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Clarksville Middle School Science Olympiad

Parent FAQs

  1. What is the purpose of Science Olympiad (SciOly)?
  2. What is the organizational structure for CMS students?
    1. Teams: For the 2025-26 season, students are organized into one of 8 teams
      1. Within all CMS internal communications, that maps to teams O-L-Y-M-P-I-A-D (~120 kids, 15-16 kids per team)
      2. The students on each team may come up with their own team names that correspond to their team letter
      3. At the actual competitions, teams may be given different number or letter designations by the hosting organization
    2. Wednesdays the students meet after school to organize for the competitions, review/practice their respective subjects, etc.
    3. Saturdays are the actual competitions (i.e. it's TEST DAY)
      1. Students will need to show up for the competitions based on their team's assigned dates (see Competitions info below).
      2. There are 3 competitions assigned to each team that will occur before the end of 2025
      3. Based on the student's performance and contributions to the overall team effort, the top students (~1/3-1/2 of all the kids) will be invited back for a few more competitions, with the ultimate goal of narrowing down to 3 teams for Regionals (~45 kids) and then only 1 team of the 15 students for the State competition.
      4. There may be 1-2 alternates assigned to each team as well; the alternates will compete in trial events and also need to be prepared to be the understudy/backup for the other team members' events.
    4. Event Assignments are based on individual's performance on their placement tests relative to other students who also tested for the same event.
      1. For example, if students A, B, & C all signed up to do Solar System, which only allows 2 kids per team in the event, then the top 2 placement students will be assigned to be the primary competitors (A & B).
      2. In the same example, if all 3 students did well (or were close enough) in placement performance, they may choose to rotate primary and back-up roles over the course of the three competitions
      3. The division of tasks is up to the team leaders of each individual team.
  3. How can I help my child prepare for the competition events?
    1. Support and encouragement to always try their best!
    2. NOTE: Cheating and the use of AI during competition is grounds for disqualification and will affect the entire team (not just the individuals)
    3. Review the official Science Olympiad rules to understand which subtopics to study within any given event
    4. Practice with team members who have done SciOly events before — Wednesday afternoon sessions are set up for this reason and rotate event topics (check Canvas schedule)
    5. Work with event leaders and team leaders to figure out how best to study topics
    6. Look at old tests for the event (if applicable, but make sure to look for the correct subtopics as those may change each year)
      1. soinc.org has some past tests (some free, some available for purchase) as well as study materials and suggestions classified by event
      2. SciOly wiki is a collaborative site that the public community contribute to generating.
  4. Parent help always appreciated!
    1. If parents have expertise in STEM fields and would like to contribute to coaching the students in select events, please contact Mr. Farmer or join the CMS SciOly Parent Planners chat group.
    2. Parent assistance in supervising events, grading events at invitationals, and coordinating the kids are also helpful both in having smoothly run and fairly graded events as well as a means to understand how SciOly works.

SciOly is like many sports teams — it takes practice, a certain level of dedication, and individual engagement to have successful results!

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Updated: 2025-10-17