If you are the kind of person who uses brains to beat brawn. If you prefer an evening in the library to one in MARENA, and if you want to be the very best-like no one ever was, then Acumen is the category for you.

ATR
Ashish Sharma

The first round of Acumen’s treasure hunt contest, ATR (short for the Amazing Tech Race) stayed true to the tradition of TechTatva by conducting a myriad of written tests over the first three days. The event got off to a late start but received an overwhelming turnout, filling NLH 303 and 304 with eager participants, most of whom were first years.

The question paper had three sections with a mix of logical reasoning questions and questions that required the application of basic scientific knowledge. A few hiccups faced during the written rounds pertained mostly to erroneously printed questions that, because of their riddle-like nature, resulted in a lot of confusion among the participants.

PC: The Photography and Videography Dept.

The final round of ATR, conducted on the last day of TechTatva, had stations, each containing a unique science related puzzle, spread out all over the MIT campus. The twelve qualifying teams competed with each other in the midday heat to find and solve challenges at each station. The challenges, reminiscent of science experiment videos on YouTube, made the event extremely engaging. To turn the competition up a notch, the materials available to solve each challenge were limited and hence, needed to be purchased using tokens. The team that located and solved the maximum number of challenges in the shortest time would emerge victorious.

ATR was a very popular event, given the substantial turnout it received over the course of the fest, the delays being the only discrepancies marring the event’s otherwise smooth run.

AIB
Shaleen Kalsi

AIB by Acumen was designed to test the participants’ ability to solve problems based on elementary science. Staying true to the event description, round one of AIB comprised a challenging written test. The set of thirty questions-though based on basic science-took everyone by surprise and the participants clearly had to scramble for answers. Twelve teams out of those that appeared for the test progressed to round two of the event.

PC: The Photography and Videography Dept.

Round 2 was divided into three sub-rounds, with four teams getting eliminated at the end of each sub-round. In the video round, the teams were shown clips of everyday-science phenomena and asked the explanation. For the second round, which was the buzzer round, teams were segregated into pairs, pitted against each other, and asked quite quirky questions.

The most well structured round was the ‘Games of Thrones’ based round. Though the questions were essentially based on science, the TV show’s elements had been incorporated into the format. Each team was assigned a house with secret special powers. With every question that they answered correctly, the teams got to move up a position. The event was well-organised and progressed without a hiccup.

MIQ
Meghana Dharmapuri

‘MIQ’ or Manipal Intelligence Quotient, started out with an excellent turnout on Day 1 with NLH 303 packed with participants, Round 1 being a qualifying round. The quiz itself was meticulous with the participants strictly being monitored to ensure transparency. The event continued smoothly for three days with participants being eliminated and the standard of questions increasing each day. By the end of Day 3, eight participants qualified for the final round.

Round 2 of MIQ saw a variety of activities that had the entire room in a frenzy till the very end. Round 2 was further divided into three sub-rounds.

The first sub-round consisted of five mind-games laid out on a table. The objective was to complete each of the games in under eleven minutes. The marking was such that the participant would score ten points if the puzzle were solved in under five minutes and five points if under eleven minutes. The games were extremely interesting –  unique arrangement tactics, solving mazes, aligning objects under constraints. Out of eight participants, only six advanced to the next sub-round.

PC: The Photography and Videography Dept.

The second sub-round expected the semi- finalists to write a general aptitude quiz consisting of ten riddles, testing the basic cognitive abilities of the competitors. Again, two participants with the least score were eliminated.

The final sub-round saw four students in a battle of wits. In round-robin style, two participants were pitted against each other to solve puzzles under certain time constraints. After every dual, the combination of pairs was changed and points won in each were noted. The one standing with maximum marks in the end, would emerge victorious.