• Includes participation in 1 regional tournament and the state tournament (if team qualifies)
• EARLY REGISTRATION: Starting August 15th $350 (Varsity) and $300 (per JV team)
• LATE REGISTRATION: Starting November 16th $400 (Varsity) and $350 (per JV team)
• Note: After January 7th, 2024 at 11:59 pm, there will be no registration.

Teams who decide not to participate in their regional tournament may be eligible for a refund. A team must submit a written or email request to the state directors requesting a team cancellation and refund.

• Requests received by October 31, 2023 will receive a full refund (minus $30 administration fee).
• Requests received by December 4, 2023 will receive a 50% refund (minus $30 administration fee).
• No refunds will be issued after December 4, 2023.

Each invitational tournament has its own pricing structure and refund policy. Please see the Invitational Tournaments page for more details.

• Registration:
  • $135 ($150 with mug)
  • Must be registered and paid by November 1st, 2023 to receive access to all clinic sessions (Click here).

• Cancellations require an official written or email request to the state directors.
• Cancellation up until October 14, 2023: Full refund of paid clinic fees ​
• Cancellation after October 14, 2023 up to the date of the clinic: No refund

ISO follows all national policies unless otherwise stated. Please review the national policies before you register a team with ISO. The current national Science Olympiad policies can be found here:

• Team Size and Grade Levels
• Team Qualifications (Public, Private, Charter, Alternative, Magnet, Cyber,Virtual, and Home Schools)​

​Additionally, all teams must comply with all ISO policies regarding:

• Adhering to Team size and grade level requirements in ISO
• Teams and Competition: Running an event at the tournament for each team registered, submitting all required paperwork, completing demographics
• Adhering to rules about team organization and alternates

• Maximum of two teams per school (IF tournament space permits – in such case, medals awarded only to one team per school)
• A maximum of 3 students per event (We encourage team rosters be structured so that students compete in more than one event, if possible)

Division B and C teams can be made up of Varsity and JV teams.

• Division B is for middle and junior high schools, recommending 5th-8th grade students.
• If a Division B school does invite 9th graders back to participate as part of the team, it is NOT permitted to have a JV team for that school year. The school principal MUST sign off on the team roster acknowledging that all students invited back were previously enrolled in that school. ISO has the right to require proof of student school history.
• Division C is for high schools and should consist of 9th-12th grade students, at most, SEVEN students can be in the 12th grade

Many, but not all schools have JV teams that consist of additional students who may be younger or less experienced than the Varsity members. The make up of each team is at the coach’s discretion and may be changed between tournaments.

• The varsity team is the first/primary team from any middle or high school.
• The varsity team for a school may have at most 15 students.
• The performance of the varsity team at the regional tournament will determine if the School will advances to the state tournament.
• A varsity team is allowed alternates. Alternates do not compete for the varsity team unless one of the 15 varsity members is unable to participate.

• The JV team is the second and/or third team from a middle or high school
• JV teams must compete at the same regional as their varsity team
• JV teams for a school may have up to 15 students on the team
• JV teams cannot advance to the state level.
• Coaches can combine members of a JV team and Varsity team to create their state-advancing team.
• At regional tournaments, JV teams are ranked only against other JV teams, not Varsity teams.

• Compete independently at invitational and regional tournaments
• Must be registered and paid for separately
• If the school has many grades in it, the team may have students younger than the prescribed grades.
• Schools that are K-12 are allowed to have both Division B and Division C teams.

All teams will compete in an assigned regional tournament. There will not be a State tournament.
Each team must submit proper tournament paperwork (some ahead of time, some at the tournament) including team roster, media and participation release form, medical release forms.

• Following team registration, ISO assigns each school’s team(s) to a regional tournament. Qualifying teams at the regional tournament advance to the State tournament. Qualifying teams at the State tournament advance to the National tournament.
• A school is allowed one Varsity and at most three JV teams (due to the virtual nature of this year’s tournament).
• Based on the performance of the Varsity team at the regional tournament, a School can advance to the state tournament. Coaches are allowed to bring a single team consisting of up to 15 members to the state tournament as long as they satisfy the team division requirements. A specific number of students can become alternates or participate in Trial events at the state tournament as determined by the events for that year.
• Your school will be expected to run at least one event and possibly an event for each team you have registered at the regional tournament. For example, if you registered a Varsity, JV #1, and JV #2 teams, your school would be required to run at least 1 event but may be expected to run up to 3 events. You will be able to choose your top events that you would like to run during the registration process. The regional director will do their best to match your team(s) with events that you selected during the registration process.
• Each team must submit proper tournament paperwork (some ahead of time, some at the tournament) including team roster, media and participation release form, medical release forms.
• ISO will require all teams to submit demographic summary information about each team competing at the regional and state levels. This information parallels part of the data included in the school state report card. Teams are not allowed to compete at the regional or state tournaments without completing this information. IF this is going to present an insurmountable problem for your team, please contact the ISO state directors immediately.

• A student can participate on only ONE team during a tournament (Varsity or JV, not both).
• A student cannot participate on multiple JV teams during a tournament.
• Based on the performance of the Varsity team at the regional tournament, a School can advance to the state tournament. Coaches are allowed to bring a single team consisting of up to 15 members to the state tournament as long as they satisfy the team division requirements. A specific number of students can become alternates or participate in Trial events at the state tournament as determined by the events for that year.
• For state advancing teams, a specific number of students from the Varsity or JV teams may participate in trial events.
• Coaches may switch students between Varsity and JV teams between tournaments.
• Only one team per division per school can advance to the state tournament

In case of an emergency, an alternate may take the place of a competing team member with the approval of the Tournament Director.

• The coach must bring the alternate to headquarters for approval and to obtain a wristband.
• The coach must bring the original competing member’s wristband to headquarters.
• The original competing member is not allowed to return back to competition
• By adding the alternate, the team must maintain compliance with the Team Division requirements.
• A student can participate on only ONE team during a tournament (Varsity or JV, not both)

Self Schedule at Regional and Invitational Tournaments

• Building events – Varsity and JV teams must have a separate apparatus for each team.
• Non-building events – JV team must be scheduled to compete at the same time or AFTER their varsity team.

It is national policy to allow a Division B school to invite back up to 5 students to fill out their team as long as those students were previously enrolled in that school and have not yet completed 9th grade. It is the philosophy of Illinois Science Olympiad that our programs are primarily about education, not competition. Our tournaments are organized as a means to help students have fun learning about science and to strive to do their best. ISO will permit Division B schools to invite back students for competition, but can only justify doing so for those schools that cannot otherwise field a complete team.

If a Division B school does invite 9th graders back to participate as part of the team, it is NOT permitted to have a JV team for that school year. The school principal MUST sign off on the team roster acknowledging that all students invited back were previously enrolled in that school. ISO has the right to require proof of student school history.

If a school violates this policy, the school may be disqualified from the regional tournament and forfeit the opportunity to compete at the state tournament.

The goal of the ISO seeding process is to:

• Provide an opportunity for all participants to earn meaningful medals at the Illinois State Tournament.
• Recognize the achievements of all teams at the awards ceremony

• Regional Competitiveness – ranking of the teams at each regional tournament.
• Previous 2 years overall ranking at the state tournament.
• A/AA Seeding Committee determination.

• Prior to 2003: There were 32 teams/division at the State Tournament. State qualifying teams were not accepting state bids because their performance at the tournament was not recognized at the awards ceremony. Many different scenarios were tried to increase the participation at the tournament and awards ceremony (including 10 places of medals), but these options did not accomplish our goals.
• 2003 – 2005: The A and AA seeding was developed. For these two years, school student population size determined seeding. Schools were organized by student population and divided into two groups. This option did not accomplish our goals.
• 2005 – 2008: The A/AA Seeding Committee was created with 5-7 people from around Illinois. A mathematical formula was created to seed teams based on regional tournament ranking, medals won at the previous state tournament, and overall ranking in the state tournament for the previous 3 years. The 10-15 teams seeded in the middle required additional placement considerations.
• 2009: Due to team participant fluctuations, the A/AA Seeding Committee used the previous 2 years overall ranking in the state tournament (instead of previous 3 years) as part of the seeding criteria.
• 2013: The A/AA Seeding Committee ceased using the number of medals won at the previous state tournament as a seeding criteria.
• 2015: The ISO Advisory Board reviewed the history and criteria for the A/AA Seeding process. The ISO Executive Board determined the A/AA Seeding Committee will continue to use the current process for seeding.

This is the ISO board-approved policy on posting and releasing scores:

• Only rankings (and NOT raw scores) will be posted on a website for the general public to see.
• At tournaments a spreadsheet with rankings should be generated and handed out to only the attending teams so that they can use that data to coach their teams. That spreadsheet of rankings CANNOT be posted on any web page for the general public to see.
• The function in AVOGADRO to allow the general public to see the rankings of a tournament CANNOT be used.
  If a spreadsheet of rankings is not generated and handed out at the tournament, then it is acceptable to generate one later and email it out to ONLY the attending teams.

Using the Avogadro Scoring System, ISO now has the capability to share with you, and only you, your team’s raw scores. You will be able to see your team’s raw score and a graph that displays your team score relative to the other scores. In order to comply with Illinois Law concerning student privacy and the advice of both National and State Science Olympiad legal experts, the high score on the graph has been removed. This feature of Avogadro, showing your team’s medal place, raw score, and raw score graph for each event, will be turned on after the completion of the tournament’s award ceremony.

Any release of additional teams’ scores, etc. could result in ISO being subjected to charges of violation of student privacy. Please do not ask your Tournament Director to open themselves to such vulnerability by requesting additional scoring analyses.

Each team is given 2 coach wristbands. Only coaches with wristbands are allowed to speak with event supervisors, appeal/arbitrate an event, or talk to the Headquarters staff during the tournament.

• Each team will receive a maximum of 15 wristbands and 2 alternate wristbands.
• The coach counts the wristbands at the registration table to make certain that he/she received 15 total.
• The coach will only receive the number of wristbands for the number of competitors on the team (a team of 12 will only receive 12 wristbands).
• All competitors must be wearing a wristband in order to compete in the tournament.
• The students should put the wristbands on so they fit snuggly and cannot come off.
• Students can only be wearing one wristband during the competition. Students cannot be on both the JV and Varsity team at the same tournament.
• Event supervisors are instructed to check for student wristbands as the competitors walk into their event. The event supervisor will note if a wristband is not on or too loose and send the student to headquarters immediately. The student will not be able to compete until the wristband issue if fixed.
• Trial Events require wristbands. Any student may participate in a trial event as long as they have a competitor or alternate wristband.
• If a wristband is broken or damaged, the head or assistant coach must bring the wristband and the competitor to headquarters for a replacement.
• Wristbands will ONLY be given to coaches.
• If the team number is missing or if it washes off from the wristband, the student for will supply the team name and number to the event supervisor.
• The student can still compete in the event.
• Coaches will receive 2 wristbands per team.

• Coaches will receive one wristband per JV team member (max of 25).
• All the rest of the rules are the same.

• Each team will receive a maximum of 15 wristbands and 12 alternate wristbands.
• The coach counts the wristbands at the registration table to make certain that he/she received 15 total.
• The coach will only receive the number of wristbands for the number of competitors on the team (a team of 12 will only receive 12 wristbands).
  All competitors must be wearing a wristband in order to compete in the tournament.
• The students should put the wristbands on so they fit snuggly and cannot come off.
• Students can only be wearing one wristband during the competition.
• Event supervisors are instructed to check for student wristbands as the competitors walk into their event. The event supervisor will note if a wristband is not on or too loose and send the student to headquarters immediately. The student will not be able to compete until the wristband issue if fixed.
• Trial Events require wristbands. Any student may participate in a trial event as long as they have a competitor or alternate wristband.
• If a wristband is broken or damaged, a “wristbanded” coach must bring the wristband and the competitor to headquarters for a replacement.
• Wristbands will ONLY be given to coaches.
• If the team number is missing or if it washes off from the wristband, the student for will supply the team name and number to the event supervisor.
• The student can still compete in the event.
• Coaches will receive 2 wristbands per team.

• Building and Tools Policy
• Eye Protection
• ​Code of Ethics & General Rules
• Significant Figures