OWAO Regulations
General Requirements
§ 1. Olympiad Rounds
- The Olympiad consists of 4 rounds: theoretical, practical, observational, and express round.
- The theoretical round is a written test with a duration of 5 hours.
- The practical round is a computer-based test that involves processing and analyzing astronomical data and submitting an electronic report on the work done and the results. The duration of the practical round is 5 hours.
- The observational and express rounds are computer-based tests (only answers are evaluated). The duration of each round is not more than 3 hours.
- Participants are required to complete all tasks individually and independently. Using external assistance, literature, or reference sources on astronomy, or interfering with other participants is prohibited. Violation of this rule will result in disqualification.
§ 2. Language
- The working language of the Olympiad is English. Tasks are provided in plain English. It is expected that solutions are also written in English with minimal word usage.
- Team leaders receive a glossary (a list of terms) for translation in advance. Thetranslated glossary is submitted to the organizing committee. Participants can use the glossary in all rounds.
§ 3. Equipment and Software
- In all rounds, participants use writing instruments (pen, compass, ruler, protractor) and a non-programmable engineering calculator. It is recommended to use a pen with ink of contrasting colors.
- In the practical, observational, and express rounds, participants also use a computer with internet access. Recommended software includes a browser (Google Chrome/Chromium), text editor (Microsoft Word/LibreOffice Writer), spreadsheet editor (Microsoft Excel/LibreOffice Calc).
- During the practical round, participants can use other applications for data processing, analysis, report generation, including editors, development tools (e.g., Python & Jupyter Notebook), and online applications (Google Sheets, Desmos, etc.), except for collaborative tools and functions. Finding and using documentation for the software and libraries used is allowed but not reference literature on astronomy.
- During the observational and express rounds, participants are only allowed to use the testing system.
§ 4. Participant Identification
- Only registered participants are allowed to participate in the Olympiad.
- Before the start of the rounds, the organizing committee establishes a correspondence between participants and codes in the format [country code]-[participant number], for example, RU-1, and provides the team leaders with the codes.
- The participant code is used for unambiguous identification in all rounds instead of the name. In the theoretical round, the participant's code should be indicated on each answer sheet. In the practical round, the participant's code should be included in each report file.
Round Procedures
§ 5. General Procedure
- The Olympiad rounds are conducted in Sirius, the location of the organizing committee, as well as at remote sites. Team leaders coordinated by the organizing committee ensure the organization of the Olympiad at remote sites.
- All rounds are conducted with video surveillance. The video must show participants, their workstations, and computer screens. Multiple cameras can be used to provide a satisfactory overview.
- The start time for each round at each location is determined by the organizing committee so that the round starts in the westernmost countries no later than it ends in the easternmost countries.
- Participants must arrive at the round location no later than 15 minutes before the start and check the equipment's functionality.
- At the beginning of the round, participants receive the tasks and start working.
- During the round, participants can have food, drinks, and medicine, may take short breaks. This does not affect the round's ending time.
- In the theoretical round, participants write detailed solutions on prescribed answer sheets. On each answer sheet, participants should write down the participant code, task number, page number, and the total number of pages in their work.
- In the practical round, participants create a separate report in PDF format for each task, containing information about their work, intermediate and final results, and conclusions. Working files (tables, source code, etc.) are attached to the report.
- At the designated end time, participants stop working on tasks, making entries and answers, and submit their work (upload files to the system, complete the testing attempt).
§ 6. On-Site Participation in Sirius
- Before the start of the test, participants must present their ID to the duty officer (representative of the organizing committee).
- Each participant is provided with answer sheets (for the written round), draft paper, and a laptop (for computer-based rounds).
- Video recording is maintained in the classrooms throughout the round.
§ 7. Remote Participation
- Before the round begins, team leaders receive sets of tasks and other materials for conducting the Olympiad (access codes to the system, etc.). Common files (reference materials, answer sheets, etc.) are sent in advance.
- Before the test, participants must present their ID to the proctor.
- Each participant is provided with answer sheets (for the written round), draft paper, and a computer. Team leaders are responsible for providing participants with the necessary equipment. If desired, participants can use their own laptops.
- Video communication is used for remote participation, for which the organizing committee appoints proctors. Team leaders are also recommended to keep video recordings in case of connection issues.
- After the theoretical round, team leaders scan the participants' work and submit it to the organizing committee in a multi-page PDF format. 2 hours are allocated for scanning and submitting the theoretical round works after the round ends. Video surveillance continues during this time.
- In case of technical issues, team leaders should contact the proctor or the organizing committee for assistance.
Result Finalization
§ 8. Pre-Moderation
- Participants' works, task conditions, solutions, and evaluation criteria are provided to team leaders for independent assessment.
- The jury informs team leaders of the evaluation results. After this, team leaders submit applications for moderation, indicating discrepancies in scores with corresponding comments.
- Before moderation, the jury may agree with the applications (on individual points) and adjust scores or reject them.
- The results of participants' completion of observational and express tests, which are automatically evaluated, can be adjusted for all participants in case of a technical error in the testing system.
§ 9. Moderation
- Unresolved discrepancies specified in the applications are discussed by team leaders with jury members and the academic committee. Usually, up to 20 minutes are allocated for each task for discussion per team, for which the organizing committee establishes a meeting schedule.
- In particularly challenging cases, additional jury members and members of the academic committee may be involved in the discussion. In the absence of consensus, the final decision is made by the majority vote of the academic committee.
- After moderation, team leaders are provided with the participants' results for verification.
§ 10. Result Calculation
b. The total score of the participant, normalized to double the median.
c. The percentage of participants whose total score is not greater than the participant's score.
- When summing up the results, a participant's round score is normalized to the best result achieved in that round. The maximum round score is 100%.
- The total score of a participant is calculated as the weighted average of the results of the theoretical, practical, observational, and express rounds with weights of 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, and 0.1, respectively.
- A participant's reference score is equal to the greater of the following:
b. The total score of the participant, normalized to double the median.
c. The percentage of participants whose total score is not greater than the participant's score.
§ 11. Awards
- The jury approves the final results and sets the threshold scores for awarding gold, silver, or bronze medals based on the recommendation of the academic committee and in consultation with the organizing committee.
- With the agreement of the academic committee, the organizing committee may establish special prizes, such as the award for the best overall performance.
- The final protocol is published on the Olympiad's website. Before the publication of the final protocol, a participant may request not to disclose their name. The names of anonymous participants in the public version of the protocol are replaced with their codes.
