Science Olympiads 2009

huitzilopochtli

Hello everyone,

I think this is my first post, but I'm not sure because I can't remember when I actually set up this account, so apologies if this is in the wrong place.

I'm looking for information about the Senior Science Olympiad trials in DCU. What are the tests like? I need to know about the biology test in particular, but also the physics one if possible. Are there any veterans out there who would mind sharing their experience?

Thanks in advance,
huitzilopochtli

alan4cult

Hi,

I sat the Physics Senior Olympiad in January 2006. I was just out of my JC and was doing Transition Year so I really hadn't studied any of the LC Physics. I cannot really remember the whole exam but it was quite difficult to be honest.

PurpleFistMixer

Good craic is what they are.

I did the physics last year... pretty hazy by now but um... it's all based on stuff in the LC course, nicely enough, only harder of course. Lemme see... there were two papers if I recall, one with a few short questions, (stuff on mechanics, stuff on electricity that sort of thing) and then a second paper which was just 2 long questions. The first question was about optics and stuff, about a student sitting in the back of a class and how small can the teacher write if they can only make things to a certain degree, etc. The second one was about some kind of cutting device that used high pressure water and was a gigantic ball of failure for me... spent most of the time trying to derive equations relation pressure and water (all I needed was a simple Av = Av equation but what can you do, that's not on the LC course).

It's a day in DCU basically, I remember being pissed off that the Chemists got more time off than the physicists... for Biology I THINK they had multiple choice, not too sure tbh... but yeah, then they do the correcting stuff there and then so you hang around, and come back an hour or two later to find out who got into the next round. If you get into the next round you come back for an intensive week during the easter break, and from that they choose the final team of 4/5, who then come back AGAIN during the summer. (And go away!)

straight_As

Hi guys,

Anyone any info on how you're selected to do this?

I was invited to the junior one last year based on ye' old JC results and to say I was unprepared would be the understatement of the century.

I could have sworn they said everyone who took part in the Euso thingy would be invited back automatically and aptly enough, I seem to have found a certain interest in physics and chem and would love to give it another shot.

I changed school this year though so maybe they sent it to my old school? If only, if only! Wishful thinking goddamnit!

Help appreciated.:)

Thankies

PurpleFistMixer

Hm, well I did the EUSO, then got invited to do this yoke in 5th year... then they must have forgotten about me in 6th year or something, so I just asked my Physics teacher to register me... you have to send in an application thing, it's probably on their website.
(Of course, my physics teacher didn't register me and I had to frantically ring them up after the date had passed to let me do it...)

waheyyy

i did the ireuso i think it was last year for bio.

it was pretty much all lc standard. some stuff thats not even on the lc course too as far as i remember.

a lot of it was based on cell structure and genetics i think....

there were two tests, one was to do some sort of graph and the other was a load of multiple choice questions.

i thought i did fairly bad tbh coz i didnt have a clue what half of it was about. i ended up getting 3rd. go figure..

straight_As

waheyyy wrote: »

i did the ireuso i think it was last year for bio.

it was pretty much all lc standard. some stuff thats not even on the lc course too as far as i remember.

a lot of it was based on cell structure and genetics i think....

there were two tests, one was to do some sort of graph and the other was a load of multiple choice questions.

i thought i did fairly bad tbh coz i didnt have a clue what half of it was about. i ended up getting 3rd. go figure..

Yeah, I did chem......... and it was hard. I was in TY and we hadn't done moles, stoichiometry or any of those important-ish concepts and tbh, I was, I regret to say, a wee bit lazy.

Just out of curiosity, were you that girl from Cork in the red jumper? I for some reason remember the prize ceremony so clearly........ pity I wasn't part of it.:( Oh god, I have a weird photographic memory for those sorts of things. Oh why I can't I remember in relation to school?

huitzilopochtli

Thanks to everyone who's replied so far. Any details though on what exactly they based the tests on? Someone mentioned stuff not on the leaving cert, any idea how to prepare for that?

EamonnKeane

I was 5th in biology (one place off the team!) a few years ago. Get an A-Level revision book if you really want to succeed; particularly look at the cell cycle. They use A Level material because it's an all-Ireland tournament.

JSK 252

I was supposed to be doing the chemistry or biology compo but for some reason it didnt happen.

It seems that the physics olympiad is the most well known.

waheyyy

straight_As wrote: »

Yeah, I did chem......... and it was hard. I was in TY and we hadn't done moles, stoichiometry or any of those important-ish concepts and tbh, I was, I regret to say, a wee bit lazy.

Just out of curiosity, were you that girl from Cork in the red jumper? I for some reason remember the prize ceremony so clearly........ pity I wasn't part of it.:( Oh god, I have a weird photographic memory for those sorts of things. Oh why I can't I remember in relation to school?

nope, im a boy...

but yeah. it says on the invite thing that they only reccommend you to do it if you're in 6th year, but i doubt i'd have time to do it next year tbh...

any ideas where you could get an a level revision book?

aine-maire

I did it in ty too... I was so clueless! (we don't do chemistry as part of our ty program...)

I got invited because of my Jc results too, and then they invited me back last year. I was too young though, so they told me to apply to do the senior one this year instead...

So anyone know where it's possible to find A-Level notes on this side of the border??

huitzilopochtli

Thanks again for the advice, I hope mine will be as useful.

For an A level-ish book get the IB Diploma, Oxford published book. Can't remember who the author is but I do remember the biology one is blue and has a white bird (probably a crane) on it.

PurpleFistMixer

It seems somewhat like overkill to get an A-level book, but I suppose if you really really want to get on the team it might increase your chances... Once you get past the initial selection round in January or so you use a University Physics book, anyway.

Also weirdly enough, I found what helped me to get on to the team more than anything was Applied Maths. LC Physics is alright, concepts-wise, but you'll end up needing a firm grasp of mechanics, and calculus. Of course, for the selection test it's basically just on the LC physics course... I don't think they intentionally put things on it that are only on the A-Level course... that would be cruel. : p

waheyyy

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

It seems somewhat like overkill to get an A-level book, but I suppose if you really really want to get on the team it might increase your chances... Once you get past the initial selection round in January or so you use a University Physics book, anyway.

Also weirdly enough, I found what helped me to get on to the team more than anything was Applied Maths. LC Physics is alright, concepts-wise, but you'll end up needing a firm grasp of mechanics, and calculus. Of course, for the selection test it's basically just on the LC physics course... I don't think they intentionally put things on it that are only on the A-Level course... that would be cruel. : p

well if a trip to japan is involved and if studying an extra book will increase your chances why not sure..:pac:sure i enjoy learning bio anyway so i wouldnt really consider it that much of a chore..

thats awesome that u got on.. where'd you go for the international olympiad?

PurpleFistMixer

Vietnam, was pretty amazing. The Physics olympiad is in Mexico next year, I do believe. Is Biology going to Japan, then?

waheyyy

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

Vietnam, was pretty amazing. The Physics olympiad is in Mexico next year, I do believe. Is Biology going to Japan, then?

yup..

poor chemistry crowd have to make do with cambridge i think.

just wondering, did you go during your 5th or 6th year?

on the letter of invitation it reccommended to wait til 6th year to do it, but i would imagine it would interfere with leaving cert study and whatnot..
so i'm considering trying for it this year even though i'm in 5th.

PurpleFistMixer

I tried out for it in 5th year but it was a fantastic failure. We'd only covered a few topics in physics so I couldn't do the exam at all, really. It was somewhat distracting in 6th year, admittedly... I was studying for the second qualification test (to pick the final 5) at the same time as doing the orals and music practical... and the day after the LC finished I got an email off them with a list of past papers the team had to attempt before starting training the week later. One of the guys on the team, though, it was his 3rd time doing it, which means he got onto the team when he was in 4th year... so it is possible.

straight_As

Got my invitation today, had been sent to my old school, hence the delay.

I'm really considering shooting for the physics. I know I don't stand a chance in hell as all we've done so far is mechanics and heat and looking at the past papers I know can do a lot of the electricity (we did it all in first year technology), but maybe it would be good preparation for next year? I do applied maths so that might help also?

We're not using a book in physics so maybe it's time to buy one?

That scholarship thing alone would be worth the effort.

And PFM, skillz and bit on getting on to that team last year. I was just reading about it on the website there but I seem to remember that Mark Moriarty's name. Wasn't he one of the guys who got 8 A1's last year? High standard or what?

PurpleFistMixer

Scholarship thing?

You may as well give it a go in 5th year, just to see what the test is like, etc. And... well, having a book would certainly be a handy thing alright. I think in... 5th year or possibly 4th year I decided it'd be beneficial to read the entire physics book before the exam, but I wasn't familiar enough with a lot of the stuff to be able to use it sufficiently well for the test.

And yeah, Mark's basically just a genius. When I got my LC results I was all happy and stuff, and then found out he beat me by 20 points. How frustrating. : p I think a fair few people got points like that in his school actually.

-ilikeshorts

My teacher is really looking for a volunteer to got to dcu for the physics test i went onto the website for vietnam last year and was totally lost byt the questions. Dublins a long way to go just for a test like i couldnt really live farther away yet still in the country. If you did get through how much of your summer does it take up because i intend on celebrating the end of my leaving cert for the most of th summer. I'm in 6th year so would it take up too much time.

PurpleFistMixer

I'll be honest with you...
It went sort of like this:
I walk out of my Applied Maths exam on the 20th of June or whenever it was, full of the joys of freedom. Sometime later I get home to find an email from the Physics Olympiad people with a list of past exam paper questions to have done by the time training started a week or so later. My summer didn't start until August. : p

However, I did get to go to Vietnam and represent Ireland yadda yadda, so I think it was a fair trade off. Oh, and yeah, don't expect to be actually able to do the questions. Especially before you've done training (I almost got a Bronze medal and I answered about 1/3 of the questions in the actual exam). The test in DCU is on Leaving Cert things.

ZorbaTehZ

They changed the format ohtough of the exam each year the first time I did it it was a short number of long descriptive questions (on heat absorption in liquids and the second was on something in electronics, I remember there being a circuit diagram iirc) and then the second year they changed it to one of these disgusting mcqs which arguably made it easier (the questions were somewhat similiar to what you'd see on sat exam) and the content of that mcq was beyond the scope of the lc curriculum there wasa question on time dilation and quite indepth questions on magnetism. Im not sure if the exam papers are available online, i can try dig them up and post them if people want.

The people who organise it though are really very nice and accomadating so if you think you didnt get an invite when you should have ring them and they'll do what they can im sure.

-ilikeshorts

applied today so we'll give it a go it cant be that bad any1 no what time on the 31st do you have to be there

-ilikeshorts

has anyone else whos doing the olympiad for physics up in dcu what time do we have to be there for i've got no letter maybe because my teacher is out and will be out for ages

PurpleFistMixer

http://www.dcu.ie/olympiads/

Registration between 10:00 and 10:45 at the Science Buildings.