The people who did best tended to have long silences at first and get more chatty as they went on. The ones who dove right in coding and chatting did poorly.

The people who did best tended to have long silences at first and get more chatty as they went on. The ones who dove right in coding and chatting did poorly. I held that against them as a sign that they would always code first and think about correctness later, which may have been unfair. Maybe I'll make "talk as you go" optional next time, in case it pressures people down the wrong path.