Suggested Tips

When the team that has represented Ohio at Nationals returns, the steering committee gratefully accepts tips for future teams. Please find this information on the link on the home page entitled “Scrapbook” thanks to some of our past teams representing Ohio at Nationals.

More general suggestions can be found below.

• The Future City Competition takes time so plan accordingly
• Teacher: 30-40 hours
• Mentor: 20-40 hours
• Students:
• Design city: 18-20 hours
• Build model: 40-60 hours
• Essay: 8 hours
• Presentation: 7 hours
• Keep parents informed. Make sure parents of the student competitors know about the competition requirements and schedule. Send a letter to parents home with the students.
• You need to be successful on all phases of the project to win.
• See teacher handbook for scoring deductions and Important Dates
• Teachers and engineer mentors act as advisors. The students are the designers and adults are there to support and encourage them.
• Consider bringing in topic area experts (for example: power generation and energy management) to give a brief presentation.
• Only the three students presenting to the judges at COSI will receive prizes and program recognition. This is carried out from Nationals. A certificate template is available in the handbook for building level recognition.
• Penalty points for late work won't kill your chances. If you need a couple more days to complete your city design or essay, you might want to consider turning your work in late and accepting the penalty points (they count for less than 2% of total score). However, fractions of points have historically separated the scores and team ranking. See Important Dates for more information.

When you start SimCity, build slowly and wisely. Your new SimCity city is a balancing act between income and expenses for building infrastructure. Don't build more than you can afford. There are several good tutorials in the manual and you can also refer to the SimCity Handbook (2 mb).