Student Tips

How to Make Studying for Science Olympiad Easier

• Attend all weekly club meetings - This one's an obvious. Going to all meetings will ensure that you know all the upcoming dates and events. This will allow you to manage your studying and work better.

• Attend all event meetings held by your coach - This is another important part as a Science Olympiad member. Each week, your coach will set up a meeting date, either online or in person. During this meeting, knowledge will be covered. Your coach will help you plan out your study schedule so you know when to meet.

• Meet up with your partner - Okay, this is important. Especially for build events (and study events too!) meeting up with your partner allows the two of you to get on the same page and work together either on your build, binder, or cheat sheet. Clear communication between partners means higher chance of success!

• Use your lunch time as a time to study - I know this one may not seem so appealing to many people, but even using one lunchtime per week to visit the library for resources and to study is a great way to get ahead and get things done.

• Put distractions away when studying - Keeping phones, toys, and games away when studying limits the number of times you'll want to get up and text a friend or play with a toy/game. Even if you're video calling your partner, you should silent all messages or turn on Do Not Disturb mode.

• Use a planner or a mobile app/calender as a study schedule - This will help you and remind you to study and what to study (more in 5 Steps to Success page)

• For those who have a phone, set daily reminders to remind you to study - Those pings you get will nag you to open a book, call your partner, and study!

• Create a cheat sheet or binder (whatever the events allow) - Work with your group members and partners to create good quality cheat sheets and test binders. Remember to paraphrase, use small fonts, and have topics organized. Before invitationals, be sure to print your cheatsheets before the day-of, and read through them so you know where your information is. (Protip: use Google slides for cheat sheets. They're easier to format) 

• Start early - Especially for build events, start building right away! This gives you and your partner time to fix and improve your build. (Protip: Make your build at least 1 cm smaller than required. This prevents point deduction at invitationals)

Keep on studying :)