International science olympiad

[genius3point14159]

wouldn't that be awesum?!!?!?!?! i mean the top few schools from nationals from each country compteting for an international title!! yeah there would probably be lots and lots of problems like language for one... but still......

[denmarksoccer]

It would be INSANELY difficult to arrange. Also, what language would you write the tests in? Also, for something like Write it Do it would each country have to have its own test proctor? I don't think it's possible, but it would be sort of cool.

[Glacierguy1]

It would be epic! and very impossible.

[eak227]

Ha this idea has been suggested before and everyone has agreed that it would be a whole lot of fun. And also completely unrealistic. But hey, you could always dream. Not to mention that the US would get absolutely obliterated...

If you want International Science, then you have SIX options.

Make the US's International Physics Olympiad team (US site)(official site).
Or the International Chemistry Olympiad.
Or the International Biology Olympiad.
Or the International Math Olympiad.
Or the International Astronomy Olympiad.
Or the International Informatics Olympiad.

Those are the 6... which is funny. Because SO more or less combines them all together. All those are basically centered on the individual, whereas SO is more team based. Though it can be argued that it is only a team effort to make it to nationals, but once you're there the 23 events are all essentially individual things just like these international olympiads.

So yeah. Point is, you have plenty of options for international science competition. But let me warn you... you have to be wayyy above and beyond SO level knowledge for most of these.

[sciolykid101]

One pt from making Biology Olympiad... Yeah. It was pretty hard.

[eak227]

Were you really?? How did you even know it existed? Honestly while I was in high school, I only knew math olympiad existed, because that's what the AMC/AIME is for. Then at college my roommate medaled in the physics one, so I knew it existed, but the other 4 I only found out about when I googled them for that post.

I wish I had known about those when I could still compete..

[gneissisnice]

Yeah, I made the semi-finals for bio olympiad this year. The qualifying test wasnt terrible, i got 29/50 which qualified me, and a lot of the stuff i knew from scio =)
But the semi-finals were hard. A LOT of questions on genetic engineering, which i know nothing about, and even the ecology questions were all asking stuff on evolution and genes. It made me sad =(. I dont know how I did yet, but probably not to the finals (they take the top 20).

[gyourkoshaven]

One small problem (Correct me if I'm wrong): I believe that the US is the only country that does Science Olympiad! (Although there may be teams from Canada occasionally)

[gh]

Yar, these competitions are way harder than anything SO will give, even at nationals. The IOI (computer problem solving) and IMO (non-computer problem solving) aren't even covered by SO. By the way, the US teams for those two are picked from participants in the USACO and USAMO (AMC, AIME, etc.), respectively.

I got US Physics Team quarterfinalist this year, but didn't study or anything so I winged the quarterfinal exam and pretty much failed. I got USACO Gold Division last year (there are three divisions by difficulty; you need to qualify at the beginning of the year to compete in them), but I didn't actually do all that well in it. >.>
I also never made it past the AIME. :(
Or past States in SO, for that matter.
I guess I'm pretty half-assed about these things.

But anyways, SO has building events. Not great ones, but they're decently challenging up to some point and are well-run if you're in a good state like NY or at Nats.

[Dark Sabre]

It would be INSANELY difficult to arrange. Also, what language would you write the tests in? Also, for something like Write it Do it would each country have to have its own test proctor? I don't think it's possible, but it would be sort of cool.

I got up to the International Future Problem Solving Competition two seasons, which has teams from...Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, and the United States. It pretty much boils down to creative/persuasive writing contests. I think everything was in English, but I wouldn't swear on it. I can't vouch for the complexity of the logistics either, but it always went pretty smoothly.