Events 2017-2018

[WhatScience?]

As someone who dis microbe mission last year, my partner and I had to cram 6,500 words worth of notes and 15 images onto our two page notes in the smallest font possible. I do not like the plant question in P and P at all for the very same reason. I will be asking for a rule clarification once the official rules are out if this problem persists.

What was the problem? I did Microbe Mission as well, made a notesheet that lasted, with few modifications, from my first invite to Nationals.

Its just I believe science should be more about logic than just cramming everything you can. I guess that is why I prefer my phyics and chem events but to each his own I suppose.

[WhatScience?]

As someone who dis microbe mission last year, my partner and I had to cram 6,500 words worth of notes and 15 images onto our two page notes in the smallest font possible. I do not like the plant question in P and P at all for the very same reason. I will be asking for a rule clarification once the official rules are out if this problem persists.

What was the problem? I did Microbe Mission as well, made a notesheet that lasted, with few modifications, from my first invite to Nationals.

Microbes isn't too bad. Sure, it's one of the most info-intensive study events, but the bio committee emphasizes that disease questions should be limited to the list. However, the P&P trial rules don't specify, and also set a precedent against it in rule 4.

You are right i that sense of microbe. Some of the tests I took were simple enough but I remember at states me and my partner (who happens to be one of the smartest people I know, scoring a 35 on the ACT in 7th grade) were faced with questions that were just really obscure facts.

[whythelongface]

As someone who dis microbe mission last year, my partner and I had to cram 6,500 words worth of notes and 15 images onto our two page notes in the smallest font possible. I do not like the plant question in P and P at all for the very same reason. I will be asking for a rule clarification once the official rules are out if this problem persists.

What was the problem? I did Microbe Mission as well, made a notesheet that lasted, with few modifications, from my first invite to Nationals.

Its just I believe science should be more about logic than just cramming everything you can. I guess that is why I prefer my phyics and chem events but to each his own I suppose.

That depends on whose test you're taking. There are good tests, and there are bad tests. However, keep in mind that microbiology, pathology and immunology are some of the most memorization-rigorous areas of biology, so do not be surprised by a test that seems to expect you've crammed every single bit of knowledge into your brain/your notesheet.

[WhatScience?]

What was the problem? I did Microbe Mission as well, made a notesheet that lasted, with few modifications, from my first invite to Nationals.

Its just I believe science should be more about logic than just cramming everything you can. I guess that is why I prefer my phyics and chem events but to each his own I suppose.

That depends on whose test you're taking. There are good tests, and there are bad tests. However, keep in mind that microbiology, pathology and immunology are some of the most memorization-rigorous areas of biology, so do not be surprised by a test that seems to expect you've crammed every single bit of knowledge into your brain/your notesheet.

But if there is so much to memorize don't you think that more notes should be allowed than 2 pages like some other events?

I feel like the people who designed these events were thinking solely about the amount of time spent cramming obscure information while those who designed some of the physics and chem events are fine with you bringing more notes and that they want to test about how well you grasp the subject in a more practical setting. That is why the one bio event I am doing this year will be Disease Dets because after doing it last year I can say that with the case studies it is somewhat practical while the multiple choice test import information vs. obscure information. Your thoughts?

P.S. people other than whythelongface, I would be interested in hearing your opinions too.

[Unome]

Its just I believe science should be more about logic than just cramming everything you can. I guess that is why I prefer my phyics and chem events but to each his own I suppose.

That depends on whose test you're taking. There are good tests, and there are bad tests. However, keep in mind that microbiology, pathology and immunology are some of the most memorization-rigorous areas of biology, so do not be surprised by a test that seems to expect you've crammed every single bit of knowledge into your brain/your notesheet.

But if there is so much to memorize don't you think that more notes should be allowed than 2 pages like some other events?

I feel like the people who designed these events were thinking solely about the amount of time spent cramming obscure information while those who designed some of the physics and chem events are fine with you bringing more notes and that they want to test about how well you grasp the subject in a more practical setting. That is why the one bio event I am doing this year will be Disease Dets because after doing it last year I can say that with the case studies it is somewhat practical while the multiple choice test import information vs. obscure information. Your thoughts?

P.S. people other than whythelongface, I would be interested in hearing your opinions too.

Each rules committee has its own peculiarity - for example, it's somewhat well-known that the bio committee consists largely of professional educators (at least in mentality), and that physics tends to allow binders (per a post by chalker, this has quite a bit to do with his preference for allowing binders). The fact that the events are divided into rules committees can account for many aspects of the rules (e.g. Microbes allowing one sheet while, say, Simple Machines/Compound Machines allowed binders).

[whythelongface]

Its just I believe science should be more about logic than just cramming everything you can. I guess that is why I prefer my phyics and chem events but to each his own I suppose.

That depends on whose test you're taking. There are good tests, and there are bad tests. However, keep in mind that microbiology, pathology and immunology are some of the most memorization-rigorous areas of biology, so do not be surprised by a test that seems to expect you've crammed every single bit of knowledge into your brain/your notesheet.

But if there is so much to memorize don't you think that more notes should be allowed than 2 pages like some other events?

I feel like the people who designed these events were thinking solely about the amount of time spent cramming obscure information while those who designed some of the physics and chem events are fine with you bringing more notes and that they want to test about how well you grasp the subject in a more practical setting. That is why the one bio event I am doing this year will be Disease Dets because after doing it last year I can say that with the case studies it is somewhat practical while the multiple choice test import information vs. obscure information. Your thoughts?

P.S. people other than whythelongface, I would be interested in hearing your opinions too.

Fair enough. In addition to Microbe Mission, I also do Remote Sensing and Rocks and Minerals, both of which allow more notes. RemSen allows two sheets, front and back, and R&M is a binder event.

With a binder event like Rocks and Minerals, the less you have, the better, simply because too much makes it hard to locate information. While I've observed many other teams walking into the room with gigantic binders bulging with pages, I keep mine light and thin, a strategy I think works fairly well. During the test, which is station-based, I can easily find any charts, figures, or facts that I need in under twenty seconds, important when you only have a very limited amount of time to answer things.

I think Remote Sensing is sensible with the amount it expects you to memorize and the amount that can be committed to paper. My partner and I maintain one side filled with specifics on satellites and sensors, another side on principles and definitions, and the other sheet is completely dedicated to formulas and pictures. I feel like that's reasonable, since pictures and formulas are very hard to memorize and prove very important to the event.

For Microbe Mission, however, I find that my arrangement works fairly well. With each invitational my partner and I would take out parts that we'd become so familiar with that we no longer needed it on paper, and instead replaced it with concepts that we didn't understand as well in previous tests. I figure I've cycled about 50% of my original notesheet out, but I'll be using the same one I used at last year's competitions for this year's competitions as well. And in my honest opinion, aside from some massive principles, biology isn't the kind of subject you can just make your own ideas out of. It's a very memorization-intensive subject, and Microbe Mission is pure biology. Disease may be better; I've never done it, but statistics in general is more inviting for people to make their own interpretations and present their own ideas. Microbe, on the other hand, is comprised of information extracted from pure experimentation over maybe a century, which is why it's so memorization-intensive.

Obviously, I'd love to have more space for notes, but I think the current arrangement is manageable. Of course, memorization of facts isn't everyone's cup of tea. I also know that Microbe Mission notesheets by nature are very compressed - I was surprised that other events had so much space and found myself struggling to fill up all the space for, say, Remote Sensing.

Edit: which tests did you take? I did quite a few for practice, so I'm curious.

[WhatScience?]

Most of the tests I took were in fact quite good. It was just at states when the facts felt way too obscure for me,

On a side note, anyone familiar with the trial rules for the potions and poisons event; have you been able to make sense of what they are asking in the parameters when they speak about the spread and potential of the natural toxins such as iron, copper, and arsenic? Everything else seems pretty straightforward..

[The48thYoshi]

In no particular order, stuff which is unknown/hard to predict regarding 2018 events, i.e. stuff SOSI-goers should watch for especially:

• Solar System topic is basically unknown right now
• Changes to Hovercraft build portion were noted in that thread, specifics not disclosed
• Modifications to Thermodynamics/Keep the Heat? (especially the build, which if I remember correctly was slightly contentious)
• Mystery Architecture, in general
• Mission Possible format (e.g. tasks vs. energy transfers)
• Chem Lab's Physical Properties topic - what does it include?
• Mousetrap Vehicle - out and back or regular? (probably regular, but idk)

Minor things:

• Changes to Herpetology? (relative to the 2017 New York rules)
• Dynamic Planet - whether there are major changes to topics (I don't anticipate it, but being a new topic there may have been problems)
• Optics Laser Shoot changes?
• Potions & Poisons changes from trial rules? (e.g. New York)
• Roller Coaster changes from trial rules?
• Battery Buggy possible minor changes?
• Towers bonus/general specs changes? (stuff like two-tiered - not exact measurements, which change often between draft and final rules)
• Helicopters & Wright Stuff bonuses, if applicable
• Modifications to Fast Facts? (since it was new last year)
• Astronomy topic (we have a good idea, but it tends to be less predictable)
• Remote Sensing topic change, if there is one
• Game On changes? (unlikely I think, but idk)
• Ecology biomes (in case they change them)

Sort of late, but according to last year's ecology rules, the biomes for this year will be deserts and grasslands

[SOPomo]

[*] Ecology biomes (in case they change them)[/list]

Sort of late, but according to last year's ecology rules, the biomes for this year will be deserts and grasslands

Hence "in case they change them"

[The48thYoshi]

[*] Ecology biomes (in case they change them)[/list]

Sort of late, but according to last year's ecology rules, the biomes for this year will be deserts and grasslands

Hence "in case they change them"

Oh, I see. I thought he meant in case they change them from this year's biomes.