User:Gz839918
Hi, it looks like you landed on my page! I'm gz839918, and I'm fascinated in how the world works, but also how people think about how the world works—in other words, I like physics and cognitive science. I'm a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I'm studying physics and linguistics. Outside of my usual areas of interest, I still enjoy learning new things in ecology and in various social sciences. Despite my experience with physics events, I am still incredibly terrible at classical mechanics.
Science Olympiad is about people, not about winning! Indeed, science is about people, not winning, because science is the scaffolding of humanity—a skyscraper in ceaseless upward construction built to carry the common good of people. If you like helping people, so do I! So, if you'd like to talk about science or people or both, please don't hesitate to message me. (If you hesitate, you can still contact me anyways!)
Oh, and for those reading this for my credentials—I made it to states exactly once; I've been to nationals exactly once; I was the only senior member in my year to medal in nothing at nationals; and I've only competed for two years. You know—the usual thoroughfare.
 |
gz839918 competed for Carmel High School. |
Division D
Some of the things I've volunteered for
Most of the images and graphics I use in test questions are my own. You may consider any content that I made in a test to be public domain, unless noted otherwise. Most images that I use in tests, but aren't my own, are already in the public domain anyways. If a test includes copyrighted content under fair use, I attribute the copyright holder to the best of my ability. (This has only happened once, for 2019-20 water quality.) If you don't know the copyright status of work used in my tests, ask me! I'm happy if the files sitting on my computer can be useful for somebody. Regional/state tests are not necessarily fully in the public domain. As of 2020 October 25, the BEARSO test is not in the public domain. |
Errata
- Raymond Park 2019-20: in the solutions, Mach should be capitalized.
- Duke 2020-21: in the solution for problem 7, the sentence beginning "For a sinusoidal wave" should have all instances of (B) replaced with (C). The correct answer choice to this question remains the same.
- General clarification about noise: with respect to sound, noise can have two definitions. In the first definition, noise is a wave with a stochastic frequency distribution. So, the more randomness in a sound, the noisier it is. This also means that noise can occur at the same time as "not noise" and still be, mostly, "not noise." For example, even the clearest, most crisply recorded audio of a note on a guitar may have a tiny amount of white noise in the background, but this does not mean the note is noise rather than music. In the second definition, noise is a wave that obscures another wave carrying useful information, but adds no useful information of its own. This means that noise can occur across time interspersed with "not noise" and still be "not noise." For example, the consonant [s] consists entirely of noise (in the first definition), but human speech containing [s] is not considered noise (in the second definition) when it carries meaningful information.
Did you uncover any typos or errors in one of my tests? If you'd like to discuss, I'd appreciate it if you could let me know! You can find me on my talk page, through private message, or one of the many other ways people can be found. On the version of each test on the test exchange, I have rectified as many errors as I can find; errata not listed on the test exchange are provided here above. You can also give anonymous feedback on my tests.
Data
Do FPOWs benefit from attending the NC State tournament?
In 2019, the average Div. C FPOW had a placement of 21.737 (= 1239 / 57) Interestingly, this means that FPOWs on average perform better than the average state-qualifying team in North Carolina (= 25.5). I assume no-shows for teams will be ranked below last place down to 50th when calculating my average for state-qualifying teams. This is to simplify calculation, but it is not unreasonable to believe that teams unable to participate in an event due to lack of interest or membership would probably worse in that particular event than teams who did participate. "Unreasonable," though, doesn't mean correct. It is likewise possible that FPOWs that do not opt to attend the state tournament will perform worse than the average state-qualifying team. However, the conclusion still remains true that of those who do compete, the FPOW program is valuable in offering a second opportunity to students who show promise in an event. Average Division C FPOW scores for past years:
No-shows excluded in calculation of average; trial events included in average. |
What is typically tested on a good circuit lab test?
Not everybody agrees on what makes a test high quality, nor do I believe all the tests listed below are high quality. It turns out that tests from well-regarded tournaments may differ notably. (Did you notice that one-fourth of points for the Princeton circuit lab test comes from recall questions?) I struggled with op amps as a competitor, and after hearing from other students, it seems like two major stumbling points are op amps in addition to PN-junctions. If you want to practice these topics, the table can point you towards some tests that address these topics in particular. All of these tests below are from the 2018-19 season (not 2019-20).
|
Do larger universities hold more teams per tournament?
No
Lounges, dining halls, non-lecture performance halls have been excluded if possible. Special department-only classrooms are included. |
How do SciOly alumni create a web presence?
1. For reasons I can't understand, Wix sites under the wixsite.com domain give a 404 error when no path follows the ".com"; that is, typing in "ucscioly.wixsite.com" without the quotes doesn't work. |
Essays
Are the best teams located in urban or suburban school districts? Actually, it depends.
Book review: Despite the best intentions. Amanda Lewis & John Diamond. 2015.
On replaying events as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. (In hindsight, I can't imagine how much more difficult it would've been adapting to new formats with entirely unfamiliar rules.)