Science Olympiad Disasters/Causes

[eagerlearner102]

My competition is in early March, and I want some advice on how to prevent common Science Olympiad disasters (unhelpful partner, procrastination, didn't follow guidelines, etc.). I am studying a lot for Science Olympiad, but I feel like I am not sharing the work evenly and not talking to my partners as much as I should be.

[primitivepolonium]

My competition is in early March, and I want some advice on how to prevent common Science Olympiad disasters (unhelpful partner, procrastination, didn't follow guidelines, etc.). I am studying a lot for Science Olympiad, but I feel like I am not sharing the work evenly and not talking to my partners as much as I should be.

Are you asking as a team captain/overseer, or for your own personal experiences?

If it's for your personal experience: I've had very lackluster and dead-weight partners, and I've also had very helpful partners. The main difference was communication. I talked rarely to my dead-weight partners, either because they never came to meetings (and so I could only message them sporadically) or because they made it clear they weren't interested in SciOly. On the other hand, I met with my helpful partners at least once or twice a week. We were either doing exams one of us found to practice, sharing cool concepts we found, or revising problem sets. If something came up, we talked immediately; I remember texting my TPS and Chem Lab partner immediately after I found out all 3 of my events were scheduled for the same time block at an invite and then commiserating.

A good start is coming up with a schedule with your partner, or talking to them whenever you find something cool in your studying. Both partners should have input into the cheat sheet, so that's also a good source of discussion. It's always easier to talk if you have something to talk about.

If they're idk, completely not down to talk with you, then you'll have to figure out their deal as diplomatically as you can and adjust accordingly.

[eagerlearner102]

Thank you for your advice. I meant in terms of personal experiences. Despite having lackluster partners, did you still do well in your events?

[klastyioer]

lmao rly off topic but
i Am ThE sCiEnCe OlYmPiAd DiSaStEr

[megrimlockawesom]

My competition is in early March, and I want some advice on how to prevent common Science Olympiad disasters (unhelpful partner, procrastination, didn't follow guidelines, etc.). I am studying a lot for Science Olympiad, but I feel like I am not sharing the work evenly and not talking to my partners as much as I should be.

Are you me?

if you are in a build event, a checklist helps.

[primitivepolonium]

Thank you for your advice. I meant in terms of personal experiences. Despite having lackluster partners, did you still do well in your events?

Depends. At local invites it was really whatever, since the exams weren't too bad and I could solo it. Like at Troy Invites 2014 I got 1st in chem lab despite my partner doing very little, because there were only 12 teams. You can still get through regionals.

But say at a larger competition--states, big college invites, nationals--it's way harder and I know that without a good partner I would not have medaled. I was lucky in that the worst which happened was that someone studied a lot for tryouts and never again afterwards, so they had some baseline of knowledge. The exams at these competitions are made for 2 competent partners so you can't plan on carrying. If I thought my assigned partner apathetic early on, I was really careful to either 1) get at least some participation out of them, enough to pull me through, 2) convince them to study, or 3) convince the coach that they were unworthy and inconsistent.

[Kyanite]

Forgot my time and distance logs for electric vehicle at nationals when we had a top 20 run so we were tiered..... So checklists are important.

[TheChiScientist]

Forgot my time and distance logs for electric vehicle at nationals when we had a top 20 run so we were tiered..... So checklists are important.

Forgot to bring my Thermo Box diagram to ISO state last year... Good thing I ran a pre-pre-pre checklist and noticed it was missing. I spent a good hour past midnight making the diagram in the hotel . Good thing too cuz it was worth 2 whole points! Although seriously they were easy points and if I didn't catch that mistake I probably wouldn't have a 1st place medal hanging on my wall. (Check and double check! You never know...)

[NeBH]

(For build events)

[b][i][u]DFTB: (Click to Show Hidden Text)

Don't Forget The Brake[/u][/i][/b]

[LittleMissNyan]

Forgot my time and distance logs for electric vehicle at nationals when we had a top 20 run so we were tiered..... So checklists are important.

Forgot to bring my Thermo Box diagram to ISO state last year... Good thing I ran a pre-pre-pre checklist and noticed it was missing. I spent a good hour past midnight making the diagram in the hotel . Good thing too cuz it was worth 2 whole points! Although seriously they were easy points and if I didn't catch that mistake I probably wouldn't have a 1st place medal hanging on my wall. (Check and double check! You never know...)

I forgot to re-wind the Battery Buggy wing nut thing for the second run at one competition and it only went like 1 meter
And then I forgot to take out the batteries and put the timing mast thing for the competition after that and we got tiered.
So yeah
CHECKLISTS