Recommendations to studying for USA Science Olympiads?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>I'm currently a sophomore nearing completion of the three "core" AP sciences: Bio, Chem, and Physics I. (I plan on taking AP Physics C next year). These classes led me to often spend weekends just looking up random stuff about science- questions, labs, articles; to be honest, I even "shamefully" joined a rather science-fanatic filled forum where conversation about advanced science topics predominates.</p>

<p>In short, I've heard about the three USA Olympiads: USABO, USNCO, USAPhO; I'm familiar with a few years experience with the Mathematical Olympiads, but nothing yet with the science ones.</p>

<p>I've found Chemistry to be the challenging and comprehensive science- perhaps even maybe my future major! For that reason, I've decided to have a main focus on the USNCO next year, and with a less rigorous studying for the USABO and USAPhO.
I'm aiming to make the cutoff of the Local Exam (it's essentially around 55/60 right?) in order to participate in the National Exam. I tried taking the Local Exam this year, but I didn't make the cutoff (although I believe I was within a few points or so or achieving that); and with my rather uncontrollable and irritating/egotistical ambition streak, I've basically set my mind on devoting my summer to studying to make the National USNCO.</p>

<p>With that said, I want some advice from you guys. I know there's a whole thread on the USNCO, but I wanted some direct answers. Seeing as this is CC forums, I'm fairly sure many of you have been able to make Nationals of some sort of Science Olympiad through natural talent/interest, but I'm also 100% confident that just as many of you were intelligent and dedicated enough to achieve the same parallel through rigorous studying.</p>

<p>So, how did you do it? What books did you use? WHEN did you start studying? Is one summer enough to make the cutoff into the National Exam- with how many daily/weekly hours? I've heard that Zumdahl is sufficient in terms of the making the National Exam, so I've obtained a used copy for preparation. But how many hours do I REALLY need? I was thinking about spending 3-4 hours a day over the summer, but at that rate it would only take me a little over a month to finish Zumdahl...what other books or resources should I pursue?
And I heard there is a plethora of organic chem on the USCNO as well- any recommendations specifically for that topic range?</p>

<p>Finally, I've also had minor side goals of qualifying for USABO Semifinalist and making it past USAPhO F=ma exam/qualifying as Semifinalist.
Any recommendations for these? I'm knowledgeable behind the mechanics of qualifying for the different levels of exams; I just need to know what to study to get there: obviously memorizing a few textbooks will get me nowhere at all for these competitive types of tests. Again, I know this is overly ambitious and unrealistic, but I want to see just how much is truly achievable- if I'll have to shove aside the USABO and USAPhO for the USNCO, then I'm willing to reorient my time as necessary.</p>

<p>So yeah, if anyone has any past experience, please post!
Thanks!</p>

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<p>I can only speak about the USABO, but I can tell you that the entire exam is based off of Campbell’s Biology. You’ll have to study it in depth, and some people recommend other resources (like Raven’s Biology of Plants), but Campbell’s can get you all the way to the USABO camp.</p>

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<p>USAMO is pushable but you have to work VERY hard.</p>

<p>Ehh… for USAPHO, all I can say is that you should never use a calc-based textbook. The questions rarely use hard calculus. But you should know calculus BC and implicit differentiation</p>

<p>I may have made USAPhO finalists? (best in school, and one guy was usapho gold last year? ~70 to 80% chance)</p>

<p>I started studying using EPGY at around November and finished pretty much all of the EPGY equivalent of AP Physics B by the Dec 30th. Then I did the past USAPhOs and did well on them.
(My case is somewhat rare, though. I seem to have built a strong conceptual background long before that)</p>

<p>I did have a little electricity background in middle school in Canada, so that was facilitated.</p>

<p>USAPHO is relatively easy, if you have a strong mathematics background. (like USAMO)</p>

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<p>btw, there is also the USACO (computing oly) and the NACLO (which is a joke (computational linguistics)) Idk about USNCO and USABO. Maybe I should try them too.</p>

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<p>What books did you use? Giancoli (I think I’m the only one)
Is one summer enough to make the cutoff into the National Exam- with how many daily/weekly hours?
Semifinals? Yeah, go practice math, though and it might come naturally. (whee, my school has 24 semifinalists)</p>

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<p>@Sheldone Yeah, it’s called starting your own business. </p>

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@‌BipolarBuddhist though this is somewhat late, the qualifying round for these tests are around now so i thought i would give you some advice:
usamo - this one is kinda hard if you have not done competition math before, so i guess experience helps
usapho - the f=ma qualification exam is basically 10% knowledge of formulas, 30% how to apply them, 40% not making dumb mistakes, and 20% not completely solving a problem when you don’t have to to save time (i.e. shortcuts)
usnco - difficulty depends on your school. if cutoff is 60 like at mine, then glhf. if it is 50, then it is not too hard (darn still missing this one)
usabo - basically, the way i made semis was 30% knowing genetics and 70% having good guessing skills. i barely knew anything but still got a respectable 120 (160 was camp) on semis (think i knew the surface area and the boiling water question lol)
usaco - there isn’t much compsci you actually need to learn, but the tricky part is learning the algorithms and being able to implement code in time (i.e. you might solve all three, but can only type up and debug one in the allotted time)
naclo - get lucky, but actually this is 70% logic/analytic skills, 10% luck, 10% experience, 5% linguistics, and 5% organization
usaaao - this one is new, so not much competition yet, so basically, get in while you still can

@qwertyiop i used giancoli too :slight_smile: primarily for semis though.