How to Study Rules

1. How to Study Rules SASA 2015

2. Establish a Study Routine • My Routine: • Take 300 test questions per year • Write 200 test question per year • Read rulebook cover to cover each year • Review every new rule bulletin upon release • Review rules bulletins prior to clinic

3. How to TAKE test questions • Find any tests you can (CFO test, conference practice tests, old conference clinic tests, etc.) and take about 200 questions “cold” (no study, closed book, no discussion, etc.) over time throughout the early part of the offseason. Correct each of these test questions using the rulebook only (not answer key), writing down ALL applicable rule references until you are 100% sure of the answer without using answer key. Take remaining 100 questions in simulated test environments leading up to clinic test. Plan time to be alone and take a test in a 20-30 question block, put yourself on a clock that is similar to the amount of time you would be given at the clinic to take the test. Set up rewards (or punishments) with your wife, officiating friends, etc. so you have something on the line that will help simulate the pressure of the testing environment. Grade yourself using an answer key in the presence of your wife, friends, etc. and share results with them. Analyze areas of weakness for last-minute study leading up to clinic test.

4. How to WRITE test questions • As you take your 200 questions throughout the early part of the offseason and then correct them using the rulebook, identify areas of weakness or lack of understanding. Write three types of questions for each area of weakness (all in play situation format). Create one basic questions (one layer), create a moderately challenging question (two layers) and create a very challenging question (three or more layers). Catalog and save these questions. If this process does not create 200 questions, begin challenging your officiating friends to rules competitions. Create a 20-30 question test and meet together to take and review it.

5. How to perform on your clinic test • If you have implemented the principles above, you will be well-equipped to deal with the pressure of a proctored clinic test. You will know how it feels to take a closed-book test, on the clock, with something on the line. Unfamiliarity with this feeling is caused by a failure to acclimate the mind and body to these situations, and results in the phenomenon of being a “bad test-taker.” However even if you have used these techniques, there is nothing that quite replicates the feeling of sitting down at that clinic and taking the test with your schedule on the line. • For that and many other reasons, a simple and repeatable routine is essential to successfully answer test questions on a subject as potentially complex as NCAA football rules. A routine helps “peel back the layers” of a question, it serves as a system of “checks & balances” that eliminates math and reading errors, and it helps mitigate the stress of the testing environment, among many other things.

6. Here is MY routine: • Result of the play • Segments • Fouls/Violations • Who gets the ball • Enforcement • Result of the penalty • Answer the question • Review it • MOVE ON!!

7. Result of the play • Take out all consideration for penalties, violations, etc. and first determine the result of the play and write it down in your notes or on the test. Decide whether the result is a touchdown, touchback, safety, field goal, incomplete pass, first down, etc. For instance, if a player catches a legal forward pass in his opponent’s endzone, the “result of the play” is a touchdown even though there may be a foul by the offense that ultimately nullifies that result. You will usually first have to analyze the play situation including down & distance, timing, etc. in order to successfully understand the result of the play. On very complex questions, you may have to skip ahead to step two in order to understand the result of the play.

8. Segments • Break the play down into logical segments. The first segment is always the previous down & distance. What makes sense for me from there is to consider any “new run” or change in the status of the ball as a new segment. For each segment it is critical to know the status of the ball (i.e. live, dead, in player possession, or if loose – kick, pass or fumble), which team is in possession of the ball and which team is responsible for the ball’s progress in any direction (i.e. “impetus”). With experience or on very simple questions, the segmenting process can be done in your head. On more complex questions you can use a highlighter to mark each segment in the question, or even use a note pad to number and label the segments and note all the relevant information.

9. Fouls/Violations • Identify any action in the question that is a foul or violation by rule. Note which fouls/violations occur during which segments of the play (this is CRITICAL for enforcement), and note the penalty associated with each foul (i.e. 15 yards and automatic 1st down, loss of down at the previous spot, etc.). You may want to circle the language in the test question and label it as a foul or violation.

10. Who gets the ball? • After analyzing the result of the play and the various fouls/violations and associated penalties, determine who is going to end up with the ball by rule. For instance, if Team A and Team B both commit a foul on a play, but Team B gets the ball with “clean hands” then Team B is going to end up with the ball by declining offsetting fouls and taking the ball after enforcement of its penalty. This will help you know which penalties will be declined, and which might be accepted and subsequently enforced.

11. Enforcement • Once you know which penalties will (or may) be accepted, determine the proper enforcement for each. Use your “segment” notes to ensure each penalty is properly enforced. Once you’ve made this determination, WRITE DOWN in your notes or on the test the name of the foul and the penalty that will be enforced, including the enforcement spot and the justification for the enforcement spot. For instance: “Holding by Team B, enforced 10 yards from the end of the kick because the foul meets the requirements for PSK and it occurs beyond the end of the kick,” or “Illegal shift by Team A, DPI by Team B, Team B does not get the ball with clean hands, penalties will offset and the down will be repeated,” etc. If there is more than one reasonable enforcement option, list all that apply.

12. Result of the penalty • Determine whether enforcement of a penalty results in a first down, loss of down, safety, repeat of the down, etc. WRITE DOWN in your notes: “penalty results in a first down for Team A,” or “penalty results in a re-kick,” etc.

13. Answer the question • Once you have identified the best available option, do the math and write down your answer. This is an area where mistakes are often made. There are tricks to avoiding math mistakes and you have to find something that works for you. Some people try to visualize themselves on the field marching off the penalty, some people like to draw a diagram of the field and then draw out the enforcement. The key is to find something that works for you that can be done quickly and accurately. If the play situation is anywhere near the 50-yard line, be extra careful doing the math since you may have to cross midfield. Be extra careful on “half the distance” penalties because it’s easy to get confused.

14. Review it • If you have followed your routine you should have some key pieces of information written in your notes or on the test. Use this information, as well as the previous down & distance as a quick way to review your answer. For clock status, go back to your notes for step one where you identified the result of the play. Does the clock status in your answer match the result of the play you have listed? To make sure you have the correct team with the ball, check your notes from step four – does the team with the ball in your answer match the team you have listed getting the ball in step four? To determine the number of the next down, check your notes from step six – does the down match? To see if your distance/yardline is correct, compare your answer with the previous down and distance. Does it make sense? Does anything look strange? For instance, did the previous play start at the A20 and your answer has the next play starting at the B20? If anything seems odd, double-check your math.

15. Move on! • This final step might be the most important. If you’ve truly executed the previous steps of your routine, there’s no need to revisit a question as this may only lead to second-guessing. If, however, you were not able to conclusively move from one step of your routine to the next because you simply didn’t know the answer, then circle the number of the question and move on to the next one. You may encounter other information later in the test that gives you clues about answers to questions you don’t know. In any case this will allow you to answer the questions you know and spend the remaining time doing your best to answer the questions you are unsure about.

16. THE END – GOOD LUCK!!