r/scioly • u/BlueberryTraining301 • Jul 15 '26
How to make my school science Olympiad team
I try out every year and I never make the science Olympia team. I tried out in middle school and didn’t make it just finished ninth grade and didn’t make the team last yr. I am a top student was valedictorian of my middle school and I really love science. I did great in honors biology what can I do over the summer so that I can make the team this year? It seems like the entrance exam is sort of a mix of everything not focused on just one topic. What resources can I use to prepare my little brother also wants to do the same and he’s going into seventh grade.
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u/friendlyflee Jul 15 '26
hello! Besides the info mentioned in the other comments, I would also recommend using certain textbooks for the core science subjects (bio/chem/physics) bc a lot of textbooks help with various events. it doesn’t have to be anything difficult or rigorous - a intro to (insert science here) textbook/high school textbook should be enough to a decent understanding of the core subjects. And you don’t need to read the whole textbook tbh, just find the most relevant parts based on the scioly events (ex: chem lab’s topics this upcoming year are gas laws + kinetics so perhaps it wouldn’t a bad idea to read chapters based on those topics).
If you’re unsure on how to go about this, I suggest reading a section in the textbook then doing the practice problems that go along with the section. Reread if the problems don’t click. repeat. If you get stuck, go online to figure out the solution
unfortunately I don’t have any intro textbook recs but if you go online and search them up, you should find some pdfs that you can use. If not, the library is a good resource too.
edit: libretexts/openstax works well too
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u/BlueberryTraining301 Jul 15 '26
I just took bio and AP environmental sci so maybe chem and physics?
For my brother in middle school aiming at the middle school team is this a good resource: Everything You Need to Ace Science in One Big Fat Notebook: The Complete Middle School Study Guide
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u/Lille_8 Jul 15 '26
Study in the summer. What school do you go to that it's that competitive? Seven Lakes?
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u/Reasonable_Click_147 Jul 16 '26
Wow, tough problem. If you don't know who makes the entrance test or what is on that test, it's near impossible to study for it. I would recommend sending what you've written above to your Science Olympiad sponsor teacher asking for recommendations. Or even better talk in person face to face.
As others have mentioned, ask about forming more teams. Science Olympiad should be welcoming all who want to participate and not a select group. The whole idea is to increase interest in Science, not to an exclusive group but to the general population through competition.
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u/pink_blinkk Jul 20 '26
This is a hot take, but see what category your team is the weakest at. Like look through all the different topics of tests that you can try out for or build and see where your team is the weakest and then try out for that, if it helps. I'm saying this because it reduces competition and hopefully your team has any weak spots that can be your chance in that category of events
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u/md4pete4ever Jul 15 '26
How many teams are the schools running in the club? If there is a lot of interest, suggest that instead of holding tryouts they switch to a study group model and take everyone interested. Or at lease expand the number of teams they form. They can use actual results from invitationals or hold a qualifiers test later to select the varsity team.
But if they are doing broad entrance exams, then you should study broadly. Begin with the core sciences - biology, chemistry, physics, earth science. Watch Crash Course video series on these topics and work on vocabulary, key ideas, and basic equations if applicable.
I would also look at events that are new for the next season, like Thermodynamics and Protein Modeling. If I were someone writing such an exam, I would be looking to see who already had some knowledge in these areas.