Scioly.org

OrigamiPlanet wrote:All in all, put a lot of bulk into each topic - you get a little bit to start off, but that doesn't mean you should restrict yourself to just that. Test-makers will all interpret the stuff in different ways, so it's best to know a bit of every topic to be as ready as possible.

My intake on this is that the less there is on the rules, the more in-depth each topic is going to be. Example: in Rocks and Minerals, there are going to be more properties about specimens then the ones on the rules, and to do well there needs to be much more.

I have seen that there are digital test packets and CDs to purchase from SOINC - are they useful? My team might need them, but I'm not sure if we need them...at least for solar system, are the SOINC-purchase CDs/digital test packets useful? Thanks! - matematika

matematika wrote:I have seen that there are digital test packets and CDs to purchase from SOINC - are they useful? My team might need them, but I'm not sure if we need them...at least for solar system, are the SOINC-purchase CDs/digital test packets useful? Thanks! - matematika

The National Test Packets - which contain tests from past national tournaments - are generally good. However, since this year's topic for Solar System is completely new, they would not be of much use. There are similarities between the current topic and the 2014 and 2015 topic - an experienced competitor may find it useful to look at 2014 and 2015 tests to figure out how the event works and apply the knowledge to preparing for this year's topic.

I can't speak to the CDs, since I rarely use them. It expect it would depend on the event.

Do you guys think we should know the famous volcanoes and other types of landforms besides craters and their formations? I'm trying to think of what else the testmakers may include, but it's rather difficult with such vague guidelines. I was thinking that structures like canyons and scarps might be present, and maybe even questions about the Earth.

I have a question. When it says You need to know past,current, and planned missions to study these objects I found 50+ missions to mars. Just mars so which ones do we need to know?

nesei301 wrote:I have a question. When it says You need to know past,current, and planned missions to study these objects I found 50+ missions to mars. Just mars so which ones do we need to know?

Obviously the failed ones aren't going to be of much use, since they didn't even make it to the planet to study it. All of the modern objects would be useful to know, and any missions that are found to have a massive success would be good. For the future ones, keep it simple and short, not too much.

What are the rules about use of calculators in a test?

Girlpower05 wrote:What are the rules about use of calculators in a test?

The rules don't explicitly say anything about a calculator. I'd check your supervisors to be safe (I wouldn't be surprised if they said no calculators allowed), and maybe ask for a clarification on the official rules site.

For landforms, how far do we need to go on that? Probably important volcanoes, maybe some plains, but I don't know how many 'important' landforms I need. For example, for Venus, this - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_Venus - link has a lot of stuff on it. But what do we really need?

matematika wrote:For landforms, how far do we need to go on that? Probably important volcanoes, maybe some plains, but I don't know how many 'important' landforms I need. For example, for Venus, this - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_Venus - link has a lot of stuff on it. But what do we really need?

You might actually want to know all of that. The problem with this event is that the rules have very broad topics, there's a lot of subtopics that a test-maker can pick. The most ideal way to minimize the stuff you put in is to know the very broad and general topics, like the volcanoes, plains and general topography, but when it comes to more minor landforms, put those in, since usually at first you don't have as much background knowledge to help you out with them. Once you learn those, slowly take those away and keep adding on other notes, but keep details you forget.