<p>I live in Virginia. I can barely find anything, I found two competitions in science and there are not as many clubs. If you live in Virginia and know any opportunities that would help me get into MIT, that would be great.</p>
<p>I would create clubs if i were you!</p>
<p>If you simply Google “Virginia science fair” you’ll see links to a Virginia State Science Fair, a Central Virginia Science Fair, and a West Virginia Science Fair. Start exploring these sorts of websites; contact the fair organizers, who can put you in touch with local groups. There are now many, many online resources for students interested in doing a science fair project. For starters, you can live in the middle of nowhere and enter the Siemens Competition, because the initial submission requires only a paper.</p>
<p>I didn’t see any math circles in the state listed on this website: [Existing</a> Math Circle Programs | National Association of Math Circles](<a href=“http://www.mathcircles.org/Wiki_ExistingMathCirclePrograms]Existing”>http://www.mathcircles.org/Wiki_ExistingMathCirclePrograms), but if you’re interested in mathematics, I suggest you contact the math department in the closest college, direct them to this website, and ask if they’d like to start the first math circle in the state of Virginia. I am pretty sure that with a bit if persistence, you will find that someone will come forward.</p>
<p>I am interning at a science center for kids. I am also doing two science fair competitions next year. Is there anything that I could do extra and please pitch ideas for a competition?</p>
<p>How could I get some ideas? Reading books etc.</p>
<p>Things that you can start:</p>
<p>-Create a science club!
-Participate in science competitions with your club.
-Do FIRST Robotics.
- Prep for the AMC/AIME/USAMO, or the USA Physics olympiad, or other national olympiads (USNCO, USACO, USABO)… those competitions really show you how little you really know.
- Books you can use to prep for those: Go on the website of artofproblemsolving.com… the guys on there can give better advices. For physics, there are 3 books that are really awesome of you know some vector calc (or just know really well calculus): Introduction to Mechanics by Kleppner and Kolenkow, and Berkeley Purcell E&M book, Irodov Problems in General Physics (this problem book is HARD. like Really hard, but it uses less vector calculus than K&K. To give you an idea, I started working on it for the last 4 months every weekend, and managed to crack about 80/160 problems I attempted, and there are freaking 1877 problems in the book! I spend on avg. .5-1hr/problem, but some of them take half a day to solve! The problems are physically and mathematically really elegant)
For biology, there’s the Campbell textbook.</p>
<ul>
<li>Teach what you have learnt: you can start tutoring other people, it really forces you to understand really well the material. For example, if you are really good at math (I’m not) you can start opening up an olympiad class.</li>
<li>Keep a good mentality. If I had the mentality I am having right now 4 yrs ago, I would have accomplished much more. There is NO LIMIT. Do not underestimate how much you can accomplish</li>
</ul>
<p>BTW, in my case I wasn’t able to convince my principal to let me participate in science national olympiads. If that’s the case for you, try to take it at another school, or try to pay it yourself. Also, the best way to prep for those is just to hang out on [Art</a> of Problem Solving](<a href=“http://www.artofproblemsolving.com%5DArt”>http://www.artofproblemsolving.com) forum, you’ll be amazed at how much you learn!</p>
<p>I want to participate in science competitions. But I can’t find a great idea. Are there any good books for a beginner high school student in both math and science but will help you with olympiad.</p>
<p>Did you read my post at all?.. because I put down the names of the greatest physics books you could have for intermediate level physics at the olympiad level (or higher). For other subjects, as I said, you should create an account on AoPS, and ask the guys on there. They are the specialists on olympiads, and probably know more than I do.</p>
<p>If you want intro stuff, just ask you physics teacher. Olympiads are NOT at the introductory high school level, unless you are going to a crazy magnet program. From my experience, learn the math first (or at least know basic calc differentiation/integration), and then start learning physics from an easy book (Halliday Resnick), and then move on to more interesting stuff (Irodov, K&K, Feynman, …). If you are purely interested in just qualifying for semifinals/quarterfinals, then a careful study of halliday Resnick Fundamental physics is enough. </p>
<p>Now, if you like to do for other subjects, then ask on AoPS, as I said before. Personally, the reference for biology is Campbell Biology, and by itself is an intro book that if you know well enough, can make you go on qualify to the USABO camp.</p>
<p>Or another way is just to learn algebra based physics first, which is also absolutely fine. A good book for that is Giancoli Physics, and it will still prepare you pretty well for olympiads, although to qualify for semifinals, you’ll need at least some calculus.</p>
<p>Uh, I think I should correct what I said.</p>
<p>Apparently, you are going to self-study those things. If so, then Irodov is an awesome problem book. Why? It has the answers. Study the theory with sth like Halliday Resnick, and do your practice problems from Irodov. You’ll never run out of problems (1877 problems!), and they are all elegant and cool (of course, also difficult). K&K do NOT have answers… which really sucks for me, especially when I spend days on a problem and have no idea if I’m correct or not.</p>
<ol>
<li>Do I have to buy this online.</li>
<li>If no then what stores can I get them from on the internet</li>
<li>For science competitions, how did you get the science topics? I want to have good ideas worth a competition? If you did answer this could you elaborate?
4.For stuff like AIME, how do you study for it and how can I find the locations. Plus do I have to complete a math competition before entering. I know a lot that require that</li>
</ol>
<p>Dude, I if you want those answers, go to Freaking AoPS as I told you, and ask those on their forum instead of being so lazy… Jeez, you could at least try to google each olympiad names… they have practice exams on there, and you’ll know how hard/what kind of topics. If you want ME to elaborate, why don’t we do that on the AoPS forum? You’ll probably want to create an account anyway, if you are serious about this. Hanging out on AoPS forum, taught me more than 4 yrs of high school science courses.</p>
<ol>
<li>for textbooks probably. However, I would advise you to buy them on ebay or alibris, used versions, since they are a lot cheaper</li>
<li>answered in 1</li>
<li><p>The national olympiads cover EVERYTHING… it’s not topic specific. USABO covers EVERYTHING in the general biology course+ some other minor stuff. USA PhO covers EVERYTHING in a typical 3 semester college physics sequences (E&M, Mechanics, Waves/Optics, Thermo, all calculus based). US Chemistry olympiad, once again covers every topic of a typical 1 yr chemistry college course+ some organic chem/stereochem</p></li>
<li><p>Go on AoPS, and ask there. You can use the AoPS Volume 1& 2 books. Buy on their website. You can also practice using past AIME/AMC tests, just google AMC12/AIME, or go to the American Mathematics Competitions official website, where they sell past tests really cheap (with full solutions), for like 2$/test I believe. If you don’t know how to use google, I give up.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Chill out Faraday. =p</p>
<p>The OP just needs to actually read your posts ;)</p>
<p>Hey oasis have you what did you do to get into MIT?</p>
<p>“Hey oasis have you what did you do to get into MIT?”</p>
<p>I can tell you that simply basing your work on what other people did is NOT going to get you into MIT. If that’s what you are trying to do.</p>
<p>And as oasis said, I would advise you to reread my posts. It has all the info you need to get started in science/math olympiads (and even more). Now, the question is are you serious about this enough to spend 2-3 yrs laboring through the books I suggested.</p>
<p>I want to but I can’t buy them from the internet. I look for opportunities, but where I live I can’t find anything. I am just about to go to the ninth grade, I am going into IB. But you know science competitions like where you choose a topic and then do an experiment, I can’t find anything to do it on. I went to the site, but everything was so advanced. Did you take the classes or just browse the forums?</p>
<p>OK: did you ask on the forum for help? Did you use the search option? did you even create a AoPS account?</p>
<p>And trust me, it’s hard but worth it. If you had precalc math, that’s all that is necessary. There’s even a Middle school forum, for god’s sake. </p>
<p>Here are 2 things you need to do. Ask your parents to use their credit cards to buy for you books you think you need (I gave you a list of books) It’s for your education.</p>
<p>“But you know science competitions like where you choose a topic and then do an experiment, I can’t find anything to do it on.”</p>
<p>I haven’t done those yet. There’s the Siemens/Intel national science competition, where you enter a research project, but if you want to do this, the best way is to ask for a PhD to mentor you at a university. Applying for a good summer program is the best way, but you need first to have basic high school physics/chem/bio/math.</p>
<p>“I went to the site, but everything was so advanced”</p>
<p>So will be MIT. See this as a test to your perseverance. I would buy the Art of Problem Solving books (volume 1 or 2 depending on your level, although 1 has lots of middle school stuff). Then learn those books backwards/ forwards (not the formulas, but the concepts, the nifty manipulations). Otherwise, just practice on past practice tests (just google AMC12 exams, AMC10 exams, AMC8 exams, AIME exams…, although it seems you should start with AMC10/12/8, if you find everything on AoPS too advanced).</p>
<p>I think taking the classes are a waste of money, especially if it’s really basic stuff you can learn yourself (algebra, geometry…). The AoPS books are more than enough.</p>
<p>And BTW, I don’t even HAVE the AoPS books. I just borrowed mine from a friend to prep 1-2 weeks before I took the exam. So you definitely have an advantage compared to me.</p>
<p>Finally, Please… create an AoPS account, even if you feel like the dumbest person on earth when you go to that website. Studying with the smartest guys will allow you to grow intellectually. Challenge yourself. Otherwise, why would you even want to go to MIT?</p>
<p>Thanks a lot. :)</p>
<p>If you’re going into 9th grade you really ought not be worrying yet… Seriously, you’ll find stuff in high school. You’ll take science/math classes and figure out what you’re really interested in. You’ll LEARN THE THINGS you need in order to participate in competitions and do research. Chill. You’ll be fine. Give it some time. Hell, at the end of 8th grade I thought I wanted to go to college for creative writing. =P</p>
<p>If you really, really do not want to get on account on AoPS, there is still a lot of stuff you can gain from it without logging in.</p>
<hr>
<p>Students south of Fairfax County have gone to ARML has part of a “Chesapeake” team.</p>
<p>Catherine Asaro (per wikipedia) has coached that team. Simple web searchs can pull up contact info. You may need AMC results to be place on a team.</p>