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Scioly Summer Study Session 2018

Posted: May 20th, 2018, 7:43 am
by foreverphysics
Hello everyone! Ready your horses, because it’s off to the races with another year of SSSS! It’s our sixth year, we are looking forward to working with everyone, and as always, we want to see everyone’s fantastic work.

Please read through all of this post. All details are in here and they are important.

SSSS will begin on June 1st, 2018 and continue through mid-August.

This event will be run similarly to previous years. You submit a resource, listed below, for one of the events scheduled for the 2018-2019 season. Once it is approved by an SSSS moderator, you gain access to all other resources submitted to SSSS! The resources are yours to use, but we ask that they are not shared with other people (including teammates) not in SSSS. Around August, when SSSS ends, these resources are uploaded to the wiki, test exchange, and image gallery unless otherwise specified. Builds are accepted.

Please note that any resources submitted may be uploaded to the wiki or test exchange at the end of the event, regardless of whether or not they were accepted. This is so as many resources as possible are available for other people to use and learn from.

Interested? Here are the logistics of participating in SSSS in detail:


1. Make a forum account if you don’t have one yet. Due to logistical reasons, we can only add users who are members of scioly.org

2.There are multiple ways to get involved.
  • You can write a test with an answer key. This must be tournament quality and length.
  • You may submit notes for an event scheduled for 2019. The notes must be similarly extensive and at least 7,000 words long.
  • You may submit a set of images AND build plans for build events. There must be at least 3 images. They can be CAD or actual images.
  • You may submit a building guide for build events, like Aia’s Boomilever Guide. Guides must be a minimum of 1,000 words and include diagrams and clear, concise instructions. Tips are good as well.
All resources must be homemade. We ask that you submit them in PDF form. (Word and LibreOffice both have a feature for PDF exporting.)
For a list of 2019 events, please see here.

3. Check the Test Exchange to find examples of tests that have been submitted by other users in the past. All tests that are sub-bullets of “SSSS 2017”, or other years, were past resources that have been accepted.

4.You email your resource to summer@scioly.org. The email should be titled [Your scioly.org username]’s [Name of Event] [Type of Resource: test, notes, plans, or guide]; for example, “Mnstrviola’s Experimental Design Test”. The file(s) should be attached to the email, preferably in PDF format.

5.The moderators will look over your submission. If it is not approved, we will reply to the email with suggestions on issues and/or improvement. Our moderators will work with you to improve the quality of your submission until it is accepted. You should receive a response from within 5 days, but please remind us if necessary. When responding to an email, please click REPLY TO ALL. Failure to do so may cause confusion and delays in processing your submission.

6. Once accepted, you will be provided with details on how to access SSSS through your scioly account.



SSSS will end sometime in August. All resources will all be added to the scioly.org wiki and Test Exchange unless the user requests otherwise. You MUST tell us beforehand if you do not wish to have your notes and/or tests uploaded publicly.

For a list of tentative 2019 events, please see this document.

Events with specific lists attached to them (i.e. Rocks and Minerals, Herpetology, etc.) will have the lists linked in the events document.
For the third year, SSSS is opening up applications to be a moderator for the event. This is happening for several reasons:

1. We (mnstrviola and myself) are getting oooooooooold and no longer know all the bright eyed, bushy tailed Science Olympiad enthusiasts who aren’t yet in college.
2. We have had issues in the past covering some of our event bases. By opening up applications to the rest of the Scioly community, we hope to have better coverage and more in depth reviews.
3. Some of our long-time mods are also getting oooooooold and no longer have the energy or time to mod.

So here’s your chance! Be a mod! Fill out the [url=https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYAatJeE0ZVCyFrikWQt35tO7EXUpSZl73aUbOjpTIJgztuQ/viewform?usp=sf_link]application here[/url].
Moderators will be notified of their selection two to four days before SSSS begins to allow for maximum time for applications to come in.
Have any questions or comments? You can respond to this post, private message mnstrviola or foreverphysics, email foreverphysics at foreverphysics@scioly.org, or email the mods at summer@scioly.org.

Note: The SSSS is not a tournament. It is not meant to be a competitive event, but an unofficial study event to practice for the upcoming Science Olympiad season.

Re: Scioly Summer Study Session 2018

Posted: May 20th, 2018, 9:03 pm
by acidbeaker
I'm planning on making a test for Potions and Poisons. Would I use organisms from the 2017-2018 season? I don't think the organisms for the 2018-2019 season will be revealed until fall.

Re: Scioly Summer Study Session 2018

Posted: May 20th, 2018, 9:04 pm
by hippo9
Similarly, would something for fossils be based off of the 2016 list?

Re: Scioly Summer Study Session 2018

Posted: May 21st, 2018, 10:58 am
by pb5754
What would I do if I wanna make an Astro test? The topic will be Galaxies, so the rules will be completely new...

Re: Scioly Summer Study Session 2018

Posted: May 21st, 2018, 11:11 am
by antoine_ego
pb5754[] wrote:What would I do if I wanna make an Astro test? The topic will be Galaxies, so the rules will be completely new...
I'd either use old DSOs or write one that involves general information and concepts rather than DSOs. For an example test without DSOs, I'd recommend Adi1008's test here.

Re: Scioly Summer Study Session 2018

Posted: May 21st, 2018, 12:28 pm
by syo_astro
acidbeaker wrote:I'm planning on making a test for Potions and Poisons. Would I use organisms from the 2017-2018 season? I don't think the organisms for the 2018-2019 season will be revealed until fall.
hippo9 wrote:Similarly, would something for fossils be based off of the 2016 list?
First, very sorry for not including a Potions and Poisons list! I'll update that.

Since these questions are all about lists, please make sure to double check the doc in forever's post (see: "For a list of tentative 2019 events..."). I'll make a note about lists at the beginning of the doc instead of end to reduce confusion, and I link to the most recent lists I've found unless people recommend something else. Hypothetically, you can use any list, but you should explicitly state at the start of your pdf what list you're using (even for ones we recommend). For example, if you use the 2016 fossils list in a test, you should say in the instructions that you use that list.

Please PM me and forever if you have any alternate lists online that are more relevant, or post if something is still unclear.
antoine_ego wrote:
pb5754[] wrote:What would I do if I wanna make an Astro test? The topic will be Galaxies, so the rules will be completely new...
I'd either use old DSOs or write one that involves general information and concepts rather than DSOs. For an example test without DSOs, I'd recommend Adi1008's test here.
If there are any questions about astro, definitely post or PM me, and I would love to discuss! Indeed, some old but classic DSOs that you should pick from are listed on https://scioly.org/wiki/index.php/Astronomy/DSOs (see: 2010, 2011 for the most relevant ones). While general tests aren't bad, I really think it helps to study some DSOs based on past ones because they are essential to the event. Alternative: you can find interesting DSOs from Chandra/APOD (to make it individualized!).

If you really prefer not to have DSOs, that's fine, but I ask to try including some DS9 / JS9 questions instead among other things that might be interesting / new (this might sound random, but the JS9 was bolded last year and people should really start trying to use it more...I think discussion will lead to good insights).

Re: Scioly Summer Study Session 2018

Posted: May 21st, 2018, 7:28 pm
by TheChiScientist
I think I can handle anything code busters related. (Maybe I can make a test...)

Re: Scioly Summer Study Session 2018

Posted: May 22nd, 2018, 12:51 pm
by UTF-8 U+6211 U+662F
Can't wait to get started (writing a circuit lab test)!

Re: Scioly Summer Study Session 2018

Posted: May 23rd, 2018, 4:43 pm
by wethose
How many submissions of tests and notes do you usually receive?

Re: Scioly Summer Study Session 2018

Posted: May 23rd, 2018, 4:47 pm
by kate!
Can we submit anything for Experimental Design? I was thinking of making some sort of guide along with practice experiments, like SOnerd has done in the past.