Scioly.org:Scioly Summer Study Session

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Introduction

Scioly Summer Study Session, or SSSS, is a yearly event held during the summer before the upcoming season. Users submit self-made practice tests or notes to gain exclusive access to other users' practice tests and notes. At the end of SSSS, resources are uploaded to the scioly.org Wiki and Test Exchange.

Note that the thread for each year and the files on the wiki are named with the calendar year, while the Test Exchange headings display the season year. Hence, the SSSS thread labeled 2015, as well as tests with "SSSS15" in the name, correspond to the 2016 season, and is under "SSSS 2016" on the Test Exchange.

A Brief History

SSSS, formerly SOST (Scioly Online Study Tournament or Science Olympiad Summer Tournament), was created by tornadoguy, foreverphysics, and mnstrviola. After revising their original plans for a tournament-esque event, and help from other members of the scioly.org community, the idea was passed by the moderators. SSSS began on June 1st, 2013.

Or, in the immortal words of foreverphysics:

"In late February of 2012, our esteemed member tornado guy thought, "hey, why not have Science Olympiad during the summer too?" This idea had been floating around for a while, but he was the first to act upon it. Being one of the people closest to him on the forums, he approached me with the idea, and we then extended the idea to mnstrviola. The three of us slaved (okay, maybe just worked hard) on a set of draft rules and other logistics for months. Back then, this was called "SOST" (Science Olympiad Summer Tournament). Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, this initial idea was harshly shot down in late May by our most esteemed admin, robotman. That was that for last year.

In January of this year, my beloved cohead mnstrviola approached me again with the idea of making a summer Science Olympiad happen. I, of course, thought this a wonderful idea, and immediately dug up those age-old documents from the previous year. tornado guy, sadly, had vanished from the boards by this time and we could not enlist him again, though this was still originally his idea.

Now, during this time, several things happened that made this more possible than last year.

1) We fixed what they didn't like about the idea.

2) I got several important people liking the idea and backing me up.

3) Every single possible issue was covered--lotsa logistics there...

4) I became a staff member.

With the help of a few others, namely syo_astro and Unbihexium, we were able to draw up a lot of draft rules that eventually were streamlined down to those that you see today. We renamed the project SSSS, causing a lot of "sssss" head-scratching. robotman opened a server extension, and we got the rest of the staff in on it. Moderators were found, excitement was thorough, and it was generally regarded as an excellent idea. It was passed, and it was slated to begin on June 1st, 2013.

Thus SSSS began."

Past Submissions