Sabio Column

By James H. Choi
http://Column.SabioAcademy.com
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Ten years ago, it was not uncommon for parents interested in education to not know what the AMC (American Math Competition) was. It is not unreasonable to say that there are more math teachers in the U.S. who do not know what AMC is than those who do, not even 10 years ago, but even now, AMC is known only to a select few. At that time, it was considered a record to be proud of because it was rare for Korean students to score high in math competitions, but now it is common to go to AIME, and I personally know several students who went to AIME in 8th grade, so not having an AIME record is a disadvantage.

Awareness of science competitions is not yet as widespread among Korean parents as it is in math. Indian students realize the importance and participate early on because many of them are the children of parents who work in science and engineering. When I was a judge at the ISEF six years ago, there were very few Korean students, but many Indian students, and the judges, then and now, don’t look Korean, but many Indian. The most outstanding student I mentor now is also a talented and motivated Indian student. But judging from the inquiries I’m getting, I think Korean parents are starting to recognize the importance of the science fair.

Although the science contest and the math contest are the same, there are many differences between them, so it will be helpful to know the following differences and prepare for the contest.

1. No written questions For math competitions, you can prepare by looking at the questions and explanations. However, science competitions do not have such a problem, and it is plagiarism to copy the previous research.
2. Winners are announced on the day. While math competitions like AMC make you wait weeks to receive your scores, science competitions, with few exceptions, award winners on the same day as the regional/state competition. This can be exciting, but it can also be frustrating. Don’t get caught up in the frenetic pace of the process and keep a cool head.
3. There are no right answers or explanations In math competitions, there is a right and wrong answer, just like math, but in science competitions, you have to evaluate research that approaches different topics in different ways, and especially when it comes to choosing the overall winner, you have to compare fields as far apart as math and psychology to determine superiority, so there are no clear criteria and you have to rely on the judges’ “gut feeling”. There are probably enough cases where the same judges could come back the next day to review the same research and come to a completely different decision. The unpredictability is compounded by the time pressure of the awards ceremony.
4. Luck is a big factor The outcome depends on who is judging on the day of the competition and how they are judging. If you are doing particularly high-quality research, you need to have judges who recognize it, otherwise you will be indistinguishable from a student who copied a few Google results.
5. You have to present in person, one-on-one. While math competitions are a solitary struggle, science competitions are all about being able to convince others. Every judge is a one-on-one test to convince the doubters of your excellence. Students who are shy or hesitant will unknowingly lose points because they have to answer questions from aggressive adults who are suddenly trying to find fault with them. If you are not naturally a stage person, it is very important to practice public speaking.
6. You need to be able to write a science report. As you move up the evaluation stages, you will be evaluated through posters, interviews, and reports. Since it is not considered comprehensively but evaluated as one step at a time, the weakest link among the poster, interview, and report ends up being the culprit. Science reports are different from general essays in terms of order, format, and tone, and equations must be used. Since this cannot all be learned overnight, you must learn how to write a science report well in advance.
7. Science competitions are zero-sum games and outcomes are relative. It’s not about how well you did, but it’s about how much better your research is than other research. Getting to AIME is not limited to how many people in your school can be at the AIME level, but science fairs are limited to a strict head-to-head comparison.