Optics B/C

[zyzzyva980]

The Optics Wiki is a good place to start, as well as using practice tests from our Optics Test Exchange 2012

[Schrodingerscat]

You can also watch the PowerPoint found on the Optics page on the official Science Olympiad website.

[cngu23]

You can also watch the PowerPoint found on the Optics page on the official Science Olympiad website.

I think the website provides a list of resources useful for studying.

[cngu23]

So for the event, how many pages of notes are you allowed to have? On the rules sheet, it says that you are able to bring a binder?

[Schrodingerscat]

So for the event, how many pages of notes are you allowed to have? On the rules sheet, it says that you are able to bring a binder?

You are allowed as many pages as you can three-hole punch into a binder (of any size).

[foreverphysics]

So for the event, how many pages of notes are you allowed to have? On the rules sheet, it says that you are able to bring a binder?

You are allowed as many pages as you can three-hole punch into a binder (of any size).

I do advise that you don't make your binder too big, though. It's a pain trying to find information, unless you have a very detailed table of contents, and even then, it's a pain trying to find what section or page it's on. Also, the best scores come from knowing the material well, not just putting a bunch of information into a binder and madly flipping through your binder to find information you don't understand anyways.

[cngu23]

Alright thanks. I was just wondering about how much information I could put in my notes. I'm pretty familiar with all the physics concepts and physics related questions. It's the sections about the eye that I'm having trouble memorizing.

[hscmom]

Last year our optics team got one of those notebooks with a clear window in front. They put a one-sided cheat sheet in it for the formulae and other info (EM spectrum wavelengths, etc.) that they thought they'd need. Then they sectioned the notebook pages inside.

Also, before their first competition, they went through their notebook to weed out duplicate info (you know, one student prints out info from one source and the other student prints out the same basic info from another source and it just clogs up the notebook) and to remember what they had put in there. A good 15 minute exercise!

[chalker]

I do advise that you don't make your binder too big, though. It's a pain trying to find information, unless you have a very detailed table of contents, and even then, it's a pain trying to find what section or page it's on. Also, the best scores come from knowing the material well, not just putting a bunch of information into a binder and madly flipping through your binder to find information you don't understand anyways.

Good advice. Definitely don't do this:
http://gallery.scioly.org/data/media/74 ... e_hill.jpg


I took that picture a couple years ago at Nationals. The team scored middle of the pack.

[SciBomb97]

Unless you have problems with memorizing equations (like the lensmaker's equation, yuck), you should really try to not have to use your binder at all, even at nationals. Last year, that wasn't a problem anyways because the test was sooooo easy. It was easier than out regional test...

In the Optics, most of the things that need to be memorized are basic principles (such as object position relative to the mirror and how it affects the image). If you think about it, there really isn't a lot to learn in terms of technical stuff anyways.


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