Scioly.org

Fast Facts Wiki
Fast Facts Test Exchange 2017

Link to my Fast Facts Practice Test: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h9u ... sp=sharing
(I'm sorry if it's bad, it's my first time making my own test)

Link to John Richardsim's Fast Facts Practice Test: http://scioly.org/wiki/images/5/5a/Fast ... SSSS16.pdf
Link to Test Notes: http://scioly.org/wiki/images/c/cb/Fast ... SSSS16.pdf
Link to Key: http://scioly.org/wiki/images/b/b3/Fast ... SSSS16.pdf

How specific are the categories?

Scientific Dragon wrote:How specific are the categories?

The categories can be to any degree of specificity that the event supervisor chooses; since it's a new event and there aren't many tests yet, it'll be hard to tell. Based on the wording and examples from the rules and on soinc.org, I wouldn't expect anything as specific as, say, "Types of Muscular Dystrophies," or something super-specific like that, although broad categories like "Physics" might appear. Is there anything that you're thinking of in general?

Scientific Dragon wrote:How specific are the categories?

I think the most specific one I can recall is North American Trees, though usually they are quite general, like Dinosaurs, Scientific Laws, Bones, Human Organs, and Weather Phenomena.

Why is this a lab event?

k1213693 wrote:Why is this a lab event?

Probably because it involves a lot of strategy to maximize points (and also because Inquiry events are generally thought of as lab events).

Unome wrote:

k1213693 wrote:Why is this a lab event?

Probably because it involves a lot of strategy to maximize points (and also because Inquiry events are generally thought of as lab events).

Note, SO doesn't officially categorize events as Lab vs. Test vs. Building. Any such categorization like you see on SciOly is done unofficially.

How do you study for an event like this? It seems to me that a lot of the fast facts catagories involve many other events

Dat_soccer_girl_16 wrote:How do you study for an event like this? It seems to me that a lot of the fast facts catagories involve many other events

Every now and then I'll give my students an index card with a category on it, something that pops into my head - maybe, solar system objects, or herbivores, or mountains, etc - and their task is to write an example for as many letters as they can on the back. What they don't know, they'll look up. The result is a growing stack of cards. Some categories are rather predictable - you just KNOW you're going to have "Elements of the Periodic Table" in some competition or another. Of course, you can also anticipate some weird categories that you simply can't think to prepare for.

Since this event is pretty light on preparation and relies heavily on general background knowledge, as a coach, I'd strongly suggest looking at your tournament schedule, and picking the two "smartest" (most well read, most science courses taken, etc) students that are free during that time. It doesn't even seem like teamwork is an issue with this event - any two brains are better than one.

Unrelated: has anyone had experience scoring this event? I could imagine this being a nightmare; constantly having to Google up student responses you didn't anticipate to see if they get credit, arguing over whether or not to accept a particular answer, etc. Unless the categories are very limited (like, Elements, for example) it must be impossible to create a reliable answer key.