Difference between revisions of "Sega Test"

From Sega Retro

(→‎Test details: Removed the subsection headings. I don't feel they're needed here.)
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Each of the three Sega Tests consisted of sixty multiple choice questions, with a 1 hour time limit. Provided you had pre-registered, the entrant logged into the Sega Test website with the same credentials in advance of the test time, and were greeted with a Japanese-university-style exam paper cover page holding screen, with a Javascript button that enable itself at the exact start of the test time. The entrant had to click that button within 5 minutes of the test start time, or they were not allowed access to take the test. While most questions consisted of picking a single choice from the 4 available, some questions required you to pick multiple answers, and some to arrange all 4 answers into a requested order. The first three questions were the same on all three tests, with questions 4 to 60 being unique between all three tests. A Javascript countdown timer enforced a limit of 60 seconds per question - when 60 seconds had elapsed, the test moved on to the next question regardless of whether or not the entrant had selected an answer or not. At the end of each test the user was congratulated on finishing, told they would learn the results at a later date, and the time of the next test (in JST, regardless of local timezone). There was also an option to share your completion of the test on Twitter, Facebook, or LINE.
 
Each of the three Sega Tests consisted of sixty multiple choice questions, with a 1 hour time limit. Provided you had pre-registered, the entrant logged into the Sega Test website with the same credentials in advance of the test time, and were greeted with a Japanese-university-style exam paper cover page holding screen, with a Javascript button that enable itself at the exact start of the test time. The entrant had to click that button within 5 minutes of the test start time, or they were not allowed access to take the test. While most questions consisted of picking a single choice from the 4 available, some questions required you to pick multiple answers, and some to arrange all 4 answers into a requested order. The first three questions were the same on all three tests, with questions 4 to 60 being unique between all three tests. A Javascript countdown timer enforced a limit of 60 seconds per question - when 60 seconds had elapsed, the test moved on to the next question regardless of whether or not the entrant had selected an answer or not. At the end of each test the user was congratulated on finishing, told they would learn the results at a later date, and the time of the next test (in JST, regardless of local timezone). There was also an option to share your completion of the test on Twitter, Facebook, or LINE.
  
===Test 1===
+
The first Sega Test was held on Saturday the 23rd of January 2021, at 11AM UTC / 8PM JST. The Javascript-based time limit script was actually broken on this first test: it started at 600 minutes and counted down from there, and as such the auto-advance did not work correctly. This issue was resolved by the time of the second test, and worked as intended on Tests 2 and 3. The second Sega Test was held on Sunday the 24th of January 2021, at 1AM UTC / 10AM JST. The third and final Sega Test was held on Sunday the 24th of January 2021, at 8AM UTC / 5PM JST.
The first Sega Test was held on Saturday the 23rd of January 2021, at 11AM UTC / 8PM JST. The Javascript-based time limit script was actually broken on this first test: it started at 600 minutes and counted down from there, and as such the auto-advance did not work correctly. This issue was resolved by the time of the second test, and worked as intended on Tests 2 and 3.
 
 
 
===Test 2===
 
The second Sega Test was held on Sunday the 24th of January 2021, at 1AM UTC / 10AM JST.  
 
 
 
===Test 3===
 
The third Sega Test was held on Sunday the 24th of January 2021, at 8AM UTC / 5PM JST.
 
  
 
==Post-test controversy==
 
==Post-test controversy==

Revision as of 19:32, 15 February 2021

The Sega Test was a series of three examinations held by Sega over the weekend of the 23rd and 24th of January, 2021, at the website https://segatest.sega.com. The three tests were part of Sega's celebration of its 60th anniversary, and as such covered Sega titles and projects from 1960 all the way to the present day. All three tests consisted of sixty multiple-choice questions with a 1 hour time limit, and were available in both Japanese and English. They were styled like a Japanese university examination; with a pre-registration process, and with four seminars held by Sega employees from around the world for "revision" before the dates of the tests themselves. Entrants were ranked based on their score, with a weighted marking system giving your "SEGA IQ" - i.e. scoring the same result on two different tests gave a different "SEGA IQ" for each one. Entrants could take as many of the three tests as they wanted, with their score for each being stored. All entrants were entered into an initial prize draw, with everyone who got a "SEGA IQ" of 60 or higher as their best result getting an additional special medal graphic, with their name and "SEGA IQ" on it. Those with 60 or above were also entered into a second prize draw, for an additional prize. However, only Japanese-based entrants were able to claim the prizes if they won.

Initial announcement

The Sega Test was announced on Monday the 30th of November 2020, with the first "Sega Seminar" video uploaded at the same time. Entrants could look around the front page of the site at https://segatest.sega.com and get a feel of what was going to happen (including a brief summary of the test layout and rules), but were not able to pre-register until the 12th of January 2021.

Sega Seminars

Before the tests were held, Sega uploaded 5 videos to YouTube, or "Sega Seminars", on various topics that showed up as some of the test questions.

Seminar 1

Uploaded on the 30th of November 2020, Hiroyuki Miyazaki held a talk in Japanese (with English subtitles) on consumer hardware, focusing on the Planet codenames system used by Sega, entitled "「セガい共通テスト」公式対策オンライン講座「セガゼミ」 第1回 コンシューマ:ハード ミヤヒロ先生 - (~This winter, you get to know SEGA more.~)" [1] Also shown in this video was a prototype of the Sega Nomad hardware, labelled up with the system's codename of Venus, that had never been seen before.

Seminar 2

Uploaded on the 7th of December 2020, Yosuke Okunari held a talk in Japanese (with English subtitles) on consumer software entitled "「セガい共通テスト」公式対策オンライン講座「セガゼミ」 第2回 コンシューマ:ソフト 奥成先生 (The 2nd Session of SEGA SEMINAR: Consumer Software Lecture by Prof. Okunari)"[2], focusing on Saturn software that had also been given astronomy codenames, this time based on constellations. Most of these were previously unknown.

Seminar 3

Uploaded on the 14th of December 2020, Kensaku Nishimura held a talk in Japanese (with English subtitles) on arcade and trading card games entitled "「セガい共通テスト」公式対策オンライン講座「セガゼミ」 第3回 アーケード 西村先生 (The 3rd Session of SEGA SEMINAR: Arcade Games Lecture by Prof. Nishimura.)"[3] This covered WCCF and Mushiking, amongst others.

Seminar 4

Unlike the previous three seminars, Seminar 4 consisted of two videos, both uploaded on the 21st of December 2020.

The first was a talk by Katie Chrzanowski in English (with Japanese subtitles) entitled "「セガい共通テスト」公式対策オンライン講座「セガゼミ」 第4回 バーチャ留学 「セガ オブ アメリカ:WHO IS SONIC?講座」(The 4th Session of SEGA SEMINAR, “Virtua Study Abroad” 『WHO IS SONIC?』Lecture by Sega of America)"[4], on the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.

The second was a talk in English (with Japanese subtitles) by Ibrahim Bhatti, Marta Camillo and Chris Bailey entitled "「セガい共通テスト」公式対策オンライン講座「セガゼミ」 第4回 バーチャ留学 「セガ ヨーロッパ:EUROPE STUDIOS講座」(The 4th Session of SEGA SEMINAR, “Virtua Study Abroad” 『EUROPE STUDIOS』Lecture by Sega Europe)"[5], on Sega's various European studios and properties.

Pre-registration

Pre-registration for the tests commenced on the 12th of January 2021, and required you to log into the Sega Test website using either Twitter credentials or Facebook ones. Once this process was completed and authentication granted using the social network chosen, the entrant was shown a confirmation page, and reminded to keep studying until the date of the tests, which were also shown, along with the start times in JST. Also available, for showing you'd signed up, were Twitter, Facebook and LINE share buttons.

Test details

Each of the three Sega Tests consisted of sixty multiple choice questions, with a 1 hour time limit. Provided you had pre-registered, the entrant logged into the Sega Test website with the same credentials in advance of the test time, and were greeted with a Japanese-university-style exam paper cover page holding screen, with a Javascript button that enable itself at the exact start of the test time. The entrant had to click that button within 5 minutes of the test start time, or they were not allowed access to take the test. While most questions consisted of picking a single choice from the 4 available, some questions required you to pick multiple answers, and some to arrange all 4 answers into a requested order. The first three questions were the same on all three tests, with questions 4 to 60 being unique between all three tests. A Javascript countdown timer enforced a limit of 60 seconds per question - when 60 seconds had elapsed, the test moved on to the next question regardless of whether or not the entrant had selected an answer or not. At the end of each test the user was congratulated on finishing, told they would learn the results at a later date, and the time of the next test (in JST, regardless of local timezone). There was also an option to share your completion of the test on Twitter, Facebook, or LINE.

The first Sega Test was held on Saturday the 23rd of January 2021, at 11AM UTC / 8PM JST. The Javascript-based time limit script was actually broken on this first test: it started at 600 minutes and counted down from there, and as such the auto-advance did not work correctly. This issue was resolved by the time of the second test, and worked as intended on Tests 2 and 3. The second Sega Test was held on Sunday the 24th of January 2021, at 1AM UTC / 10AM JST. The third and final Sega Test was held on Sunday the 24th of January 2021, at 8AM UTC / 5PM JST.

Post-test controversy

Test contents

Test 1

Test 2

Test 3

Test results

The results of the Sega Test were released on Friday the 5th of February 2021. Entrants could log in using the same Twitter or Facebook credentials they'd used to take the tests with, and see a personalised answer key for where they'd been correct - or not - for each question on the tests they had personally taken.

Test prize draws

References