Scioly.org

I don't even use the Audubon at the competition, I find the NWF one with tons more info and easier to tab. We actually got a lot of the anatomy questions by flipping through the NWF guide, that I don't think we could've gotten with the Audubon. I've never had genus and species before, but they asked for the scientific name of a monarch once and we got it in the guide. Never had an insect not on the list(in other words not in one of the orders or families). The test I had at the invitational was easier but took more time since a lot of it was random questions, and I think they asked something else we didn't know we were supposed to study, I forgot. Regionals test was harder but followed all the rules.

scio444 wrote:How heavily have your tournaments weighted random Audubon facts? Did any of your tests accidentally ask for genus and species (not as a tiebreaker)? Any insects that were off the list?

Our test multiple choice questions were almost entirely off of the Audubon guide. Those that weren't common knowledge (we had to give the common name of a Luna Moth, which is a really well-known species) were random Audubon facts. We were given plenty of time to scrounge around the book to find said facts.

caseyotis wrote:

scio444 wrote:How heavily have your tournaments weighted random Audubon facts? Did any of your tests accidentally ask for genus and species (not as a tiebreaker)? Any insects that were off the list?

Our test multiple choice questions were almost entirely off of the Audubon guide. Those that weren't common knowledge (we had to give the common name of a Luna Moth, which is a really well-known species) were random Audubon facts. We were given plenty of time to scrounge around the book to find said facts.

I don't use the Audubon guide, I use NWF- b/c diagrams, pictures, info etc. My partner and I put A LOT of time into transferring Audubon info. into our guide- any thoughts on this? - at regionals we were thrown a test heavily Audubon- we still did fine though- do you think the annotations will suffice?

scio444 wrote:

caseyotis wrote:

scio444 wrote:How heavily have your tournaments weighted random Audubon facts? Did any of your tests accidentally ask for genus and species (not as a tiebreaker)? Any insects that were off the list?

Our test multiple choice questions were almost entirely off of the Audubon guide. Those that weren't common knowledge (we had to give the common name of a Luna Moth, which is a really well-known species) were random Audubon facts. We were given plenty of time to scrounge around the book to find said facts.

I don't use the Audubon guide, I use NWF- b/c diagrams, pictures, info etc. My partner and I put A LOT of time into transferring Audubon info. into our guide- any thoughts on this? - at regionals we were thrown a test heavily Audubon- we still did fine though- do you think the annotations will suffice?

Ehhh. I'm not sure. I don't know the level at which the state tests are written, although they should be more well-written; i.e., dichotomous key question, anatomy questions, etc. So the random Audubon facts may not be as important. But I'm not quite sure.

caseyotis wrote: Ehhh. I'm not sure. I don't know the level at which the state tests are written, although they should be more well-written; i.e., dichotomous key question, anatomy questions, etc. So the random Audubon facts may not be as important. But I'm not quite sure.

I have taken 4 tests now, and oddly enough, only 2 of them have had anything about a Dichotomous Key. They all have been pretty decent tests, but with no Dichotomous Key...

Really? I've been dreading the dichotomous keys, but I've taken 3 so far and none of them have dichotomous keys. I hope it's the same at State, but I bet there will be something about them.

ceg7654 wrote:Really? I've been dreading the dichotomous keys, but I've taken 3 so far and none of them have dichotomous keys. I hope it's the same at State, but I bet there will be something about them.

Yeah I think I'll have Dichotomous Key questions(s) at state. I guess the best way to prepare is just to make sure you know defining characteristics for the families/orders on the key (if you have to construct one). Also, I guess you need to make sure your key follows a logical order, so it can be read without confusion.

SOnerd wrote:

ceg7654 wrote:Really? I've been dreading the dichotomous keys, but I've taken 3 so far and none of them have dichotomous keys. I hope it's the same at State, but I bet there will be something about them.

Yeah I think I'll have Dichotomous Key questions(s) at state. I guess the best way to prepare is just to make sure you know defining characteristics for the families/orders on the key (if you have to construct one). Also, I guess you need to make sure your key follows a logical order, so it can be read without confusion.

Aha... That's easier said than done. Will they ever ask us to make a dichotomous key on insects from the same family but different individual species?

ceg7654 wrote: Aha... That's easier said than done. Will they ever ask us to make a dichotomous key on insects from the same family but different individual species?

I don't think they can because we only need to know the insect down to the family. Maybe for extra credit...?

Does anyone know if the images they ask us to identify are limited to the species in the book?