DULLES SNHS
Competitions
At Dulles SNHS, competitions are taken very seriously as we have a tradition of emerging victorious from such contests.
​The three main groups of contests we attend/participate in are TMSCA, UIL and Olympiad competitions. With regards to our society, TMSCA and UIL are very similar since they both offer Number Sense, Calculator, Science and Mathematics tests. However, they are different in terms of their structures. Meanwhile, the Olympiad tests are an entirely different story.
Dulles's Guide to TMSCA/UIL
For in-district competitions, we usually allow for unlimited registration since a bus is not provided. However, for out-of-district contests, registration will be capped at around 25 people and will close once this cap is reached. Therefore, it is essential that you sign up quickly if interested. The bus will usually leave at around 6:30 am and return at 3:30 pm.
You may arrange for transportation to leave early. But, if traveling on your own, you should arrive at least 30 minutes before your first test. Permission slips for independent registration are required for such arrangements. Furthermore, all permission slips for contests are due the Friday before the contest and will not be accepted any later.
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TMSCA/UIL Test Information & Practice
Number Sense is an 80 question, 10 minute, pen only, mental math test that covers high school math concepts ranging from Algebra 1 to Calculus. Although this may sound intimidating, there are various little tricks one can use to work these problems that can really come handy in your high school math class.
Calculator is a 70 question, 30 minute test that tests both number crunching skills on a calculator as well as problem solving skills through word problems.
General Math is a 40 minute, 60 question, multiple choice test that covers all concepts from Algebra 1 through Calculus. Question types range from simple straightforward questions to convoluted word problems. Calculators are allowed.
Science is a 2 hour, 60 question, multiple choice test that assesses the core high school science topics of biology, chemistry, and physics evenly, devoting 20 questions to each one of those topics. Calculators are allowed but are limited to the Casio FX-260Solar, Sharp EL-501X, and TI-30Xa. Awards are given to the highest scoring high school students in each science topic as well as to the highest scorer in all three topics by grade level.
If you would like to practice, you can ask an officer, email us, take some practice tests at www.texasmath.org, or visit www.math-magic.com.
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UIL/TMSCA Teams
In TMSCA, local contests are held throughout the year which lead up to a grand TMSCA State Tournament. Local contests are open to any interested members while the state contest has a selection process for determining our team. For the state contest, we will select students who do particularly well in comparison with others in their grade level. Since being good at one contest is enough for qualifying to state, depth in a few topics is recommended over breadth over all four. However, preparing for all four contests does have its benefits since a "Top Gun" overall award is presented at State to any particularly successful contestants.
Meanwhile, UIL contests are independent of grade level. Therefore, these contests present more of a challenge. Furthermore, UIL contests have many stages of the competition, including Invitational, District, Regionals, and State Tests. Since this contest merges grade levels, one must be able to compete with people of other grades in order to make the Dulles team. Mr. Walsh will be working together to select the UIL Number Sense, Calculator, and Math teams based on practice and performance at competitions. The UIL Science team will be chosen by Mr. Walsh and based on the same criteria.
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Academic Olympiads
Dulles has a history of participating in the USA Academic Olympiads. Not to be confused with the Science Olympiad competition, these olympiads are individual contests of the highest prestige which all eventually involve multiple-choice, short-answer, and hands-on questions of some form. Commonly referred to by their abbreviations, these olympiads span a wide range of topics. For instance, existing olympiads include the USA Biology Olympiad (USABO), the USA Physics Olympiad (USAPhO), the US National Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO), the US Earth Science Olympiad (USESO), the USA Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad (USAAAO), the USA (Junior) Mathematics Olympiad (US(J)AMO), the USA Computing Olympiad (USACO), and the US Geography Olympiad (USGO).
In the past, Dulles students have participated in the USABO, USAPhO, USNCO, USAMO, and USACO contests. This year, however, we hope to also offer the USESO and the USAAAO contests to interested students.
Dulles SNHS specializes in preparing students for these tests through conducting science practices on science-related olympiads (biology, physics, chemistry, earth science, astronomy & astrophysics) which are open to all Dulles SNHS members. These practices will not only help students in these olympiads, but also in higher-level science courses, other science competitions like the Science Olympiad competition, and more.
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RESOURCES
Olympiad Discord Servers: discord.gg/CJXCy3ar76
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Check the "Network" Channel.
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Join all the Olympiad Servers you are interested in
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Look through the resources listed within the server
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