If this is your first year attending Science Olympiad competitions, you may be asking yourself what will it be like? While you won't know the exact format in advance, you can prepare for a few standard formats and have a strategy in place before entering the competition room.
I sort the events into three categories: building, process, and study. Building events are those where you have to construct a device, test it, and bring it with you to the competition. Process events are those where you practice a process, and then do your best to perform the process during the competition. Study Events are those that require advance study and preparation of notes prior to the competition. I will post tips on preparing for "Building Events" and "Process Events" at a later time.
Preparing for "Study Events" require time to research and read about the topics included in the rules for that event. Events that would fall under this category include: Anatomy, Dynamic Planet, Disease Detective, Astronomy, Water Quality/Ecology, Rocks and Minerals/Fossils, Forestry, Entomology, Heredity, Shock Value/Circuits, you get the idea. Here are some tips to help you prepare for these types of event.
Study and binder preparation:
Notes should be written out by hand or printed out and organized in a binder for easy reference. Using tabbed dividers can help organize the material in your binder. The opening page of the binder should have the most used information, equations, definitions, diagrams, or images to save time searching through the binder. You could also put this sheet in the outside pocket of the binder too.
If you are only allowed to take in a study sheet, consolidate the key information onto one sheet, which you can take into the competition with you. The most useful things to put on a study sheet are images that require identification, equations, and other information you find hard to remember. As you learn more material, you will be able to remove items you have learned well, and add newer information.
Test formats:
Some test formats include stations, multiple choice paper test, or power point test.
A station test is usually set up at different locations around the room, and each team will spend 2 - 5 min at the station using equipment or analyzing graphs or images. The event judge will them announce when it is time to move to the next station. There are usually between 10 - 15 stations depending on the amount of time per station.
A multiple choice paper test is what we are all used to when taking tests. These types of tests are easy for the event judge to grade quickly.
A power point test is similar to a station test, but you stay in your seat, and the "stations" are presented to you. Each slide will be presented for 2 - 5 min, and you answer the questions on paper in your seat. This type of test works well when there are detailed images to identify or analyze, like Astronomy.
Test taking strategies:
If the format is a station test, one person can be the writer, and the other can look up information in the binder or on the study sheet. Sometimes the writer can write down the question in case you run out of time at that station to look up the answer. That way you can look up the answer at a later station if you have extra time.
For a multiple choice test, ask the event supervisor if you can split the test. If they say yes, rip the test in half, and each team member can go through the test and answer as many questions as they know. After about 15 min, the team members should switch tests and go through answering any questions not yet answered. For the 10 minutes, the two team members can either go over the questions again, or work on the difficult questions together. You don't want to get bogged down by difficult questions, just move on. Don't forget to look at the questions at the end of the test, these may be the ones you know best.
After the competition:
If you attend an invitational where you get your test and an answer key returned to you, go over your test. This is how you will know what to study next - the questions you missed on this test.
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