# Skills

Skills is perhaps the most important part of any robotics competition, at least for new teams. There are two types of Skills runs:

* **Driver** **Skills**: The driver gets one minute (1:00) to score as many points as possible on the field
* **Programming** **Skills**: A program has one minute (1:00) to score as many points as possible on the field

At every competition, you get three Skills attempts for each type of run. Your total Skills score is the sum of your best driver run and your best programming run. Even more, get your skills runs in **early**! Don't wait until the last minute--the line usually gets extra long near the end.

But why does it matter?

Well, skills rankings are the **best indicator of a team's true skill level**--that's because the randomness of qualification matches can cause even the best teams to rank poorly. However, Skills is only dependent on your team. 

Because of this, VEX uses Skills to award qualifications to teams for extra spots at States and Worlds. For example, when there are any extra spots left over in the State tournament, <mark style="color:purple;">**the remaining spots are awarded to the highest unqualified teams on that state's Skills rankings**</mark>. That means it's relatively easy to qualify to state; you just have to run Skills and do decently well.

The same thing applies for Worlds. When a team qualifies twice for Worlds (at States), then <mark style="color:purple;">**the extra Worlds spot is awarded to the highest unqualified team on the States Skill rankings**</mark>. This is, by far, the best way to qualify to Worlds. At TN States in 2023, all teams that ranked at least 16th in Skills qualified to Worlds.

In conclusion, do Skills--you won't regret it.


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