How to Study for Tournaments (IS Sets)

[Chef Curry]

I am a freshman on my quizbowl team, and going to a tournament this Saturday IS Set at Carnegie Mellon University, and also going to History Bowl on Nov. 16th. Does anybody have any tips on how to study?

[heterodyne]

http://www.qbwiki.com/wiki/How_to_Get_Good_at_This_Game

This is one useful resource. It won't really help you for this weekend, however. Basically, you probably won't be able to cram enough to make a difference, so review what you know and keep it cool. IS sets are about regular difficulty. Ask your teammates how they prepare for a tournament. For History Bowl, you might have enough time to put some of those tips into practice.

Oh yeah, I forgot that Schindler made this thingy: http://www.hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewto ... 30&t=14099

[Sniper, No Sniping!]

I know he graduated from Manheim Township last year, but I believe he actually goes to Carnegie Mellon now, so it may be worth making acquaintances with Campbell Fitzhugh (I think that's his name) and if he's willing, perhaps you can get some pointers from him.

[Rufous-capped Thornbill]

I know he graduated from Manheim Township last year, but I believe he actually goes to Carnegie Mellon now, so it may be worth making acquaintances with Campbell Fitzhugh (I think that's his name) and if he's willing, perhaps you can get some pointers from him.

He goes to Case Western now, actually.

[Corry]

Most people here won't give you explicit advice on how to study. QBWiki's "How to get good" page and Max Schindler's study guide may be worth a look, but both of them mostly give you basic advice about reading books, attending practices, etc.

This is because everybody has their own preferred method of studying for quiz bowl (and as a corollary, nobody wants to give up their "trade secrets"). The quickest and easiest way, however, is probably to read and study old quiz bowl questions from a database like Quinterest. While most veterans would agree that this is not a good long-term study strategy, for a regular-difficulty high school tournament, reading a couple hundred tossups will do you wonders. Personally, I would even recommend taking notes.

[Journeyman]

I second Corry above on taking notes. Having players review what they are commonly missing is well worth focusing on. It also helps add a couple of clues to a particular answer that they are looking into learning more about. I would also recommended Quizlet for creating flashcards about common authors, painters, historical figures, etc.

[Chef Curry]

I know he graduated from Manheim Township last year, but I believe he actually goes to Carnegie Mellon now, so it may be worth making acquaintances with Campbell Fitzhugh (I think that's his name) and if he's willing, perhaps you can get some pointers from him.

Campbell does go to Case Western, and I missed him by a year (i'm a freshman).
Anyway thanks for all the great tips, and if anybody has anymore, please go ahead and post.