Re: Which of the test events is relatively easier?
Posted: September 24th, 2020, 1:04 am
For choosing your own events, I think it's more important to pursue what you enjoy doing than events that are easy to get on(although this may apply less if SciOly is not your main priority). For example, if you get on A team but you absolutely hate Game On, that might be an issue. Of course, there will be events that no one wants and someone just needs to cover them.
For determining which events are easiest, that depends on whether you mean semi-objectively or in terms of placements. Remember, if it's easy for you, it's probably easy for everyone else too. For a lot of events, easier tests actually make it harder to place if you did put in the work because a silly mistake will cost you more and teams are harder to differentiate.
RiverWalker has covered which categories tend to be best suited for which strengths fairly well, so I guess I'll ramble about competitiveness(in my own experience, of course, and I haven't done many of these categories extensively, so feel free to correct me if you notice something).
From personal experience, bio and chem are the "popular" events that people who don't know what they want to do tend to pick. A lot of people want to be doctors, and at earlier levels bio doesn't require much "thinking" or application. Bio is also usually taught first in the science courses, at least where I am. working with chem lab equipment is the stereotype of "scientist." While overall the event has more top-level people trying out, the competitiveness is overinflated by people who aren't familiar with the event, as they are popular choices for those new to SciOly.
Generally build and inquiry tend to be about doing the same thing repeatedly with slight modifications to optimize something, whether that's a process (inquiry) or a functional object (build). Some of these can be very RNG-dependent, depending on the event and the competition. For those, doing well consistently is quite difficult.
Earth Sci tends to be ignored because it's considered boring and because most schools only have it as an easy supplemental class, if at all. It's a bit like the opposite of the bio events, where there are around the same number of top-level people but people new to SciOly tend to avoid it.
Physics I can't say much about because I haven't done them, but just a guess I'm assuming it is similar to Earth Sci except it's viewed more as intimidating rather than just boring.
For determining which events are easiest, that depends on whether you mean semi-objectively or in terms of placements. Remember, if it's easy for you, it's probably easy for everyone else too. For a lot of events, easier tests actually make it harder to place if you did put in the work because a silly mistake will cost you more and teams are harder to differentiate.
RiverWalker has covered which categories tend to be best suited for which strengths fairly well, so I guess I'll ramble about competitiveness(in my own experience, of course, and I haven't done many of these categories extensively, so feel free to correct me if you notice something).
From personal experience, bio and chem are the "popular" events that people who don't know what they want to do tend to pick. A lot of people want to be doctors, and at earlier levels bio doesn't require much "thinking" or application. Bio is also usually taught first in the science courses, at least where I am. working with chem lab equipment is the stereotype of "scientist." While overall the event has more top-level people trying out, the competitiveness is overinflated by people who aren't familiar with the event, as they are popular choices for those new to SciOly.
Generally build and inquiry tend to be about doing the same thing repeatedly with slight modifications to optimize something, whether that's a process (inquiry) or a functional object (build). Some of these can be very RNG-dependent, depending on the event and the competition. For those, doing well consistently is quite difficult.
Earth Sci tends to be ignored because it's considered boring and because most schools only have it as an easy supplemental class, if at all. It's a bit like the opposite of the bio events, where there are around the same number of top-level people but people new to SciOly tend to avoid it.
Physics I can't say much about because I haven't done them, but just a guess I'm assuming it is similar to Earth Sci except it's viewed more as intimidating rather than just boring.