High School Students

All of the tricks of the trade for middle school students apply to high school students, so if you have not done so already, read through the middle school students tutorial.  Also read the additional information below.  If you are looking for more detailed guidance, or examples from my own award winning projects, see the Guide to High School Science Fairs Workbook available for purchase.

• Topic: still applies that you don't need to cure cancer, although some Intel/ISEF finalists do try.  True projects should be on a slightly higher scale, but don't make it too complicated. My high school project was about exploring how the shape of a roller coaster support affects the stresses of the roller coaster.

• Logbook: now that you're older, spring and buy a pre-numbered log book.  These can be found at most university gift shops.  Judges pay more attention to logbooks in the high school age category, so pay more attention to your own and make it complete - digital pictures of you next to your project are a nice touch.

• Research:  with age comes responsibility, which means more work for you.  Now you are expected to find at least one primary source (about experiments conducted by the author), a few secondary sources (about something the author read, but may have added his/her own research or performed additional experiments), and tons of tertiary sources (even further removed from the original conductor of the experiment).

• Experiment: same rules, but now that you are expected to work with an experienced adviser, you have more resources available to you, so make good use of them.

• Analyzing: congratulations! You're in pre-calc, so use those math skills.  Statistics such as standard deviation should be used.  See your math teacher for help on these stat issues; it's no secret that statistics are difficult; there are whole college classes devoted to it.  Also you now can use excel to do your dirty work for you.  HOWEVER, make sure you understand how to do the calculations by hand; judges have been known to ask you to calculate a statistic for them by hand during judging.

• Display: now that your project is more complicated, you have more to display, and you're taller, your board needs to be taller too.  Double boards are very popular on the Intel/ISEF level.  You can either make your own using duct tape and rulers or popsicle sticks and slots, or buy a professional presentation board system (warning: these can cost $300); whatever you do, just make sure that you can transport the board to the fair.

• Judging: Judging differs a little on the high school level; the judge will be an expert on your general subject (this may not be true at your local school, but should be on the regional, state, and most definitely on the international levels).  Also some judges will swing through and read reports, flip through logbooks, and look at display boards before they come to judge you; in that case, the judge might jump right in with questions and prevent you from giving your speech from beginning to end--this is where having your speech memorized cold comes in handy.  Other judges will let you start your speech and interrupt often with questions.  Don't get flustered! Answer the question and then go back to where you were. Don't tell the judge "well I'll get to that" or "I was going to talk about that next" and just plow on with your speech.  You can mention that you hadn't planned to talk about that right now but that you'd be happy to answer that now and just roll with the punches.  The judges aren't trying to make you feel stupid or screw up your presentations; they are trying to see just how much you know, so tell them how much you know.  Wow them with everything you learned!  Always be polite, but don't be obsequious.  And always end the judging by giving a smile, looking the judge in the eye, and giving a firm handshake (practice on your parents).