International Academic Competitions is proud to announce that the 2018-2019 Middle School and Elementary Division season is now under way! We hope that we will have the opportunity to see your young scholars at our competitions this season!
Your students have the opportunity this season to compete in all of the following events under IAC management:
- National History Bee and Bowl (NHBB)
- National Science Bee (For the first time at the Regional level!)
- US Geography Olympiad (USGO)
- International Geography Bee (IGB)
- US Academic Bee and Bowl (all subject quiz competitions)
Students in History Bee, Science Bee, Geography Bee, Geography Olympiad, and Academic Bee competitions will compete in 8th grade, 7th grade, 6th grade, and 5th and under divisions.
Students playing in any Academic Bowl competition will compete in Middle School (8th and 7th Grade) and Elementary divisions (6th grade and under). Students in 6th grade and under may play on Middle School teams, but all Elementary division teams must be comprised of students in the 6th grade and below. This season, there will be no Elementary division at any regional Middle School History Bowl competitions.
Homeschooled students or others with no formally recognized grade level will have their division determined by their date of birth.
NATIONAL HISTORY BEE AND BOWL and NATIONAL SCIENCE BEE qualification:
Please note the qualification process for the National History Bee and the National Science Bee listed below:
If you have not already done so, please navigate to our Sponsor Registration page to let us know that you intend to have students compete in any of our events this season. This is a required step, and all registrations for the Middle School and Elementary Division events will be made available through your sponsor page as they are opened through the year.
- From January 4 to 22, 2019, students will be able to take the Online Regional Qualifying Exam (ORQE). This exam will be completely free for all students to take and may be taken under supervision at school (or at home for homeschooled students). If schools or homeschool groups choose to include an optional Intramural competition, they are welcome to do so, and free materials for such a competition will be available beginning November 1.
- From February 16 to April 14, 2019, Regional Finals will be held at locations throughout the United States. Students who qualify through the ORQE may attend a Regional Final for only $35 per student. Locations for these events will be finalized by early January, and a list of likely dates and locations is available here.
- Through these Regional Finals, students can qualify for the National Championships to be held during the weekend of June 6-10. Students from the same school or homeschool group who attend the National Championships after qualifying for the National History Bee may also form a team for the National History Bowl. Schools and homeschool groups may also qualify teams for the National Championship by the other means listed at the above link. The same is true for students who qualify for Nationals in the US Academic Bee and wish to form a team for the Academic Bowl. We will also have an expanded network of National History Bowl tournaments at the middle school level this year. A forthcoming post will have more details on these, as well as IAC's plans generally speaking for the History Bowl at the Middle School level.
The majority of Regional Finals will include both the National History Bee and the National Science Bee. Students are welcome to compete in either or both events for which they qualify through the ORQE, and all students at Regional Finals will have the opportunity to qualify for Nationals in an all-subject US Academic Bee as well for only $10! In addition, there will be opportunities at the Regional Finals to take a FREE qualifying exam for the International Geography Bee and the US Geography Olympiad.
US ACADEMIC BEE AND BOWL qualification
The US Academic Bee and Bowl (USABB) is an all-subject buzzer competition that is open to all students from 8th grade and below. Teams may qualify for Nationals in the Bowl by finishing in the top half of any all-subject academic tournament in the US during the 2018-19 school year, including any one of an expanded set of USABB tournaments to be held across the US. Students can qualify for Nationals in the Academic Bee through these USABB tournaments or by finishing as the first or second player on a team at any all-subject tournament that keeps individual scores.
Note that the Regional History Bee Finals and Regional Science Bee Finals that are held on weekend or holiday dates will have an Academic Bee regional tournament at them open to any student competing in either the Regional History Bee Finals and Regional Science Bee Finals only. We will also run full-day USABB tournaments with both Bee (on a separate question set) and Bowl components in about 15-20 locations around the country this year. See the USABB website for further details; we will also have more information on USABB in a forthcoming post.
INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHY BEE and US GEOGRAPHY OLYMPIAD qualification
IAC also oversees two geography competitions. At the National Championships, the International Geography Bee is also a buzzer-based competition, while at Nationals the US Geography Olympiad is an exam-based competition. Both of these events are contested at our National Championships, to be held from June 6-10, 2019. Qualification for both of these events can be done through an Online Regional Qualifying Exam or by taking a exam live at any of our tournaments around the country. Students are allowed to take different versions of the exam but will only be able to attempt to qualify on any given version once. Middle School students are also welcome to attempt to qualify for the USGO and IGB Junior Varsity National Championships in Arlington, VA on Friday, April 26 - see the two websites for further details.
A reminder, if you have not already done so, please navigate to our Sponsor Registration page to let us know that you intend to have students compete in any of our events this season. This is a required step, and all registrations for the Middle School and Elementary Division events will be made available through your sponsor page as they are opened through the year.
This form will also add you to our mailing list so we can keep you updated with information throughout the school year. To ensure you receive our update emails, please be sure to verify your account through the email you will receive once you have filled out this form. Please note that any previous login information you may have used for National History Bee in past seasons is no longer valid.
Please let us know if you have any questions at all by contacting us through [email protected], and we look forward to celebrating your students at our competitions this season!