tips for a noob?

[Starter pack]

I'm new to science olympiad, and its been really stressful lately. Its fun, but its starting to feel like a chore. I skipped a grade and I've never really had to work for any of these things. I got into science olympiad at the beginning of my sixth grade year without breaking a sweat. BUT anatomy and physiology and picture this is starting to stress me out. Help plz.

[windu34]

I'm new to science olympiad, and its been really stressful lately. Its fun, but its starting to feel like a chore. I skipped a grade and I've never really had to work for any of these things. I got into science olympiad at the beginning of my sixth grade year without breaking a sweat. BUT anatomy and physiology and picture this is starting to stress me out. Help plz.

Try studying

[AlphaTauri]

Try studying

That's a bit... rude... >.>

What exactly is stressing you out about your events? Is it the amount of information, your partners, something else?

In general, I'd suggest at least taking a temporary step back to de-stress, and make sure you're on top of everything else or that other things aren't what's stressing you out.

[windu34]

Try studying

That's a bit... rude... >.>

What exactly is stressing you out about your events? Is it the amount of information, your partners, something else?

In general, I'd suggest at least taking a temporary step back to de-stress, and make sure you're on top of everything else or that other things aren't what's stressing you out.

Not the way I meant it. Many students who excel at school without ever having to put in a lot of work find it as a surprise that they suddenly cant rely on their natural knack in the scioly environment.
Additionally, knowing the material thoroughly will boost your confidence on approaching competitions.

[Fluorine]

I agree. Take a couple weeks or so and just step away from SO. It is really easy to feel overwhelmed in SO but you just have to step back and really add up what you have to do and when it needs to be done.

For A&P start with the training handouts that are on soinc.org as they are well out together and do a really good job at giving you the background info. I know some of concepts can be pretty tricky or consists of 50+ things to remember. If you need any other tips for A&P PM me.

I have never done picture this so I can't not really give you too much advice there.

[varunscs11]

The key to pic this is to find a good partner that thinks like you (just like WIDI) and just practice with them non-stop. Basically you talk about how you are going to draw certain words that always show up or have a very high chance of showing up and how you would approach words you don't know etc. Picture this is a lot of work in the beginning but afterwards, as long as you continue to keep your skills in shape, the work plateaus off. Anatomy on the other hand, I would suggest reading Saladin Anatomy or some other college level anatomy book because although you are Div B, if you prepare to a high standard the tests will become easier. Anatomy is all about knowing the material and being able to explain functions (some higher level tournaments like Nationals will have you do labs, etc so prep for those as well). Good Luck

[Jaol]

For Picture This just find a partner who works really well with you, thinks like you and is a good artist and drawer. Picture this is mainly just practice , but once you get it you got it!

[zyzzyva980]

At some point in your Science Olympiad career, you're going to hit a wall. That's okay. It happens to everyone. I hit my wall when I transitioned from B division to C division. I had coasted through B division and medalled in basically everything I did (Kansas B is not difficult). During my first year in C division, I had some struggles. But eventually I got through it and succeeded, and you will too.

It sounds like you're pretty smart, so have confidence in yourself to get through this. It may be good, as others have suggested, to step away for a little bit. If you haven't had much experience studying before, try to find the technique that works best for you. It may not be what your teachers have suggested. For me, I found it best to study by actively working on my note sheets -- if I wrote something down, I remembered it better.

And when you do begin studying for an event, really get into that event. Make it the most interesting thing in the world. For example, when I started remote sensing, I didn't know what it was, or where to even begin. But I pulled myself into it, and now I think remote sensing is just the coolest thing. It made studying for the event a breeze, and it wasn't just easy at competitions -- it was also a whole lot of fun.

I think the difference here is the jump from learning an event just to do well in it, to learning an event so you can actually understand and comprehend it and how it works and how it can influence your everyday life. If that makes sense.

[samlan16]

Following what zyzzyva said, it sounds like you're in the transition from being a resume builder to being a passionate science nerd without realizing it. Congratulations- not too many "noobs" (I would use that sparingly, since not everyone around here is a scrublord) reach that train of thought!

I too hit the wall early on in my rookie year when I realized that coasting along as I had in elementary school would keep me on C team. Rather than succumbing to the stress that accompanied that realization, I started working harder but smarter and figured out what made SO fun for me, which was being able to do what felt like real chemistry for the first time in my life. To work smarter, I came up with some modern poetry and mnemonics to remember how to do stuff and figured out how to regimen my study time to go through as much as possible to get to the fun parts sooner. Ultimately, this meant being moved up to B team later that season and being selected as a reserve member when A team qualified for nationals (which I unfortunately had to decline for various reasons.) If you become passionate about what you do, something similar is bound to happen.

That being said, you ought to ask yourself these questions: what makes your SO events fun, and what could you do to get to the fun parts sooner? The key is to figure out what you need to do to get to the fun parts without sacrificing success, so you need to become more disciplined at studying. I understand if you are overwhelmed with Anatomy, since it looks like there is so much you have to learn, so here's a suggestion: make a calendar in your agenda, allotting one or two topics to a week. Every time you have an hour to yourself over the course of that week, go research what you assigned yourself, and learn the material in whatever way is most interesting to you. If you learn to study that way, events will seem much less daunting.

Once you cross the Rubicon by studying events for your own understanding rather than for the medals, SO will feel less stressful. Trust me, it's awesome over here.

[Skystrider]

Hey Starter Pack, welcome to Scioly.

Do you know if your team is going to any invitationals in your area? Because it is on the day of competition that you really catch the bug. All the nervous tension and adrenaline experienced with your friends, that is a lot of what makes SO fun.

Speaking of adrenaline, Picture This is really fast paced once you get good at it. At least back when I did it. At State one year we were so fast and so pumped up that the Judge barely realized that she needed to give us the next word. She was jittering.

If your first competition is a ways off, you might watch some videos on YouTube to get yourself pumped.