Hardest Science Olympiad Event, in your opinion?

[TheChiScientist]

All balsawood events are naturally some of the hardest SciOly events.
Balsawood requires skill and time to make a proper build.

[syo_astro]

Is GeoMap actually considered that hard?

Yes. Sorry to bring up an old post, but I never actually replied in this thread...for me, GeoMaps was absolutely the hardest event. I also did Astro, helped out with Remote, tried one or two builds...personally, it was still harder. But let me explain this special kind of pigeon before you think "it can't be that bad, it's just another test". If you read gneiss's post, he mentions the event is "college level geology". Allow me to clarify.

One of a few reasons I joined the forums was because the event was so hard. It was the first year it ran, and it was a trial event. But this was when trial events counted in NYS. The rules were very bad at explaining what to search for and where to get started. There were no practice tests or other users who already knew everything. It was literally and figuratively rock bottom.

Stereonets are "easy", but we also had giant quadrangles and outcrop patterns that were very detailed, quite time-consuming, and non-standard (and thus required solving on the spot). Also, everyone in NYS takes Earth Science in 8th grade. As such, everyone knows about topo maps, basic cross sections, relative age dating, etc, and most people figured out Stereonets quickly. Since the test writers were INSANELY knowledgeable, it actually came down to being good at Road Scholar (people suck at maps nowadays...) and knowing 3rd to 4th year college level geology, not just any college geology. With no useful help, the stuff gets to be pretty hard, and even teachers or others I knew that really liked Earth Science were stumped (most didn't remember their Structural Geology class...).

I heard lots of other states didn't find the event so bad or found the event somewhat repetitive. But I also know that as it went from a trial to a national event, the event became "tamer" (at least the Regionals became somewhat doable in NYS). Yeah, the NYS writers knew their stuff and gave tests, especially at States, that covered every topic possible at a very difficult level. Kind of taught me that impossible tests are a bad thing...

[megrimlockawesom]

Three way tie between Mission rollercoaster and towers

[NovaXY1]

Hovercraft for me. We have an entire graveyard of failed hovercrafts at my school.

[TheChiScientist]

Hovercraft for me. We have an entire graveyard of failed hovercrafts at my school.

Same...
It just requires finding the correct pressure ratio.

[linzhiyan]

I know this isn't really considered as a hard event, but dynamic planet for me because every time I "finish" the cheat sheet, I have a lot of room left so I read more articles and I end up with more info that I don't have room on my cheat sheet for. Then, I take some stuff out, and the process repeats itself

[NovaXY1]

Yea that's what my team has found. We actually do have one that somewhat moves, but my whole team is by now just over it.

[lindsmaurer]

Has to be Mission. Watching people spend hours building... Mission's a lot of work.