NAQT rules changes for 2020-2021

[Important Bird Area]

NAQT has made a number of changes to its rules and policies for the 2020–2021 season.

Some highlights:

-Bonus questions are now paired with tossup questions. This does not refer to content (i.e., tossups and bonuses are not related in terms of content, or if they are, it is a coincidence); it only refers to numbering and presentation. For example, if tossups 1 and 3 are answered correctly but tossup 2 is not, then bonuses 1 and 3 will be read, but bonus 2 will not be read.

-Matches at the Community College Championship Tournament will now use 11-minute halves (just like matches at the Intercollegiate Championship Tournament).

Full details are here.

[tiwonge]

Is the bonus rule going to change the formatting of packets? If bonus 1 is paired with TU 1, then would you print the packet so that each bonus is printed under the tossup? This would avoid having to shuffle papers between the set of tossups and the set of bonuses.

[Important Bird Area]

Yes, we plan to change the printing format to reduce the amount of paper-shuffling.

[whatamidoinghere]

Yes, we plan to change the printing format to reduce the amount of paper-shuffling.

In circuits which don't use computational math, what would moderators do in the case that there's a non-comp math tossup and a comp math bonus or a comp math tossup and a non-comp math bonus paired while printed which goes TU 1, Bonus 1, TU 2, Bonus 2, etc.?

[Important Bird Area]

Read a replacement from the end of the packet.

[i never see pigeons in wheeling]

Read a replacement from the end of the packet.

Instead of doing this, can we please finally have the option to request printed editions that excise comp math already? I know that NAQT can and does print custom editions of its sets for local circuits to use according to their specifications, and the removal of comp math is in such high demand that it should already be a standard option for NAQT printing. As you yourself know, instructing newer mods how to properly skip comp math adds another dimension of needless difficulty to the hectic job of tournament directing. If the printing format truly does not allow you to do this, is it not possible to maybe redden out the comp math and include explicit instructions of which question to read instead from within the packet?

[Important Bird Area]

Read a replacement from the end of the packet.

Instead of doing this, can we please finally have the option to request printed editions that excise comp math already? I know that NAQT can and does print custom editions of its sets for local circuits to use according to their specifications, and the removal of comp math is in such high demand that it should already be a standard option for NAQT printing. As you yourself know, instructing newer mods how to properly skip comp math adds another dimension of needless difficulty to the hectic job of tournament directing. If the printing format truly does not allow you to do this, is it not possible to maybe redden out the comp math and include explicit instructions of which question to read instead from within the packet?

we reserve custom printing of sets for very substantial format changes (like the option for 13-packet sets of 22/22 instead of 12-packet sets of 24/24, and state-specific formats that add extra questions or question types). We allow local tournament directors to remove individual questions from sets, but do not currently plan to alter our display options in the manner suggested above. (Please keep in mind that while "no computational math" is one relatively common adjustment of this type, it's not the only one- it's normal for us to hear from hosts who wish to make other similar changes like "remove these relatively difficult tossups from the set for this novice tournament" or "remove some or all popular culture tossups.")