Article: Trial by error.

Lessons hard learned are often best remembered. The saying is especially true for contestant 522 at this year's masonry competition at the Skills USA event in Kansas City in June.

Contestant 522 probably would have won the post-secondary level of the 41st annual competition, if he had paid attention to the plan details. The photo at the fight (top) is the model he was to build. The photo on the right (bottom) is what 522 built.

At first glance it looks close enough, and seems to be a quality job. But the upper course pattern with a few misoriented bricks on the top row at the back left corner wasn't what the designer wanted.

When the points were ...

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