Should I do any motion or run it straight up? I've done both but haven't figured out which works better just yet.

Hey everyone, I have a welding competition coming up on March 18 that could pay for my school. It's a vertical up pad with 3/32 7018 on a 9x5 3/8" inch plate. He wants the beads overlapped around 48%. Iv'e been doing pretty good but sometimes i have dips and vallys and sometimes i have bumps an...