About the tasks
Brief description of the OWAO rounds
- 1The assignments are provided to the participants in English. The solutions are also supposed to be in English.
- 2While performing the tasks, all the participants are given access to the English-national dictionaries of terms that contestants may encounter during the Olympiad. The dictionaries are compiled in advance by the team leaders in the form recommended by the Academic Committee. There are approximately 100–300 words and terms that the participants need to complete the tasks and write down a solution. The dictionaries must be published on the Olympiad website in a special menu section 2 weeks before the Olympiad start.
- 3The tasks of the theoretical, practical and observational rounds are carried out on special forms with a code.
List of the rounds
- 1Theoretical roundDuration – 5 hours. Approximate number of tasks – 10–12 of various complexity levels. Conditions – no more than 3 lines for "short" tasks and no more than 5 lines for "long" ones. The assignments are paper-printed. The solutions are checked by the Olympiad jury and are subject to moderation.
- 2Practical roundDuration – 5 hours. Approximate number of tasks – 3, including the implementation of a short research work. Adapted research papers/articles are often used as the assignments. The participants are supposed to be able to measure, process series of observations and other data, work with images, graphs, tables. It is possible to use digital devices. "Text volume" should be minimal and easy to read and understand. The tasks are paper-printed (in the form of files and software in exceptional cases only). The solutions are checked by the Olympiad jury and are subject to moderation.
- 3Observational roundDuration – from 30 minutes to 3 hours (depending on task types). It is possible to conduct it on a computer. Approximate number of tasks – 10–40.
For the “computer option” is need access to the Internet on the participants’ personal computers is required.
In some cases, it is possible to automatically check the forms with the solutions using special software.
The results of the observational round are not subject to moderation. - 4Test round (Express round)Duration – from 30 minutes to 2 hours (depending on task types).
Performed on a computer. Approximate number of tasks – 40–60.
The results of the test round are not subject to moderation. It is checked automatically and the score is set by the computer.
