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Policy Olympiad 
GUIDELINES & RULES

REGISTRATION

NATIONAL ROUND

FINAL ROUND

Individual registration fee:

  • Pre-Registration: $15 USD per student

  • Regular: $20 USD per student​

National Olympiad:

  • Participants must submit a PDF doc to review before the deadline

  • After the participant chooses which question(s) to answer, the response cannot exceed 1000 words, and must be in PDF form. 

  • The MLA style bibliography citing their sources, must be at the the bottom of the participants response to the question.

  • Judges will review the submissions based on the following criteria:

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    • ​Depth of understanding

      • Show us how well you understand the subject matter​

    • Critical thinking

      • Think outside the box​

    • Demonstrated ability to solve a multi-faceted problem

      • Take into account all the layers and find a solution​

    • Clarity in articulation

      • Be clear and concise in your explanation​

    • Purpose of text

      • Let your every sentence mean something​

    • Creativity and personal touch

      • Have fun with it

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Global Olympiad:

For the International Policy Olympiad, the first place finalist from each nation will be sent the International Olympiad question(s) and they will have one week to answer and submit their work. 

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  • The word count cannot go beyond 1500 words 

  • You will be assessed on the same criteria as before:

  • ​Depth of understanding

    • Show us how well you understand the subject matter​

  • Critical thinking

    • Think outside the box​

  • Demonstrated ability to solve a multi-faceted problem

    • Take into account all the layers and find a solution​

  • Clarity in articulation

    • Be clear and concise in your explanation​

  • Purpose of text

    • Let your every sentence mean something​

  • Creativity and personal touch

    • Have fun with it

  • Additional guidelines will be sent to the national finalists with more specific information​

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DETAILS FOR EACH ROUND WILL BE SHARED WITH PAID REGISTRANTS ONCE THE COMPETITION STARTS. 

Sample Questions

Example

The Policy Olympiad is designed to give you a feel for what it will be like to study the social sciences at a university. You will be asked university level questions. Below are just a few questions similar to what you will be asked. 

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You will be expected to answer questions in essay formats, however you will have the freedom to use bullet points and other methods to get your point across as succinctly as possible. You will be asked questions like:

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Should governments regulate AI and free speech on social media? How might these regulations impact misinformation and freedom of expression? What government policy or arrangement with the tech company would you implement to improve the situation?​​

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Describe the interplay between lobbyists, elected officials, NGOs, interest groups, and political parties. Explain how the nature of politics can influence policies that affect individual citizens and entire countries. Use examples from the modern day as well history to show us your understanding of how governments work. 

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We are not looking for perfect answers, we are not even looking for any "right" or "wrong" answer. Your goal should be to explore a subject deeply. Understand a government policy, see why it is there, and make proposals, give your critique, and see if you can find a better way to go about it. 

DO NOT CHEAT

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At Policy Olympiad we have a ZERO tolerance policy towards plagiarism and cheating. No submission with any amount of plagiarism or cheating will be accepted. 

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We will be monitoring all submissions with tools to see if AI wrote your answers. We consider using AI to write your paper cheating.

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