Hardest Science Olympiad Event, in your opinion?

For anything Science Olympiad-related that might not fall under a specific event or competition.
Skink
Exalted Member
Exalted Member
Posts: 948
Joined: February 8th, 2009, 12:23 pm
Division: C
State: IL
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 5 times

Re: Hardest Science Olympiad Event, in your opinion?

Post by Skink »

PM2017 wrote:Also, you have to remember, SciOly events only have 50 minutes per test. I don't think you can develop an entire game within that timeframe using other languages, and even if you can, most people doing Game On are not going to be as amazing with computer science as you are.
This is why Game On (or, even, Experimental, perhaps) might be better done outside with the finished product brought to competition for presentation and scoring rather than done there in only 50min. The sky becomes the limit, then, and it's not pay to win-ish like some engineering events.
User avatar
Name
Member
Member
Posts: 434
Joined: January 21st, 2018, 4:41 pm
Division: C
State: NY
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Has thanked: 49 times
Been thanked: 46 times

Re: Hardest Science Olympiad Event, in your opinion?

Post by Name »

Skink wrote:
PM2017 wrote:Also, you have to remember, SciOly events only have 50 minutes per test. I don't think you can develop an entire game within that timeframe using other languages, and even if you can, most people doing Game On are not going to be as amazing with computer science as you are.
This is why Game On (or, even, Experimental, perhaps) might be better done outside with the finished product brought to competition for presentation and scoring rather than done there in only 50min. The sky becomes the limit, then, and it's not pay to win-ish like some engineering events.
There's the possibility of teams giving each other already made designs, especially if there's multiple teams from a school. With build events you can't just give another team a build, but with a thing that can be online premade, teams will trade it and for alot.
South Woods MS, Syosset HS '21
BirdSO TD/ES
Past Events: Microbe, Invasive, Matsci, Fermi, Astro, Code, Fossils
1st place MIT Codebusters 2019-2020
1st place NYS Fermi Questions (2019), Astronomy and Codebusters (2021)
Science Olympiad Founder's Scholarship winner
radioactivated
Member
Member
Posts: 9
Joined: April 11th, 2016, 5:34 pm
Division: Grad
State: OH
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Hardest Science Olympiad Event, in your opinion?

Post by radioactivated »

Robot Arm. Not only are robotics parts generally expensive, but you need to get someone on your team who has an above-beginner knowledge of robotics.
CMS AC
Member
Member
Posts: 151
Joined: January 10th, 2017, 3:54 pm
Division: B
State: NJ
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Hardest Science Olympiad Event, in your opinion?

Post by CMS AC »

All events are hard to win - the events that give you a better chance are the ones that people practice less and hate more, but those tend to be a lot more unpredictable and random.

Someone should make a spreadsheet for calculating what is the most random event in terms of standard deviation of events at 2017 nationals for B and C and rank them in order of how much they deviate from the team's total score.
Skink
Exalted Member
Exalted Member
Posts: 948
Joined: February 8th, 2009, 12:23 pm
Division: C
State: IL
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 5 times

Re: Hardest Science Olympiad Event, in your opinion?

Post by Skink »

CMS AC wrote:Someone should make a spreadsheet for calculating what is the most random event in terms of standard deviation of events at 2017 nationals for B and C and rank them in order of how much they deviate from the team's total score.
Someone did an analysis along these lines semirecently. Search for somethingorother events predictive of team score.
User avatar
jaspattack
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 137
Joined: April 30th, 2018, 8:29 am
Division: Grad
State: MO
Has thanked: 160 times
Been thanked: 153 times
Contact:

Re: Hardest Science Olympiad Event, in your opinion?

Post by jaspattack »

A lot of people that I've talked to have said Mission Possible. So many things can go wrong with build events that a lot of people [myself included] just don't want to bother with them. Wright Stuff is a challenge, but the only thing that prevented me from placing at state was a poor gym setup [nets and equipment left out, stopped my plane dead in its tracks]. I think I just had good luck with WIDI, and even though I did really well with it this year I don't think I'll do it next year with a different partner.
CHS '21 // Mizzou '25 | Jaspattack's Userpage

2020-21 Events: Designer Genes, Forensics, Ornithology, Protein Modeling

I edit the wiki sometimes.
CMS AC
Member
Member
Posts: 151
Joined: January 10th, 2017, 3:54 pm
Division: B
State: NJ
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Hardest Science Olympiad Event, in your opinion?

Post by CMS AC »

Skink wrote:
CMS AC wrote:Someone should make a spreadsheet for calculating what is the most random event in terms of standard deviation of events at 2017 nationals for B and C and rank them in order of how much they deviate from the team's total score.
Someone did an analysis along these lines semirecently. Search for somethingorother events predictive of team score.
Can you link it to me? Can't find it.
User avatar
leftovers
Member
Member
Posts: 0
Joined: February 13th, 2018, 7:47 am
Division: Grad
State: TN
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Hardest Science Olympiad Event, in your opinion?

Post by leftovers »

I would probably say Astronomy, Mission Possible, and Protein Modeling.

Astronomy: I've never actually had this event, but I've filled in with friends, and the amount of info was overwhelming (I know they get to take in a lot of resources, but in my opinion that just makes it harder).
Mission Possible: I've never had it either, but I've assisted at a competition before, and it seems pretty hard to me (also I'm terrible at building events, so there's that).
Protein Modeling: I had it as a freshman and I loved it, but it was hard since I hadn't had all of my sciences yet. I'm hoping to get it when it rotates back in (hopefully next year), and do better since I've now taken AP Chem, and am considering taking AP Bio next year at the same time as Physics.
Matt 6:33-34
Entomology x2, Metric, Green Gen, DyPlan, ELGlider, Cell Bio, Invasivesx2, Microbes x2, Chem Lab x2, WIDIx2 , Herpetology x2, Protein Modeling x2, Designer Genes, Anatomy&Physiology, Thermo, Forensics, wright stuff
Explorers Homeschool Academy
User avatar
PM2017
Member
Member
Posts: 524
Joined: January 20th, 2017, 5:02 pm
Division: Grad
State: CA
Has thanked: 23 times
Been thanked: 13 times

Re: Hardest Science Olympiad Event, in your opinion?

Post by PM2017 »

leftovers wrote:I would probably say Astronomy, Mission Possible, and Protein Modeling.

Astronomy: I've never actually had this event, but I've filled in with friends, and the amount of info was overwhelming (I know they get to take in a lot of resources, but in my opinion that just makes it harder).
Mission Possible: I've never had it either, but I've assisted at a competition before, and it seems pretty hard to me (also I'm terrible at building events, so there's that).
Protein Modeling: I had it as a freshman and I loved it, but it was hard since I hadn't had all of my sciences yet. I'm hoping to get it when it rotates back in (hopefully next year), and do better since I've now taken AP Chem, and am considering taking AP Bio next year at the same time as Physics.
Astro is hard to learn but very easy to medal once you put in that initial effort.
West High '19
UC Berkeley '23

Go Bears!
User avatar
leftovers
Member
Member
Posts: 0
Joined: February 13th, 2018, 7:47 am
Division: Grad
State: TN
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Hardest Science Olympiad Event, in your opinion?

Post by leftovers »

PM2017 wrote:
leftovers wrote:I would probably say Astronomy, Mission Possible, and Protein Modeling.

Astronomy: I've never actually had this event, but I've filled in with friends, and the amount of info was overwhelming (I know they get to take in a lot of resources, but in my opinion that just makes it harder).
Mission Possible: I've never had it either, but I've assisted at a competition before, and it seems pretty hard to me (also I'm terrible at building events, so there's that).
Protein Modeling: I had it as a freshman and I loved it, but it was hard since I hadn't had all of my sciences yet. I'm hoping to get it when it rotates back in (hopefully next year), and do better since I've now taken AP Chem, and am considering taking AP Bio next year at the same time as Physics.
Astro is hard to learn but very easy to medal once you put in that initial effort.
That makes sense, I guess it was just overwhelming for me trying to assist my teammate when I had no experience in that area. It definitely seems like the type of event that it would be really fun if you knew it really well!
Matt 6:33-34
Entomology x2, Metric, Green Gen, DyPlan, ELGlider, Cell Bio, Invasivesx2, Microbes x2, Chem Lab x2, WIDIx2 , Herpetology x2, Protein Modeling x2, Designer Genes, Anatomy&Physiology, Thermo, Forensics, wright stuff
Explorers Homeschool Academy
Post Reply

Return to “General Competition”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest