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March 29, 2024, 12:26:46 pm

Author Topic: Science Olympiads  (Read 16976 times)  Share 

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the.watchman

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Re: Science Olympiads
« Reply #15 on: March 14, 2010, 09:31:38 am »
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That's all for physics, I've got the same years of Chemistry, please email me if you want them :)
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appianway

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Re: Science Olympiads
« Reply #16 on: March 14, 2010, 10:16:59 am »
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A large amount of preparation is recommended for chemistry though - the whole multiple choice section tests knowledge, not reasoning skills. It's also recommended to try and do a few practice problems beforehand to get into the right zone of thinking - the thought processes required differ dramatically from VCE - there's a lot of first principles.

How much prep would you need?

My school randomly entered me in along with 10 or so others students. I did no prep whatsoever, as I was only concerned about learning the 1/2 course, and I found I couldn't answer most of the questions. The questions I did answer, I had to rely heavily on first-principles and making connections on the spot, but otherwise, I had no idea about how functional groups were meant to react and how "protective functional groups" were meant to work. LOL I didn't even know what redox reactions were back then, so I got totally raped. Somehow got Distinction >.<.

For Chemistry, I didn't prep too much - I had a bit of a look at redox reactions beforehand, including galvanic cells. I also had a quick skim through the concept of equilibrium which can be related to lots of things. I ended up doing most things on the spot too - my best mark was actually on the redox question, according to the chemistry program director. That said, I think that preparation for the chemistry NQE can really make a difference - seeing as you only need about 40% to qualify, if you gun the multiple choice and can get most of the "easy" questions in the extended response correct, you're almost in. I had a high enough score to attend the summer school in chemistry, but I did much better in physics, so if anyone wants some more information about chemistry, I might get evildoctorcow to post.

appianway

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Re: Science Olympiads
« Reply #17 on: March 14, 2010, 10:24:57 am »
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Oh, and if anyone wants any help with past physics NQEs, I generally got above 90% on the ones I did for practise, so I might be able to help a bit.

== I'm so stupid. I just opened the 2009 NQE to have a look out of curiousity and started thinking about how easy it seemed because it was so familiar.

I then realised that it was the paper that I actually sat.
« Last Edit: March 14, 2010, 10:30:08 am by appianway »

the.watchman

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Re: Science Olympiads
« Reply #18 on: March 14, 2010, 10:34:41 am »
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Oh, and if anyone wants any help with past physics NQEs, I generally got above 90% on the ones I did for practise, so I might be able to help a bit.

== I'm so stupid. I just opened the 2009 NQE to have a look out of curiousity and started thinking about how easy it seemed because it was so familiar.

I then realised that it was the paper that I actually sat.

LOLOLOL probs would have been easy for you anyway ;D
Oh, I'm relying on you to get me through this :)
Remember, remember the 5th of November

2010 - MM CAS (47) - Cisco 1+2 (pass :P)
2011 - Eng - Phys - Chem - Spesh - Latin - UMAT
ATAR - 99.00+ plz... :)

Feel free to PM me for anything :D

appianway

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Re: Science Olympiads
« Reply #19 on: March 14, 2010, 10:51:11 am »
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Parts of the physics NQE were easy, parts weren't. Didn't like the differential equations question, probably because I didn't know what they were. It was a fun paper overall though.

I did think I'd failed chemistry though.

appianway

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Re: Science Olympiads
« Reply #20 on: March 14, 2010, 04:02:55 pm »
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I'm pleased to say that three girls are on the APhO physics team.

Including two from Mac.Rob. ;D

appianway

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Re: Science Olympiads
« Reply #21 on: March 16, 2010, 04:49:32 pm »
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@AzureBlue, I qualified for the olympiad school in physics and chemistry (although I didn't know about chemistry until the camp), and I just found out a few days ago that I made the team for physcis... well, at least for the Asian Olympiad (the IPhO team's selected from the APhO team after the competition... there are 8 people on the APhO team and 5 go on to IPhO). So yes, in short - I made the summer school and the team.

The current biology papers are apparently quite different to the old ones - they might not be a useful guide.

the.watchman

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Re: Science Olympiads
« Reply #22 on: March 16, 2010, 04:57:10 pm »
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I see they've changed the website and only have 2007-9 papers.
Here's some more for anyone interested :)
2007-2009? I believe that I can only view the 2009 papers on: http://www.aso.edu.au/nqe/pastpapers.php
Can you please put up the 2007 and 2008 papers if you have them? Many thanks :)

Sorry, just 2007 :)
I got chem if anyone wants them too
Remember, remember the 5th of November

2010 - MM CAS (47) - Cisco 1+2 (pass :P)
2011 - Eng - Phys - Chem - Spesh - Latin - UMAT
ATAR - 99.00+ plz... :)

Feel free to PM me for anything :D

the.watchman

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Re: Science Olympiads
« Reply #23 on: March 16, 2010, 05:01:14 pm »
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Nah only 2000-7 physics and chem (the ones i'm doing this year)
Remember, remember the 5th of November

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2011 - Eng - Phys - Chem - Spesh - Latin - UMAT
ATAR - 99.00+ plz... :)

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appianway

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Re: Science Olympiads
« Reply #24 on: March 16, 2010, 05:07:23 pm »
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LOL AzureBlue, I don't know if I'll be going to IPhO as I said- it's more probable than not, but I'm definitely going to APhO in about 6 weeks! APhO's the Asian Physics Olympiad, and Australia sends a team of 8 from which the IPhO group of 5 comes.

I think the style of 2009, and possibly 2008 was different to the earlier years in biology, so you might not find ones before that too useful. The earlier ones seemed to have a larger emphasis on knowledge than reasoning; now it's the opposite.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2010, 05:09:00 pm by appianway »

the.watchman

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Re: Science Olympiads
« Reply #25 on: March 16, 2010, 05:16:08 pm »
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Nah only 2000-7 physics and chem (the ones i'm doing this year)
Ahh, okay don't worry then - just wondering, where did you get the 2007 papers for physics and chem, I thought they previously only had 2000-2006 on the ASO website.

Nah they had up to 07 :)

Also, do you have to have done 3/4 to do well in the science olympiads and is it similar to maths olympiads where VCE maths is almost irrelevant - more problem solving?

Definitely not, completely unrelated i think, the only thing that is important is the NQE :)
Remember, remember the 5th of November

2010 - MM CAS (47) - Cisco 1+2 (pass :P)
2011 - Eng - Phys - Chem - Spesh - Latin - UMAT
ATAR - 99.00+ plz... :)

Feel free to PM me for anything :D

appianway

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Re: Science Olympiads
« Reply #26 on: March 16, 2010, 05:27:46 pm »
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APhO is very, very different from APMO. APhO's almost as selective as IPhO - the teams are the same (think of physics as having two olympiads that the team members participate in), just slightly larger, and some members opt not to continue onto IPhO due to the immense time commitment.

It's probably better to think of APhO as IPhO, but restricted to the Asia Pacific region - to tell the truth, this probably makes it more competitive! The selection process for APhO is identical to that for IPhO if teams don't enter APhO (which happened last year due to the security situation), so getting in's roughly as difficult as making it into the IPhO team if it were chosen directly after the summer school (people tended to work harder once they knew APhO was going ahead because they thought they had more of a chance!). The exact IPhO team will be confirmed after APhO, but the APhO team's still the team anyway - most of the competitors will go on to IPhO (it's impossible to go to IPhO without doing APhO), and besides, the preparation for APhO and the competition itself are pretty much the same as IPhO.

APMO's very different as well - APMO requires competitors to be in the top 30-40 maths students in the country, whereas APhO is much, much more selective. The training for APhO's identical to the training for IPhO if Australia doesn't send a team to APhO - the team goes to the Easter Training Camp, does a lot of extra work and goes away. We're going to Taipei this year, so that should be fun! APhO runs identically to IPhO - the structure of the programs are the same. The APhO website's here (http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/apho2010/) if you want to have a look at how it works. I know that the APhO team also receive Australian team shirts (all of the I*O teams do too), and I heard from one of the tutors that we also get the Australian blazers, but I can't confirm that.

As for VCE and science olympiads? That's a bit more complicated. To give you a bit of an idea, there were something like 17 Victorians at the Summer School this year across all three sciences, and to my knowledge, 5 of us scored raws of 50s in year 11. So far, the biology and physics teams have been announced, and out of the 4 Victorians chosen, 3 had 50s in year 11. One had quite a bit lower. Even though I 50ed physics in year 11, I don't think it helped me for olympiad - it's a completely different style (as in, it actually entails thought), and the knowledge that we covered in the 3/4 course was miniscule in comparison to what we did at olympiad camp.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2010, 05:31:01 pm by appianway »

simonhu81292

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Re: Science Olympiads
« Reply #27 on: March 16, 2010, 05:31:46 pm »
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is there an Asian Chemistry Olympiad?
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appianway

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Re: Science Olympiads
« Reply #28 on: March 16, 2010, 05:32:56 pm »
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No. Asia's more intense about physics :P

That said, both IChO and IBO are in Asia this year (in Japan and Korea respectively).

GerrySly

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Re: Science Olympiads
« Reply #29 on: March 16, 2010, 05:36:23 pm »
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How many people actually compete in these competitions (in Australia)? Is it only more academically gifted schools? I went to a rural school and never heard of anything other than IMO and IMO I found out because of Derrick Ha mentioning Terry Tao.
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