartypants begins!

[db1986]

Ooh OK, that's probably why I've never heard of it, thanks NH.
I'm still intrigued

[Saffron]

Thanks MrHints - that is exactly what I mean...
Good start, huh?

[db1986]

I wonder if I have set a trend? I'll be checking each post for strange letters and words

[Ches]

When I saw this thread I thought it was a cool way of spelling 'ducks'.

[Saffron]

Nah db, nothing so tricky.
And Ches gets 10 bonus points already just for that drawing.
And....hmmm - that picture under your name.....I wonder if that could be a way of attaching the awards to people's titles.....is there a maximum length that a persons rank can be? You could just add a little award icon to the front of their title :P (or however you did that)

[Ches]

Originally Posted by Saffron

Nah db, nothing so tricky.
And Ches gets 10 bonus points already just for that drawing.
And....hmmm - that picture under your name.....I wonder if that could be a way of attaching the awards to people's titles.....is there a maximum length that a persons rank can be? You could just add a little award icon to the front of their title :P (or however you did that)

I've been playing around... that was a lil test image that I completely forgot to remove! I'm sure there is a maximum length, but I haven't reached it yet.

[ILoveMaths07]

Umm... What's this all about? What do we have to do? Is this a game?

[Sunny1]

Yay I wanna play!!!!
Give me bonus points too!!!!!

[storm]

Mm.. I thought it was a cool way of spelling ducks too. Daffy Duck <3

[ProofReader]

[TempusFugit]

Originally Posted by Ches

I've been playing around... that was a lil test image that I completely forgot to remove! I'm sure there is a maximum length, but I haven't reached it yet.

* TempusFugit just chuckles (wisely) and winks at the gals....

Originally Posted by ProofReader

LMAO!!! Very nice Proofie!!!! lol


Well... I'm excited!! Love the 'tease' and can't wait for this one to start!

[Saffron]

Originally Posted by TempusFugit

* TempusFugit;155974 just chuckles (wisely) and winks at the gals....

OMG HAHA Mrs Ches is in for a nice surprise in the future then

5 bonus points to ProofReader for that duck icon
and 1 bonus point to ILoveMaths07 cos so much just goes flying over his head.....like migrating ducks really

[storm]

Oohh Saff... a shiny new rank

Nice one!

[/spam] XD

[jenni939706]

im confused -_-

[NoHints]

I'm confused by your confusion.

[jenni939706]

tsk, im confused by ur confusion by my confusion.

and phooey. whats with the points.

[Buffers]

Originally Posted by jenni939706

im confused -_-

Originally Posted by NoHints

I'm confused by your confusion.

Originally Posted by jenni939706

tsk, im confused by ur confusion by my confusion.

and phooey. whats with the points.

I'm confused at all the confusion about NoHints being confused about jenni's confusion. It's confusing.

* Buffers reaches for the Java...

[TempusFugit]

Leave Java out of this Buffers

* TempusFugit is confused at all the confusion that NoHints being confused about Jenni's confusion has caused Buffers proclaiming her desire to reach for Java (which is very confusing and worrying ) I sincerely wonder whether all this confusion could possibly be resolved by my requesting that you don't spam

[jenni939706]

tsk. im just confuzzled by the whole bonus points..and when saff'll finally post the intent of this XD

and terribly sorry clocky....didnt mean to spam :P my first comment bout confusion was perfectly fine. nh started it

* jenni939706 runs off

[Buffers]

Originally Posted by TempusFugit

Leave Java out of this Buffers

* TempusFugit;156018 is confused at all the confusion that NoHints being confused about Jenni's confusion has caused Buffers proclaiming her desire to reach for Java (which is very confusing and worrying ) I sincerely wonder whether all this confusion could possibly be resolved by my requesting that you don't spam

Let me spell this out for you:





Hippo + Crate

Can you tell what it is yet?

* Buffers refrains from spamming any more...