Round Three, the final round of theoretical questions for VISTA 2011, ended last month. As with the two earlier rounds, the final results and statistics have revealed high participation rates and strong performances in all markets, making it another successful round.
Participation
3276 teams completed Round Three, meaning that the drop out rate remains impressively low at only 4%. With all 565 teams from Asia also completing the third round, the ATO region managed to achieve the extraordinary feat of going through all three rounds without a single drop out! Quite possibly the first time in VISTA’s 53-year history that such a feat has been achieved on such a scale.
It is estimated that Round Three led to around 120,000 hours of extra training for Volvo personnel worldwide.
Level of difficulty
As promised, Round Three was the most challenging of the competition, with just about all participants claiming it was noticeably tougher. And yet the average global score, 21.4, was actually higher than Round One’s 20.7, suggesting that while the questions were tougher, teams were also getting better. The percentage of correct answers was 71%, which is also higher than the 69% recorded in Round One. 69 teams, including 64 from Europe, scored a maximum of 30 points for Round Three, compared to 75 teams in Round Two and 22 teams in Round One.
Best-performing regions and markets
The best performing region in Round Three was Central Europe with 83% correct answers, followed by Russia, Italy and Central East Europe. Russia finishing second means they have finished amongst the top two best performing regions in all three rounds, making them the most consistent high performing market in VISTA 2011.
The biggest improver was Italy, who went from having the fourth lowest average score in Round Two, to the equal third highest in Round Three. Generally speaking just about all markets recorded lower average scores in Round Three, reflecting the tougher questions being asked, yet Italy and Central Europe both defied the trends and improved their average scores.
Unfortunately for many teams, participation in VISTA 2011 now ends, but hopefully everyone who has taken part has gained new knowledge, made new friends, enjoyed the experience, and will be back for VISTA 2013. Next week, the semi finals begin, which will determine which lucky teams will make it to the World Final in Gothenburg this June.
