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How Contest Entries Were Judged

We judged the contest entries by grade level, so our first step was to separate the entries by grade. If the entry came from a mixed-grade classroom, we ranked the class according to the highest grade in the class.

After that, we carefully reviewed each entry to see how many correct answers there were.

As indicated on the Checklist, to be a correct answer in this contest, the answer needed to provide BOTH:

1) The CITY/TOWN/VILLAGE

AND

2) The COUNTRY.

Questions? Don't See your Class Listed?

If you expected your class to be included among the list of entries with the most correct answers, please be sure that you carefully review your answers again, and ask yourself these questions:

"Did I submit my answer by the contest deadline?"

"Did each of my answers give BOTH the correct
city and the correct country?"

Then, also read the Special Notes below about how we judged the answers for several specific Mystery Class sites.

Special Notes

For MC#3 (Pigeon, USA [Michigan]), the correct city is Pigeon, and the correct country is the United States. If you only answered "Pigeon, Michigan" without also giving the United States, then your answer is not complete and therefore not correct, because you did not list the country. The same rule applies inside and outside the United States. Look at these examples:

Remember, to be a correct answer, your answer needed to provide BOTH:

The CITY/TOWN/VILLAGE and the COUNTRY.

Example

Correct:
City: Pigeon, Country: United States

Incorrect:
City: Pigeon, State: Michigan

Example

Correct:
City: Sapporo, Country: Japan

Incorrect:
City: Sapporo, State: Hokkaido


For MC #5 (Ny-Alesund, Norway), the correct city is Ny-Alesund; other separate cities on the island of Spitsbergen such as Longyearbyen, Pyramiden, and Barentsburg are not correct, nor is the city of Alesund, which is located on the mainland of Norway. If you listed Spitsbergen or Svalbard for either the city or the country, neither would be correct as Spitsbergen is the name of an Island, and Svalbard is the name of the province/territory. And the correct country is Norway.

For MC #6,(Kuwait City, Kuwait), the correct city is Kuwait City. Because it is also known by the name Madinat al-Kuwait, we accepted that as the correct city as well. In addition, the specific Mystery Class school at this location is technically located just minutes in away from Kuwait City in the neighboring governate of Hawalli, so we also accepted Hawalli as a correct city. For the country, Kuwait is the correct country. "Middle East" is a region, and not a country, so therefore it is not acceptable.

For MC #7 (Rothera Research Station, Adelaide Island, Antarctca). No country was required for this location, because the continent of Antarctica is not part of any one country. For the city/town, we accepted Rothera Research Station or Rothera Point as correct, and we also accepted Adelaide Island as correct too. Answers listing McMurdo Station, Amundsen-Scott Station, South Pole Station, Palmer Station, Ross Island, or other locations are not correct.

Note: If you still feel your answer should have been listed, don't be alarmed, we will look into it for you. Just send any questions to our feedback form. (Include your name, e-mail address, school, grade etc that you included on your Contest entry form.)