shaon0 said:
How do you enter for Olympiad?
It depends on which Olympiad you are speaking about.
There is really 2 'Olympiads'. The first i will talk about is the Science one.
The Science Olympiad is just the name given to the combination of the Physics, Chemistry and Biology Olympiads. They are all separate Olympiads, each with a different, but similar, way to get in. In year 11 (and lower years for gifted students) there is a test called the NQE (national qualifying exam). This test is free and anyone can take it, but most teachers really just pick the top 4-10 students in their class (be it Physics, Biology or Chemistry) if they even know about the contest.
The exam is one of the most challenging you ever have had in each field. It stretches your ability and requires you to understand the subject fundamentally. The syllabus is roughly based on Year 11 but the competition includes Year 12 and sometimes University material (really just advanced stuff on what you've done in class). It is 2 hours long.
If you range in the top roughly 21 people in the exam over the nation you will be invited to attend the camp over the Christmas holidays. So 21 people get selected for Physics, 21 for Chemistry and 21 for Biology. The camp is in Canberra. The camp covers the first year of University in the field you qualified for, and this is done over 2 weeks! There is, i think, 2 tests, one per week and a final selection test for who will be going to the International Olympiad (in either Physics, Chem or Bio).
The International Olympiad (IPhO, IChO and IBO) is the hardest competition for High School students in those fields. The team has 6 members for each Olympiad. They are held in different countries each year. This year the International Physics Olympiad is in Vietnam, the International Chemistry Olympiad is in Germany and the International Biology Olympiad is in India.
There is usually 3 theoretical questions and 1 or 2 practical questions over 2 days.
Some websites of interest are
Australian Science Olympiads (
http://www.aso.edu.au/www/index.cfm)
This website has past NQE tests with solutions and also info on the Olympiads.
If you were talking about Math Olympiads (or for those whom are interested)
There is National Olympiads and International Math Olympiads
The National Olympiads include the AMC, AIMO, AMOC, AMO and APMO. The one you may notice at first is the AMC. The AMC is the most well know of all the National Math Olympiads. It is a test for which there are 3 devisions (Junior, Intermediate and Senior). Anyone can compete in this 'olympiad'. It has 30 Questions that you have 75 minutes to Answer.
There is also the AIMO. This is the Australian Intermediate Mathematics Olympiad. This is for students in year 9 and 10 (and gifted or tallented year 7 & 8s). This competition can also be entered in by anyone, although it is based on more difficult and forign materials in mathematics.
The AMOC is a 4 hour mathematics examination for generally year 11s, although year 9 and 10 can sometimes participate. I am quite sure this contest is only invitational.
The AMO is the Australian Mathematics Olympiad and is a invitational contest for the top 100 math students in the Nation.
After all these competitions the AMT (Australian Mathematics Trust) invites whom they consider the best 25 students to attend the School of Excellence. This is pretty much the same thing as the Camp mentioned before except for Mathematics. It is held in Melbourne in December (presumably during the Holidays).
Everybody who go to the School of Excellence (camp) are invited to go to the IMO (International Mathematics Olympiad) training program which is done also during the same Christmas holidays and it is also operated during the Easter Holidays (after the December Residential).
There is usually 8-Olympiad style Math questions that the students will take during the camps. Then the Team Selection Test is done during April, normally in Sydney over Easter. This decides who the 6 people will be that gets to go to the International Mathematics Olympiad.
The IMO team of six will then attend another training camp in June, just before the IMO (which is generally in July).
A good website is the AMT (
http://www.amt.edu.au/)
and the IMO website (
http://www.imo-official.org/)
That is essentially it.
Regards
--Kurt--
.
