The UCF Quiz Bowl Team Needs Your Help!

[MickeySizemore]

Hey, everybody, after a few years of trying to get a team off of the ground, it looks like UCF Quiz Bowl is going to be quite strong for years to come. That being said, I am looking for upcoming tournaments in which we may compete. We have a rather large assortment of novice players who are quite skilled, but we also have what I think will be a diabolical A team of experienced players that I would like to register in tournaments. I went on the tournament announcements board and noticed that most tournaments are either taking place inside of the coming week, or are catering exclusively to novice players. I would like any and all information that I may have missed on that board, and any and all information that has yet to be included there that you feel would be relevant to our purpose. Thank you very much! It's great to be a part of the online quiz bowl community.

McKinnie Sizemore

[jmannor2]

This sunday is ACF Fall at the University of Alabama, which would be a great thing for UCF to attend.

[tiwonge]

Even if you think your A team is diabolical, if they haven't played before, they'd probably be welcome at novice events. (You might need to get exceptions if they're grad students, but I'd think that as long as they haven't played before, they'd probably be welcome.)

[MickeySizemore]

Right, that's awesome, but since the A team is pretty much all CC transfers wouldn't they be ineligible for a novice tournament? I'm sorry, I forget to include that information. Thanks for all the help so far!

[tiwonge]

They could still play in novice tournaments like ACF Fall or MUT, probably. They'd be ineligible for the ACF Novice (unless they got explicit permission to play), but other novice tournaments would be OK.

[bradleykirksey]

Does it matter if I did my CC time in high school and then came here? (My school didn't have AP, so I figured why not?)

And one other question: how do you help someone with zero previous experiance to get better in a specific field? There's a girl on our team who wants to become very good at art and art history, but never played at high school or college before yesterday.

[ValenciaQBowl]

Start by sending your teammate (as well as all of you, if you're interested) to Valencia's practice this coming Wednesday (11/16), as we'll be doing our 90-minute QB art-history slide show. We practice from 1-4:30 pm, and we'll start the slide show around 2:30 after some come late from 1 pm classes.

Other than that, to get better in any field, take notes on questions in that field you hear in practice, look up those notes/terms/etc. later, and do lots of reading in that area. And you can use the many QB databases to generate questions in your subject of interest to read and learn what clues commonly cohere about certain answers.

[bradleykirksey]

Thanks so much, Dr. Borglum. I'll let her know about the slideshow and see if I can go too.

[tiwonge]

Other than that, to get better in any field, take notes on questions in that field you hear in practice, look up those notes/terms/etc. later, and do lots of reading in that area. And you can use the many QB databases to generate questions in your subject of interest to read and learn what clues commonly cohere about certain answers.

Also, for art, look at the works mentioned. A lot of time art clues start by describing the piece.

[Jesus vs. Dragons]

Dr. Borglum.

What's this all about? You hiding your Ph.D from all of us simpletons? I would love to hear your dissertation. Something tells me it would involve Thomas Pynchon, Drive By Truckers, and marathons.

But in all seriousness, quizbowl is nothing but repetition. You really need to immerse yourself in the game when you first start playing in order to soak up all of the things that make up the "canon." As an amorphous, amoebic entity, this "canon" is always changing and will never be agreed upon, but if you want the simplest of foundations, start with these. The frequency lists on NAQT's website will allow you a small sampling size of what makes up the "canon" and how you should prioritize your studies. If you can learn the major characters, settings, lines, phrases, plots etc of the thing/things on that frequency list, you will be able to get early buzzes and convert difficult bonus parts. Simply looking at the list will do you next-to-no good. Yes, you will be able to get a tossup at the end when given the work or author, but against most collegiate teams these tossups have already been buzzed on.

I managed to get fairly good without writing many questions, but I can tell you from firsthand account that the key to becoming REALLY good is writing questions. There are a lot of people on these forums and in the Florida quizbowl circuit who would be willing to proofread or play test questions you have written.

Edit: words.

[ValenciaQBowl]

The great thing about community colleges is that we're about teaching, not research, so you ain't got to have no stinking doctorate. But at least Mr. Kirksey has some respect for his elders, Beardo!

PS: Bradley, note that there's an NAQT artworks "you gotta know" list, too. And you can create your own versions of these based on what you hear coming up as you practice, too. Valencia has dozens of such sheets, which I'll be happy to share with UCF folks if/when you come by a practice.

[bradleykirksey]

Thanks, Colin, and Ethan. I'll be glad to pass it on.

It seems like a 50/50 shot for Dr. at a community college, and if you've got to err one way...

I'll make sure to come by to your practices. It's just a matter of getting a ride. So I'm going to see how many people I can get to go over there. Thanks again.