I agree the bottom half and top half is something that needs to go. It makes no sense to me. If you look at Area contests before this went into effect, you could still make an impact in finals because judges didn't have a predetermined order. Now you know the last half are the bands that go to state, everyone else keep lower.

We've gone from 12th to being at State before (and not the last spot moving on either!). Definitely can't happen now. Very little changes happening from prelims to finals now. While that's good for some bands, it seems like we should just have the top half perform then. Make it random, and better yet - a new judging panel for finals!

I also strongly think that UIL telling judges they are outliers as highs or lows now, is also something that is questionable. Lots of changes recently that benefit very few I think, and possibly tarnish the results of contests.