Suggestion on getting in to a high placing school

[dudcom]

Ok, so this kinda aimed at people who got in high placing high schools in freshmen; middle schools too ig. Wondering what you did to get in, and any suggestion you have. Also normally how hard are entrance exams are they = national level stuff or more on the state or region side. Manly wanted to know if it since trying out for 2 events I am sold in and 1 that I am a total noob at and not sure if I should focus my energy on the state and below stuff or learn everything including the national-level work.

IDK if this matters but events: Fossils and Astro(decent), genes (not the worst), and Dynamic planet (noob).

Thanks in advance to anyone who answer

[dudcom]

Ok, so this kinda aimed at people who got in high placing high schools in freshmen; middle schools too ig. Wondering what you did to get in, and any suggestion you have. Also normally how hard are entrance exams are they = national level stuff or more on the state or region side. Manly wanted to know if it since trying out for 2 events I am sold in and 1 that I am a total noob at and not sure if I should focus my energy on the state and below stuff or learn everything including the national-level work.

IDK if this matters but events: Fossils and Astro(decent), genes (not the worst), and Dynamic planet (noob).

Thanks in advance to anyone who answer

I've never been a team officer, but I've both taken and written tests for a high school that makes it to nationals every so and so. The tryout tests I took were mostly basic vocabulary and applications of basic ideas, and it took no more than 50 minutes to complete each test. Now that I write tryout tests, my philosophy is that the best questions are the ones that help students learn. The more students learn, the better they do at invitationals, and overly complex questions may confuse students to the point that they don't even know where to start reading and learning about a topic. I still throw in a handful of harder questions, but most (but not all) still test fundamental concepts, because those are most conducive to doing well later in the season.

A glance through the test exchange shows that many high-performing schools aren't like mine, and harder topics are not just tested, but tested a lot. This tends to be especially true for highly competitive events like Designer Genes, where everybody already has background thanks to high school biology. There are sometimes good reasons for this too; perhaps there are fewer invitationals to practice at, so their team selection has to be as perfect as possible once they hit states/nationals. (Other times, there are few good reasons for it, like tests with jargon that real scientists don't use.) Even so, it often helps to study more difficult material if it deepens your understanding of the fundamentals. Generally, the higher-placing the team, the more rigorous the tryouts. If team members tell you that nationals-level content appears, that's probably most helpful for your studying. Good luck!!

[Umaroth]

Ok, so this kinda aimed at people who got in high placing high schools in freshmen; middle schools too ig. Wondering what you did to get in, and any suggestion you have. Also normally how hard are entrance exams are they = national level stuff or more on the state or region side. Manly wanted to know if it since trying out for 2 events I am sold in and 1 that I am a total noob at and not sure if I should focus my energy on the state and below stuff or learn everything including the national-level work.

IDK if this matters but events: Fossils and Astro(decent), genes (not the worst), and Dynamic planet (noob).

Thanks in advance to anyone who answer

I think I'll be able to answer this best. As a freshman, if you're not 100% confident you can do well in more than two events, just stick with those two events. We would much rather prefer someone being good at two events than decent in five, good in none. In my freshman year, when I tried out for Troy, I got 2nd in Dynamic, 6th in Code, and 7th in Fermi, and I was able to get onto the B team. For troyouts that are only in a few days, I'd say just do your best and refine the events you're confident in.

[dudcom]

Ok, so this kinda aimed at people who got in high placing high schools in freshmen; middle schools too ig. Wondering what you did to get in, and any suggestion you have. Also normally how hard are entrance exams are they = national level stuff or more on the state or region side. Manly wanted to know if it since trying out for 2 events I am sold in and 1 that I am a total noob at and not sure if I should focus my energy on the state and below stuff or learn everything including the national-level work.

IDK if this matters but events: Fossils and Astro(decent), genes (not the worst), and Dynamic planet (noob).

Thanks in advance to anyone who answer

I think I'll be able to answer this best. As a freshman, if you're not 100% confident you can do well in more than two events, just stick with those two events. We would much rather prefer someone being good at two events than decent in five, good in none. In my freshman year, when I tried out for Troy, I got 2nd in Dynamic, 6th in Code, and 7th in Fermi, and I was able to get onto the B team. For troyouts that are only in a few days, I'd say just do your best and refine the events you're confident in.

Agree with everything Umaroth just mentioned. Troy has tryouts at the national level rules with tests that are meant to be long and difficult, and each event has a separate tryout. Think of it this way: if you can carry an event or two, you're relatively unreplaceable. If you're decent at several events, what's the difference between putting you on the team and someone else who's strong in other events but did worse than you in that event?

Freshman are disadvantaged in that you haven't had the benefit of classes that upperclassmen do, but you also have the benefit of being able to get on B team with worse results (as coaches are planning for the future). It's definitely possible to make the team as a freshman, and best of luck at tryouts!

[SciolyMaster]

Yeah, in my experience and what I've seen from others, the best way to make the team is generally to be really good at 1–2 events, preferably ones that not many other people are willing to prepare for.

Though if you want, you could still do other events like Dynamic Planet "for fun" without studying as much for it; this could give you extra events if you don't make the main/"A" team, and/or help prepare you for next season if the event topic stays the same (pretty sure DP is changing topics—this applies more to events like Astro where the content remains largely the same between years).

[SciolyMaster]

Also, build events, inquiry events, ID events, earth science events, and Astronomy tend to be the least dependent on grade-level coursework (upperclassmen won't have much of an advantage from taking school classes, unlike other events that cover topics commonly taught in AP science courses etc.)

[dudcom]

Yeah, if tryouts are soon are you're not good at DP, then don't do it. As Umaroth said, being really good at only a few events is much better than being OK at a lot. Focus on Astronomy and Fossils, and then Designer Genes if you have time.

[dudcom]

Also don't forget that Mr. Kim said they will hold any skipped tryouts against you if you signed up for it originally, so still try out even if you don't think you're prepared

[dudcom]

Thanks y'all saved me from wasting my energy.