Alright, I don't understand science olympiad at all.

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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<p>so I talked to a teacher and a friend and I are co-founding a science olympiad team next year. We're supposed to run it and all that jazz, but we honestly don't understand how it even works. </p>

<p>I went on the website and maybe I'm just really bad at reading but I dont know when it is, how to register, what the events are like/how to prep, how many people you need on a team, or really anything. </p>

<p>So now I'm desperate, please help me!</p>

<p>And if anyone wants to tell me about USABO and their experiences with it, I'm definitely interested in prepping for that too :)</p>

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<p>Anyone?? :)</p>

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<p>There’s quite a bit to know. I’m not 100% sure on how to register, but I can help you if you want information on how to prep and whatnot. It’s quite a bit, so send me a pm.</p>

<p>I’m also feeling really lazy and I don’t feel like typing it out right now.</p>

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<p>I suppose I’ll explain this if it isn’t too late. I was in the middle school Science Olympiad for 3 years and got numerous medals, and I’m going to join the high school SO next year.</p>

<p>Basically, there are 23 events where are listed [here[/url</a>]. (Note that these are last year’s events; the event list changes a bit each year. Next year’s events will probably be posted soon.) The events include “study events” (e.g. Anatomy, Astronomy, Fossils), “lab events” (e.g. chemistry lab, wind power, protein modeling), and “building events” (e.g. helicopters, mousetrap vehicle, towers). Competing teams are a maximum of 15 people with a limit of 7 seniors. Usually each student is assigned 2-5 events, and most events allow teams of 2 (protein modeling and experimental design allow teams of 3). There are a variety of ways to pick team members and assign events – you could have tryout tests, or you could let anyone join the club and then decide who competes based on worth ethic. Some events may conflict at competitions due to scheduling issues, so it is a good idea to have at least 1 person as a backup for the study/lab events.</p>

<p>Preparation strategies can vary based on the event. Study events are not nearly as competitive as International Science Olympiads, including IBO/USABO. However, it’s a good idea to get a textbook on the event topic and read some of it. Some events allow binders, note sheets, or even laptops to the competitions, which will take a bit of time to assemble. Much of SO is about working cooperatively, so try to study and practice a lot with your event partner. Lab events are the same, but will require more practicing and less studying. Building events are very collaborative. Start by building a device that is in compliance with the rules, then test it and improve it. I’d reccomend taking a look at <a href=“http://www.scioly.org%5B/url%5D”>www.scioly.org](<a href=“http://soinc.org/2011_div_c_events]here[/url”>http://soinc.org/2011_div_c_events)</a>, a student forum with specific event help.</p>

<p>There are four categories of competition: invitationals, regionals, states, and nationals. Invitational competitions are hosted by schools unaffiliated with Science Olympiad Inc. They’re sort of like practice tournaments and are run earlier in the school year (usually around Jan or Feb). They’re completely optional, but some can get quite competitive. Regional competitions are small, yet official tournaments which decide the teams that go to states. Some small or uncompetitive states do not have regionals because there aren’t enough teams. The state competition decides which teams go to nationals. In big SO states (NY, PA, OH, IL, CA) the state tournament is extremely competitive and takes a lot of work to get a medal. The top 1 or 2 schools goes to the national tournament. I believe CA has 2 state competitions because it is so big. Obviously nationals has very tough competition. It is hosted at a different university every year; last year it was at University of Illinois, next year it is in Miami.</p>

<p>At a tournament, a school’s placement is determined by adding up the individual event placings. Lower scores are higher placings. Medals are given out to the top 4-6 people in each event, depending on the competition. There are various strategies to doing well at competitions which I won’t get into right now, but you’ll find tons of tips online if you look around. I’m not sure about registering because I’ve never done it, but you should take a look at your state’s SO website. ([State</a> Websites | Science Olympiad](<a href=“http://soinc.org/state_websites]State”>State Websites | Science Olympiad))</p>

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<p>Just a question about the events. When you say “study” events are these basically test? Could you also explain “lab” and “building” events.</p>

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<p>Study events are practically tests, sometimes it’s just a packet of paper with questions, sometimes there’s questions and you have to move around to different stations and you have alloted time at each station to answer questions pertaining to that station. Some events that require lots of information (astronomy/fossils) you get a guide book/laptop/binder etc but other ones you get a single sheet of paper or sometimes nothing at all.
lab events, like chemistry lab, generally involve you preforming some sort of laboratory activity as part of your score along with a written test. I think for chem lab last year you had to do a titration and I assume you were graded on how accurately you got the equivalence point, something like that. For optics, I know a lot of your grade comes from a laser shoot where you have to use mirrors and stuff to direct a laser to hit a target.
For build events, generally you make whatever is required beforehand according to specifications on the rules sheet you get, you then bring it to the competition site and demonstrate it. YOu generally impound build events beforehand and you can pick them up when you demonstrate your instruments (you sign up for time slots for build events).
Study events also generally have a small test pertaining to hte science topic covered by the build event, for example, sounds of music has a test that covers like waves, sounds, beats, etc. The tests for these are generally really short though</p>

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<p>Basically what AstroBlue said: study events are tests which are sometimes laid out as stations. Lab events have some sort of hands on portion, as well as a test. Building events are assembled before the competition, but they may include a short test (written or oral) during the tournament.</p>

<p>The 2012 event rules will probably be available for order sometime in late August or early September at the [Science</a> Olympiad store](<a href=“http://store.soinc.org/]Science”>http://store.soinc.org/).</p>

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<p>I thought you got them for free if you registered a team?</p>

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<p>I believe you do get one rules packet for free, but it might arrive sooner if you order it online (or even preorder it in August). I did that last year and I got the rules before my coach did.</p>

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<p>Wow I didn’t check this for a while but thanks for the info! Just a few more questions: Since it’s going to be a new thing and probably won’t have a huge membership at first, do you need to have a full team of 15? Or could I get by with like 7-8? And can you just enter some events, but not all of them if you don’t have enough people? And lastly, how much time does your school spend practicing per week?</p>

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<p>It would be HIGHLY recommended to have as many people as possible.
You can also only have 7 seniors per team.</p>

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<p>But if I couldn’t generate enough membership to have a lot, could we just focus on three or four events as a team and try to grow the next year?</p>

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<p>Team size can vary widely. I’ve heard of some schools that have had teams of 5-10 people. This is obviously a disadvantage as you probably won’t be able to enter every event, but there are ways to make it work. You could have one person compete in all the building events since they’re usually self scheduled, or you could have one person in each study event instead of two. There will always be event conflicts at competitions, and it’s harder to work around these with a smaller team.</p>

<p>Even if you don’t expect to place in all of them I’d recommend competing in as many as possible. When you don’t compete in an event, your score for that event is below everyone else’s. This will significantly damage your chance of going on to the next competition level. Don’t try to have the entire team work on a few events. A maximum of 2-3 people should be in each event, depending on the rules.</p>

<p>My middle school’s team was fairly competitive, although most of our medals were won by a few people. We had practice once or twice a week in the months leading up to competition, for a few hours after school. This was mostly just time to work on building events and practice lab/study events with our partners. I did most of my studying outside of school with textbooks and other resources. As far as I know, the high school team here has practice twice a week starting in the fall.</p>