Resource Sheet Tips!!

[knottingpurple]

Jeez, everyone talking about LibreOffice and stuff while I'm over here using a combination of word/google docs.

It works for me and it has a really friendly user interface, plus its easy to share, compile, and go back to previous versions.

I also recommend never copy-pasting.

I get that it saves time and for people who are lazy (like me in my 7th grade year), it's really easy to just control-c control-v. But I speak from experience when I say that it never words. Even for herpetology/binder events, you need to be able to find the information fast and looking through a copy-pasted paragraph doesn't help. Plus, by writing/typing your own notes it literally forces you to recite it in your mind, thus making it stick in there.

You should be most accustomed to your notes. By making it yourself, it makes it easier to know where everything is and how it's formatted.

But here's the kicker when it comes to study events: you shouldn't rely on your notes.

They should just be a backup. You should know or memorize a majority of the information because thats what SciOly is: learning about the subject. Honestly, at some point it just becomes who's better at copy pasting in Hawaii, people never really process the information from what I've seen. SciOly isn't just a competition, but its an opportunity to learn. And although this may sound odd, knowing you worked hard for something is worth more than a medal. I have invitational medals that I got carried for in 7th grade, but I don't like to keep them around or look at them because I know I didn't earn it. And if you don't like to learn about your subject or your event, then maybe you should try something else. Even though my coach runs a competitive team, she allows us to do what we actually want to do because thats what this is, something you should enjoy. That's why I'm good in some events and a little less in others, because I enjoy some and are forced into others.

TLDR: Use whatever platform works for you, don't copy paste, make your own notes, don't rely on your notes, and actually learn about the subject/topic.

I agree with most of what you're saying, I just feel like memorizing isn't learning? If you were a scientist in the real world, you would not have any idea of most of the statistics in your field (can confirm that my oceanographer parents look up the names of the areas of the ocean they're studying because they forget lol), because what they'd have instead is an understanding of the science. You can be really good at an event, and really enjoy learning about the ideas behind it, but still not enjoy memorising whether such and such a thing is 50% or 60% of whatever. As you said, you should process the information - and statistics or lists of symptoms or names of ocean currents are not things that you "process", really, just facts that either you can waste brain space on or not. So I think your advice about actually learning about the topic kind of works best if you do use your notes for events which ask memorization sort of questions

[Galahad]

Jeez, everyone talking about LibreOffice and stuff while I'm over here using a combination of word/google docs.

It works for me and it has a really friendly user interface, plus its easy to share, compile, and go back to previous versions.

I also recommend never copy-pasting.

I get that it saves time and for people who are lazy (like me in my 7th grade year), it's really easy to just control-c control-v. But I speak from experience when I say that it never words. Even for herpetology/binder events, you need to be able to find the information fast and looking through a copy-pasted paragraph doesn't help. Plus, by writing/typing your own notes it literally forces you to recite it in your mind, thus making it stick in there.

You should be most accustomed to your notes. By making it yourself, it makes it easier to know where everything is and how it's formatted.

But here's the kicker when it comes to study events: you shouldn't rely on your notes.

They should just be a backup. You should know or memorize a majority of the information because thats what SciOly is: learning about the subject. Honestly, at some point it just becomes who's better at copy pasting in Hawaii, people never really process the information from what I've seen. SciOly isn't just a competition, but its an opportunity to learn. And although this may sound odd, knowing you worked hard for something is worth more than a medal. I have invitational medals that I got carried for in 7th grade, but I don't like to keep them around or look at them because I know I didn't earn it. And if you don't like to learn about your subject or your event, then maybe you should try something else. Even though my coach runs a competitive team, she allows us to do what we actually want to do because thats what this is, something you should enjoy. That's why I'm good in some events and a little less in others, because I enjoy some and are forced into others.

TLDR: Use whatever platform works for you, don't copy paste, make your own notes, don't rely on your notes, and actually learn about the subject/topic.

I agree with most of what you're saying, I just feel like memorizing isn't learning? If you were a scientist in the real world, you would not have any idea of most of the statistics in your field (can confirm that my oceanographer parents look up the names of the areas of the ocean they're studying because they forget lol), because what they'd have instead is an understanding of the science. You can be really good at an event, and really enjoy learning about the ideas behind it, but still not enjoy memorising whether such and such a thing is 50% or 60% of whatever. As you said, you should process the information - and statistics or lists of symptoms or names of ocean currents are not things that you "process", really, just facts that either you can waste brain space on or not. So I think your advice about actually learning about the topic kind of works best if you do use your notes for events which ask memorization sort of questions

Yeah, basically. Like tedious or unnecessary things to memorize can be forgone, like in Potions all of the specimen information or in Meteorology the nitty gritty numbers. I'm mainly talking about the general topic, and of course you can always keep notes as a stand-by.

[UTF-8 U+6211 U+662F]

Jeez, everyone talking about LibreOffice and stuff while I'm over here using a combination of word/google docs.

Haha, I'm using google docs until LibreOffice Online finally comes out (whenever that is)

I also recommend never copy-pasting. I get that it saves time and for people who are lazy (like me in my 7th grade year), it's really easy to just control-c control-v. But I speak from experience when I say that it never words. Even for herpetology/binder events, you need to be able to find the information fast and looking through a copy-pasted paragraph doesn't help. Plus, by writing/typing your own notes it literally forces you to recite it in your mind, thus making it stick in there.

Personally, I (sometimes) copy and paste large sections into my herpetology and edit it into readable chunks or headers, delete what I don't need, and rephrase what's unclear. It's pretty lazy, but it works for me if the details are pretty mundane, like an explanation of the mating ritual of a bunch of genera of turtles.

You should be most accustomed to your notes. By making it yourself, it makes it easier to know where everything is and how it's formatted.

Definitely.

But here's the kicker when it comes to study events: you shouldn't rely on your notes. They should just be a backup.

I agree with this a lot of the time, but for ID events (besides identification), it's just not practical. With Herpetology, a lot of the conceptual stuff is just vocabulary and a general understanding of the differences between turtles, lizards, salamanders, etc., but that doesn't help to answer a lot of the questions. In physics events like Hovercraft or Thermodynamics which are very concept-based (except if you're looking up the specific heat of iron or something), I'd agree with you, but it's just not always practical unfortunately.

[Galahad]

But here's the kicker when it comes to study events: you shouldn't rely on your notes. They should just be a backup.

"I agree with this a lot of the time, but for ID events (besides identification), it's just not practical. With Herpetology, a lot of the conceptual stuff is just vocabulary and a general understanding of the differences between turtles, lizards, salamanders, etc., but that doesn't help to answer a lot of the questions. In physics events like Hovercraft or Thermodynamics which are very concept-based (except if you're looking up the specific heat of iron or something), I'd agree with you, but it's just not always practical unfortunately.

Oh yeah, of course. In binder events you need your notes. I'm more talking about meteorology or pots. The study events which have very little pages of notes and not too much to study.