Rules Clarifications

Clarifications & FAQs open October 1 and close May 1. Official Rules Clarifications/Changes are made to correct the rules in the Science Olympiad Rules Manuals. FAQs are replies to commonly asked questions. If a FAQ reply changes the meaning or corrects a rule it will be posted as a Clarification. The Official Rules Clarifications and FAQs apply to all states and all tournaments and originate at the National level (please check your Regional or State Website for special updates pertaining to your regional or state events). Click here to view Event FAQs or to Submit a Question. The official event rules can be found in the Science Olympiad Rules Manual free online and in print versions; each registered member must join through their state Science Olympiad organization to participate.

2020 Science Olympiad Rules Clarifications/Changes

Anatomy & Physiology

11/15/19 (Divisions B and C) should read, changes in bold: On the Official Event Muscle List, vastus intermedius should replace vastus intermedium.

Codebusters

9/16/19 (Division C) 3.f.v. should read, edits in bold: "the Hill Cipher - Encrypting plaintext or decrypting ciphertext with a 2x2 encryption matrix or 3x3 decryption matrix provided” (the word Encrypting was misspelled)

11/19/19 (Division C) 3.e.vii. should read, edits in bold: "the Hill Cipher - encrypting plaintext or decrypting ciphertext given a 2x2 encryption matrix." (encryption replaces the incorrect term decryption)

Fossils 

9/16/19 (Divisions B and C) Page 2, Column 2, Row 8, should read, edits in bold: “Species H. sapiens” (sapiens should be plural)

11/15/19 (Divisions B and C) should read, changes in bold: On the Official Fossils List, Woolly Mammoth and Order Scleractinia should replace Wooly Mammoth and Order Scleratinia (the letter L missing from Woolly and the letter C missing from Scleractinia)

Mission Possible 

10/29/19 (Division B) 5.l. Scoring should read, edits in bold: 5.l. Devices impounded after the deadline will be scored after devices impounded on time. (This is an entirely new line added)

Mousetrap Vehicle

10/29/19 (Division B) 7.f. Scoring, should read, edits in bold:

f. Tiers: The highest number Tier will be applied when more than one is applicable:

i. Tier 1: Runs with no violations

ii. Tier 2: Runs with any competition violations

iii. Tier 3: Runs with any construction violations

iv. Tier 4: Teams with 2 Failed Runs

v. Tier 5: Teams that did not impound their Vehicle during the impound period

(Tier 2 and Tier 3 levels of violations were switched to be consistent with other Vehicle events)

Ornithology

9/16/19 (Divisions B and C) on the Official Bird List, Page 2, Column 3, Last Row, should read, edits in bold: "European Starling Sturnus vulgaris” (The word Sturnus was misspelled)

Ping Pong Parachute

10/29/19 (Divisions B and C) 5.c. Competition, should read, edits in bold: When called to launch, teams will load their rocket onto the launcher. Once the rocket is loaded, but NOT pressurized, teams will place the parachute payload system on or in the rocket. After the payload parachute system is loaded it cannot be manipulated. Teams will then pressurize the rocket to the pressure (psi) of choice based on their practice log data. At no time should the pressure vessel (bottle) be pressurized beyond 65 psi. The Event Supervisor will check the gauge on the pump to ensure the rocket is pressurized to the psi chosen and justified by the team's data. (A new maximum pressure is now listed)

Protein Modeling 

10/8/19 (Division C) 3. Part I: The Pre-Built Model a. should read, edits in bold: a. Participants will use the program Jmol/JSmol to visualize cytidine deaminase (chain A, residues 31-145) based on data found in the 5keg.pdb file. The atomic coordinate data file… (Replaces "deaminase (chain A, residues 214-310)" based on data found in the "5td5.pdb file".)