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Yeah, 128/200 was good for 4th at MIT

Do you guys have any advice on getting +5 on an answer instead of +3? Somehow, I get a lot of +3. The answers are either 1 less or 1 more than the actual fermi answer.
Also, how do you try to improve? My scores seem to remain the same as they are around 50%.

eagerlearner102 wrote:Do you guys have any advice on getting +5 on an answer instead of +3? Somehow, I get a lot of +3. The answers are either 1 less or 1 more than the actual fermi answer.
Also, how do you try to improve? My scores seem to remain the same as they are around 50%.

50% is fairly good, although 65-70% was my usual goal at tournaments. I would recommend increasing the accuracy of your assumptions.

Thank you, but the main issue is that I seem to not improve much despite studying flashcards on Quizlet and starring ones I can't remember. Maybe it is because I am taking harder tests.

eagerlearner102 wrote:Thank you, but the main issue is that I seem to not improve much despite studying flashcards on Quizlet and starring ones I can't remember. Maybe it is because I am taking harder tests.

I doubt it's about the test difficulty, unless the tests you're taking are absurdly difficult. Don't spend your time on Quizlet unless you're having trouble remembering the actual values you need - spend more time taking tests and figuring out your mistakes in reasoning through questions.

Thank you for your advice. I am not very experienced in Fermi Questions because this is my first year.
I will probably redo my past mistakes to see if my reasoning has changed.

I'm probably doing fermi questions, and I have never done this event before for some regionals tounrament soon? Any tips on how to not fail? Any tips on how to place lol? Thank you.

sciolywin wrote:I'm probably doing fermi questions, and I have never done this event before for some regionals tounrament soon? Any tips on how to not fail? Any tips on how to place lol? Thank you. :D

Do a lot of practice questions and tests:

New test exchange: https://scioly.org/tests/
Old test exchange: https://scioly.org/wiki/index.php/2019_ ... _Questions
This season's question marathon (can be pretty useful to see how others are solving problems): viewtopic.php?f=297&t=12395

Make a list of useful formulas and memorize them. Also keep a list of common values that would be useful for solving problems (e.g. mass of earth, charge of an electron, avogadro's number, etc.) and commit those to memory as well.

Here are some stuff I've made:
Logs and constants quizlet set
Random values quizlet set (a few things in here are very Michigan-specific)
Units document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JyUMav ... NKQAw/view

The main issue with me is that I get a lot of +3 instead of +5. I either underestimate or overestimate. What is your advice on getting +5? I was calculating what would happen if I didn't get +3 and that would raise my score by 10%.

eagerlearner102 wrote:The main issue with me is that I get a lot of +3 instead of +5. I either underestimate or overestimate. What is your advice on getting +5? I was calculating what would happen if I didn't get +3 and that would raise my score by 10%.

Everyone gets alotta +3s, it's unavoidable sometimes. That being said, memorize numbers to at least one decimal place (for example don't memorize 1 au = E11 meters, memorize it as 1 au = 1.5E11 meters). Sometimes more could be useful, but generally not. Also don't round too much when doing calculations. Try to keep at least one decimal place when multiplying (It could also be easier to write out the entire equation of things your multiplying and dividing and seeing if anything cancels out).

Minimize your estimating by memorizing as much infomation as you can- even a small difference in your estimation can throw off your answer (and sometimes by more then by a factor of 10 when stuff is cubed or whatever). Also more infomation provides a better basis to estimate from. Figure out why you got +3 instead of +5. If you find a particular value that you didn't estimate correctly, memorize it so next time you see the value again it won't throw you off. Just keep on taking more practice tests, you'll get better at getting those +5s.