Rules Clarifications/FAQs
Aligning with National and State Science Olympiad, questions of the following type will not be answered: those that are already posted, what materials to use, how to build a device, if a device complies to the rules, what will be covered on a test, how to coach the event, test formats or types of test questions.
For Rules Clarifications, click Request for Rules Clarification button. Questions must be directed toward the event rules. For general questions, not related to event rules, select Submit General Questions button. Please also feel free to reach out to us at scioly@princeton.edu for a faster response.
For specific event clarifications and logistics, please see this document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J-N94UrcH4nSeTLeg5uFe-PTXofDYFSJ/view?usp=sharing.
Please see this document for DAY OF clarifications: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KQ32f-znFl85z8FKXvryeGtIdiMaJkvftBOtOnhrAVY/edit?usp=sharing.
Tournament Format FAQs
Q: What are the events for the 2021 Princeton University Science Olympiad tournament?
A: We will be hosting all 19 of the miniSO events. We will not be hosting the replacement events: namely, Digital Structures and Write It CAD It. Here is an exhaustive list of the events:
Anatomy & Physiology, Designer Genes, Disease Detectives, Ornithology, Water Quality, Astronomy, Dynamic Planet, Fossils, Geologic Mapping, Circuit Lab, Machines, Sounds of Music, Chem Lab, Forensics, Protein Modeling, Detector Building, Gravity Vehicle, Codebusters, and Experimental Design.
Q: How much time do students get on the test?
A: All students will receive 50 minutes on each test. However, they can choose to take the test any time during the 24 hour testing window.
Q: What is the testing window?
A: Students will get 24 hours starting from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM on February 20th.
Q: How will event partners work?
A: Students must follow the official rules on the number of partners for each event. Partners use Scilympiad’s convenient chat and partnership features to take the test together or meet via external conferencing software (e.g. Zoom, Meet).
Q: What materials am I allowed to have during the test?
A: Students will be allowed to click off of Scilympiad to access resources that are allowed by the rules, including digital copies of your notes.Pease keep in mind that only the allowed resources should be being used.
Q: How are building/design events going to work?
A: Events indicated in the miniSO event list as test only will be in test only format. This includes Circuit Lab, Machines, Sounds of Music, Chem Lab, Forensics, and Protein Modeling. Gravity Vehicle will be in test only format as well. Experimental design will be based on a specific experiment pre-written by the test writer. Students will be required to answer questions based on this pre-written assessment (see below for more details on Gravity Vehicle and Experimental Design).
Q: How will Gravity Vehicle work?
A: Gravity Vehicle will be formatted as a physics test. Students are not allowed to bring anything other than two standalone non-graphing calculators.
Here is a list of topics that will be covered:
Here is a list of topics that will be covered:
- Concepts surrounding energy: Conservation of Energy, Kinetic Energy (½ mv^2), Potential Energy (mgh)
- Friction and its equations (Static, Kinetic, and Rolling friction equations will all be treated the same)
- Work, specifically work done by friction (simply force of friction * distance)
- Circular Motion and its equations/concepts (centripetal acceleration, a = mv^2 / r)
- Moment of Inertia and how it is influenced by mass and radius (there will not be calculations involving this concept)
- Concepts surrounding gravitation: Law of Universal Gravitation (Fg = Gm1m2/r^2), Orbits
- Rules and specifications pertaining to the construction of the Gravity Vehicle and Ramp
Things that are NOT necessary to know for Gravity Vehicle:
- Angular Momentum
- Kepler’s Laws
- Formulas for gravitational potential energy other than Potential Energy = mgh
- Escape Velocity
Q: How will Experimental Design work?
A: Experimental Design will be based on a pre-written experiment. Students will be provided with a list of materials, a short but clear description of the experiment, and data results. Then, students will be tasked with following the typical experimental design rubric. They will have to identify the statement of problem, hypothesis, variables (dependent, independent, and controlled), experimental control, write a detailed procedure (with diagrams), qualitative observations (use your imagination), calculate statistics (using significant figures), write the analysis, identify the potential experimental errors, write the conclusion, posit applications and recommendations for future use, and write-up the abstract.
Q: What are the trial events?
A: Because of the online format, we will not be having any trial events this year.
Q: How will students be able to ask content-related questions during the test?
A: Students will be able to ask content-related questions to the event supervisor from 9 AM to 6 PM. If students wish to take an exam outside of this window, they will not be able to ask any content-related questions. However, there will be a Google document for each event that is available for the entire 24 hours of the tournament with any clarifications or errors regarding the exam, which will be updated live according to any clarifications or errors that are found.
Q: How will students be able to ask non-content-related questions during the test?
A: We will enable the chat feature on Scilympiad for any questions where you can ask for help with any technical difficulties or general questions during the 24-hour window.