Tournament Policies

Last updated: December 30, 2022

Academic Integrity

During events, you are not allowed to communicate with anyone other than your partners. Note that all events follow national rules, unless otherwise specified. In addition to the usual Science Olympiad rules, we expect all competitors to abide by the instructions provided on the exams. Any violations of the rules may result in disqualification.

General Rules

Teams must abide by the Science Olympiad code of ethics and general rules specified here. In particular:

• If a student does not follow accepted safety procedures, he/she will be penalized or disqualified.
• All pre-built devices presented for judging must be constructed, impounded, and operated by one or more of the 15 current team members unless stated otherwise in the rules.
• If a device has been removed from the event area, appeals related to that device will not be considered. See Arbitration below.
• Teams should observe the 7 seniors per team rule.
• Teams may have up to 5 alternates, but alternates may not compete in the main 23 events.
• Both alternates and regular team members are eligible to participate in trial events.
• Each team member may be a part of only one team.
• Exams/keys will be released after the tournament.

Wristband Procedures

We will be using wristbands, which you will receive at time of check in, on competition day to identify the competitors. Please observe the following notes about wristbands.

• Students will not be allowed to compete without wristbands. There will be no exceptions to this rule. Team members and alternates MUST have wristbands for all events, including Trial Events.
• Wristbands should be secured onto the wrists of each competing team member and alternate and should be tight enough so as to not be able to slip off.
• If a wristband is defective or damaged, the coach and student must bring the band to headquarters for validation and replacement before they are allowed to compete.

Event supervisors will check for wristbands before the event begins.

Accessing Homerooms/Event Rooms

Please also note that any member of your team (competitors, coach, parent, etc.) may not access homerooms before 6 AM on Saturday, January 21st, and any event rooms before 8 AM on Saturday, January 21st (unless impounding in which case you may not enter before 7 AM). If you do so, your team will be disqualified from the event in question. This is due to fairness of competition and the specifics of our room reservations.

Lateness

Each block has a 15-minute buffer for competitors to navigate campus and locate the next event room. In addition, the actual exam will be taking place within 50 minutes of the allocated 60 minutes per block. Even if one of the partners is not present at the start of the exam, the competitor present in the event room must begin the exam on time. The late arriving partner may join partway through the exam, but no extra time will be given. If both partners arrive late to the event, they may still take the exam, but no extra time will be given (i.e. they will finish the exam with other teams in that time block).

Arbitration/Appeal

Arbitration can be conducted if a competitor or coach feels that an event was not run in accordance with the rules. Please observe the following notes about arbitration.

• Should you choose to arbitrate an event, first inform the Event Supervisor(s) so that they can note the details of what happened.
• Bring your complaint to the tournament HQ (Room 10-105) where the Arbitration Committee will be. You will be asked to write down a description of your dispute as well as the particular rule(s) you believe were violated.
• In the case of a build event arbitration, YOU MUST LEAVE THE BUILD AT THE TESTING LOCATION AFTER THE RUN IN CONTENTION. If a build is removed from the testing location, we cannot arbitrate, regardless of the point of contention.