Search found 53 matches

by acrosby1861
Sun Jun 24, 2018 2:06 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: HS Player Poll Results
Replies: 21
Views: 17021

Re: HS Player Poll Results

I just thought I'd give my input on this. There's no good, easy way to rank the best quiz bowl players across the country. A player's stats can be influenced by how good their team is, how good their opposition is, and the types of questions they hear. That's why I don't think the individual leaderb...
by acrosby1861
Wed Apr 11, 2018 8:04 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Quizbowl, College Admissions, and Choices
Replies: 8
Views: 1604

Re: Quizbowl, College Admissions, and Choices

For me personally, my main two choices for college were UCSD and CSU Long Beach. I'd gotten into a couple other schools but they were either too far distance-wise or I didn't see myself there. I eventually decided to go to UCSD instead of CSULB, hence my signature at the end of this post, because I ...
by acrosby1861
Wed Feb 14, 2018 10:20 pm
Forum: Best of the Best
Topic: How Can We Make Quizbowl More Approachable and Inclusive
Replies: 64
Views: 54213

Re: How Can We Make Quizbowl More Approachable and Inclusive

-Calling trash clues "trash" doesn't bug me as much as just the way that some people treat them. I happen to be good at sports and current music and sometimes people say things that are meant to be compliments, like "you could be so helpful to the team because of that!" but the ...
by acrosby1861
Sun Feb 11, 2018 8:15 pm
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: Studying History and Art
Replies: 5
Views: 13196

Re: Studying History and Art

Since you like history, NHBB is also good. I agree with this. There's a lot of history overlap between NHBB and quiz bowl. It'll help a lot. 2b. Go explore on Wikipedia. This can help, too, especially if you feel like you just need a broad overview of what you want to cover. (edited because I left ...
by acrosby1861
Tue Jun 06, 2017 5:59 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Parts of the Lit Canon worth the time to read
Replies: 37
Views: 26057

Re: Parts of the Lit Canon worth the time to read

Great Expectations, on the other hand, is not so great. Can confirm, horrible book, probably the worst I've had to read for school. It's really long and slow-moving. I thought Great Expectations was alright. I definitely needed some time to really think about it before I understood it. I guess I ca...
by acrosby1861
Fri Jun 02, 2017 11:31 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Parts of the Lit Canon worth the time to read
Replies: 37
Views: 26057

Re: Parts of the Lit Canon worth the time to read

And I'm currently working on one of Rushdie's books for AP Lit, too. I'm not that really into it. Midnight's Children is literally the best book though! Also Haruki Murakami and Orhan Pamuk! I wasn't referring to Midnight's Children, I've never read it. I was referring to the Rushdie book I'm readi...
by acrosby1861
Fri Jun 02, 2017 6:54 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Parts of the Lit Canon worth the time to read
Replies: 37
Views: 26057

Re: Parts of the Lit Canon worth the time to read

More Weight wrote: Not fun to read:
Rushdie
Heart of Darkness
Agreed to the Heart of Darkness part. Had to read for AP Lit, I didn't understand much. And I'm currently working on one of Rushdie's books for AP Lit, too. I'm not that really into it.

But I enjoyed Brave New World. And A Tale of Two Cities.
by acrosby1861
Thu Apr 13, 2017 9:18 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Where are you going to college next year? (2016–17)
Replies: 37
Views: 21733

Re: Where are you going to college next year? (2016–17)

I've committed to UC San Diego, and I plan to play quizbowl, time permitting.

(edited for clearer verb choice)
by acrosby1861
Wed Feb 08, 2017 9:12 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Stimulants and Rituals for Quizbowl
Replies: 28
Views: 20155

Re: Stimulants and Rituals for Quizbowl

JakobeanEra wrote:If it's also still about rituals, until Senior year I'd always insist on sitting radially closest to the moderator. I don't know why or whether it helped.
I do this too. Mostly to hear the moderator better.
by acrosby1861
Sun Sep 18, 2016 7:12 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2016 - 2017 Discussion
Replies: 10
Views: 6726

Re: Southern California 2016 - 2017 Discussion

Hi everyone. In terms of graduations, Los Alamitos loses: everyone except myself from our team at last year's IHOP V ( http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/3212/stats/regular_division_%28combined%29/teamdetail/#t3 ) Shellbi Malone from our 2016 SoCal state championships roster ( http://www.hsqui...
by acrosby1861
Fri Aug 26, 2016 1:01 pm
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: Studying Music
Replies: 2
Views: 10078

Re: Studying Music

For operas at least at the high school level, Quinterest + YouTube (to listen to arias) + Wikipedia summaries should suffice. I personally used Mnemosyne to card those clues and was able to power most opera tossups relatively easily. Also do the same for symphonies and other works. YouTube is very ...
by acrosby1861
Wed May 25, 2016 12:53 am
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: 2016 US Academic Bee and Bowl Nationals
Replies: 14
Views: 9972

Re: US Academic Bee and Bowl Nationals

On the idea of elementary school quizbowl; Feel free to comment as necessary: 1) What do first graders really know is the question? I feel like the limited knowledge they possess is not enough to write a multitude of tournaments on them. 2) I'm good with targeting the 5th/6th graders, but I feel th...
by acrosby1861
Sun May 01, 2016 2:47 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Discuss 2016 NHBB Nationals Here
Replies: 88
Views: 43755

Re: Discuss 2016 NHBB Nationals Here

I will post tomorrow on the above comments, plus some other thoughts, but I'm particularly interested in people's reaction to the following: 1. The new individual event playoff scoring system (6, 5, 4, 3, -2, -1) 2. The playoff draft and tiebreakers 3. The written exam portion of USGO 4. Taking onl...
by acrosby1861
Sun Feb 07, 2016 12:34 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divisions
Replies: 16
Views: 7948

Re: NHBB Opening Announcement for 2015-16 Varsity & JV Divis

Xochiquetzal wrote:Considering how expensive the IHO already was, I don't think that having it in Hawai'i will cause that many more people to not go to it.
True. Just getting plane tickets to Hawaii is already expensive.
by acrosby1861
Sat Nov 28, 2015 12:37 am
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: Is it too late now?
Replies: 6
Views: 6581

Re: Is it too late now?

3. I get the feeling that if I do start up a team, I'll just graduate in a year and a half and the team will dissolve because I'm the only one who cares enough to keep it going, and I'm not sure if it's worth it to start up a team for the express reason of enabling me to play quizbowl, especially s...
by acrosby1861
Wed Oct 14, 2015 7:37 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: How far back are NAQT Questions truly useful?
Replies: 8
Views: 4152

Re: How far back are NAQT Questions truly useful?

One thing though, the current events can still be somewhat useful, I think, particularly when they involve politics. Many notable people circa 2008 are still notable people, and the lead-ins and early clues might really help out. Also, if there is geography mixed in with the current event, that can...
by acrosby1861
Mon Oct 12, 2015 9:06 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: How to study packets?
Replies: 12
Views: 8003

Re: How to study packets?

My goal is to become a lower national level player by March and to make Naqt nats. I am specializing in history so I'm studying HSAPQ NHBB nationals 2014. There are like five clues for each question so I'm like: should I look up the clue and lose time or should I skip the clue and risk missing it i...
by acrosby1861
Mon Oct 12, 2015 8:53 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: How to study packets?
Replies: 12
Views: 8003

Re: How to study packets?

I found that when reading over packets, highlighting stuff is helpful, especially for visual learners. Go through the entire packet and highlight what each question is asking so you know what to look for. Like if the question is asking for "this person", you highlight the words "this ...
by acrosby1861
Mon Oct 05, 2015 10:00 pm
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: Need advice for improving a team (history bowl)
Replies: 2
Views: 4491

Re: Need advice for improving a team (history bowl)

I've been heavily contemplating of dropping out of the bowl competition itself and sticking the the bee exclusively if I feel I am making no progress in improvement and overall acting detrimental towards their interest in history. I really need advice on this matter, should I help out my given team...
by acrosby1861
Sat Oct 03, 2015 1:48 am
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: Forming a History Bowl Team?
Replies: 2
Views: 4340

Forming a History Bowl Team?

Hi. I'm trying to form a History Bowl team at my school. It's currently listed as a club, but I managed to find fourteen people who were interested in doing History Bowl. The first official meeting is Tuesday and I want to start doing packets right away. I'm leaning toward using NHBB regional sets f...
by acrosby1861
Sat Sep 26, 2015 3:27 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: How to recruit younger players?
Replies: 2
Views: 3010

Re: How to recruit younger players?

What aspects and types of persuasion have you used to alleviate the fears these new players have so that they are more willing to join? What I'd recommend is give the new and younger players easier difficulty questions so that they get used to the canon. And when they are used to the easier difficu...
by acrosby1861
Tue Sep 22, 2015 8:38 pm
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: Questions for Starting a New Team
Replies: 9
Views: 9266

Re: Questions for Starting a New Team

2) How do I formally establish my new team? Do I need to announce it in some way or just start registering for events? I think it would be best to tell the school about the new team if the school doesn't know already. But if the school already knows, then start registering & competing. 4) Any o...
by acrosby1861
Tue Sep 08, 2015 2:13 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Ghosts of Quiz Bowl's Past that You (sorta) Miss....
Replies: 28
Views: 18273

Re: Ghosts of Quiz Bowl's Past that You (sorta) Miss....

When I was starting out in quiz bowl, my team used old packets from maybe ten years ago (or even older, I'm not sure), and we came across list bonuses, "a, b, both or neither" bonuses, the "5 points for 1, 10 for 2, ...", etc. all the time during practice. And when we got to a to...
by acrosby1861
Mon Aug 17, 2015 9:38 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Using college sets for high school
Replies: 8
Views: 5851

Re: Using college sets for high school

The first step is that you probably shouldn't be looking at ACF Nationals to improve unless you're a top-level specialist in your categories i.e. the best players on LASA/DCC/Arcadia in their specialist categories, Bruce Lou on history, Eric Xu on music and lit, what-have-you. Personally, I've neve...
by acrosby1861
Sat Aug 15, 2015 6:14 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: How do the top teams study and specialize?
Replies: 13
Views: 9111

Re: How do the top teams study and specialize?

If you have a team of four, with each assigned (or self-assigned) their respective subject areas, but only your history player wants to put in the time to succeed, then you're going to be a very middling team. Specialization is awesome, but it takes immense commitment from at least three people, an...
by acrosby1861
Wed Jul 29, 2015 1:13 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2014-15 NAQT IS sets: question-specific discussion
Replies: 24
Views: 10215

Re: 2014-15 NAQT IS sets: question-specific discussion

Halved Xenon Stinging wrote:Was IS-146 supposed to be harder than regular difficulty? Caspar David Friedrich and Masaccio are pretty damn hard for an IS set
The science parts and some of the history for IS-146 seemed hard. But other than that, I didn't find IS-146 that hard.
by acrosby1861
Sun Jul 19, 2015 1:24 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Studying for HS lit in MS
Replies: 10
Views: 6136

Re: Studying for HS lit in MS

I tend to study lit by reading the actual books, because I find that I can get powers better that way, and I have a lot of time now, since its summer. Can somebody please name some of the books that come up in almost every HS tournament? I've seen quite a bit of Shakespeare works, so for those, I r...
by acrosby1861
Fri Jul 17, 2015 12:03 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: History Player
Replies: 20
Views: 12713

Re: History Player

Oh, Wikipedia is a great resource. You can use it as a "survey" book, and then it has links for total deep dives into third bonus parts. Seriously, Wikipedia is your best friend when your a history player. I agree with the parts on reading Wikipedia. Click the links if you're reading some...
by acrosby1861
Sun Jul 05, 2015 11:30 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Resetting [pt. 5 of 6]: How We Treat Each Other
Replies: 40
Views: 21831

Re: Resetting [pt. 5 of 6]: How We Treat Each Other

One thing I've noticed among some elite players is a sort of snarky, dismissive, or judgmental attitude towards people who aren't as skilled as themselves, or who play quizbowl without being as invested in it. [/i][/u] [emphasis is my own] This is utterly toxic and I recommend strongly against havi...
by acrosby1861
Sun Jul 05, 2015 7:31 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Resetting [pt. 5 of 6]: How We Treat Each Other
Replies: 40
Views: 21831

Re: Resetting [pt. 5 of 6]: How We Treat Each Other

Don't let yourself get destroyed over quizbowl -- as important as it is to many of us, it is at heart something we do because we expect it will be fulfilling and entertaining. (After all, there's no prize money at the end of the day.) If it's not doing that, either temporarily or permanently, it's ...
by acrosby1861
Sun Jul 05, 2015 1:13 pm
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: Advice on Studying Fine Arts
Replies: 13
Views: 16133

Re: Advice on Studying Fine Arts

Really? It seems like everyone from where around (Chicagoland) seems to have played in junior high or at least freshman year. Anyway, thank you for the advice. It seems that way in SoCal too. But I've seen one or two people start playing late in their high school career and get really good really f...
by acrosby1861
Fri Jul 03, 2015 2:00 pm
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: Advice on Studying Fine Arts
Replies: 13
Views: 16133

Re: Advice on Studying Fine Arts

Listening to the famous stuff is also useful for some of the other more widely asked songs, not just operas. It's a pain, to be honest, but if you keep hearing / seeing / reading about the characteristics of famous works (like the motif in Beethoven's Fifth, or the chords in Tristan and Isolde), You...
by acrosby1861
Sat Jun 20, 2015 6:24 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Call for Writers -- International History Olympiad
Replies: 36
Views: 19958

Re: Call for Writers -- International History Olympiad

Spreading quizbowl around the world? You're already doing that with IHBB, which seems to be going pretty well, and I do appreciate your efforts to spread the game, especially in Asia. But stripping IHO of the prestige that International Olympiads garner by the inclusion of events like Table Combine...
by acrosby1861
Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:33 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Resetting [pt. 6 of 6]: Lessons Worth Recording
Replies: 12
Views: 8708

Re: Resetting [pt. 6 of 6]: Lessons Worth Recording

[*] What it takes to start a new team: Just get on the road and start going to tournaments. Really, that's it. Recruiting people, getting official funding/recognition, etc. all comes later, and treating those as insurmountable obstacles before one even shows up to a nearby event is not the right at...
by acrosby1861
Wed Jun 17, 2015 6:16 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Call for Writers -- International History Olympiad
Replies: 36
Views: 19958

Re: Call for Writers -- International History Olympiad

If my advice did end up impeding some amount of progress that could have realistically happened between the writing of the NHBB HS Nats sets and now, I am sorry. If there were any leftover questions while writing for NHBB Nationals (like questions that didn't get included in the Nationals set becau...
by acrosby1861
Wed Jun 17, 2015 5:57 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Call for Writers -- International History Olympiad
Replies: 36
Views: 19958

Re: so I've got a few questions about this

I'll respond to Cody's points when I respond to the whole NHBB thread next week, but in response to the above, the "good of the game" argument held to a point during the Blitz when I had been repeatedly lied to by someone the community trusted who then totally flaked out two days before a...
by acrosby1861
Tue Jun 16, 2015 5:11 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California (CA) 2015 - 2016 Discussion
Replies: 14
Views: 6842

Re: Southern California (CA) 2015 - 2016 Discussion

If y'all need funding, I bet you could partner up with some of the other OC schools and co-host a tournament. I think UC Irvine is also planning to run at least one tournament next year, too. From my understanding, funding doesn't seem to be that big of a problem for us (we just take the total regi...
by acrosby1861
Wed Jun 10, 2015 5:04 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California (CA) 2015 - 2016 Discussion
Replies: 14
Views: 6842

Re: Southern California (CA) 2015 - 2016 Discussion

This is a really good point. I was focusing more on NHBB competitions this year, that's why I couldn't really show up to many quiz bowl tournaments this year. Also, I think some of my teammates wanted to come to tournaments but we wound up not signing up (either from lack of interest or other commi...
by acrosby1861
Wed Jun 10, 2015 12:34 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California (CA) 2015 - 2016 Discussion
Replies: 14
Views: 6842

Re: Southern California (CA) 2015 - 2016 Discussion

Good stuff! I mostly agree with your analysis, James-- Rancho Bernardo and La Jolla definitely strike me as the top regional contenders next year, with perhaps Westview thrown into the mix as well depending on how quickly Rahul Keyal improves. As a side note, both Matt Forster and Jacob Glass from ...
by acrosby1861
Sat May 30, 2015 4:42 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Moving from Middle School to High School
Replies: 2
Views: 2462

Re: Moving from Middle School to High School

I'm not sure how middle school quizbowl works in Alabama, but for me the transition was almost entirely one of difficulty. The canon is going to expand and it can at times seem precipitous. I would suggest reading through high school regular difficulty packets and studying them to familiarize yours...
by acrosby1861
Sat May 16, 2015 2:30 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2015 NHBB/USGO Discussion Thread
Replies: 122
Views: 58879

Re: 2015 NHBB/USGO Discussion Thread

I didn't play USHB because I didn't know we could qualify through the regionals test thing, but I really enjoyed it last year. On a related note, would it be possible to have some other wildcard qualifying for US History Bee? Maybe like making the History Bee or USHB playoffs at Nationals the previ...
by acrosby1861
Mon May 04, 2015 6:57 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2015 NHBB/USGO Discussion Thread
Replies: 122
Views: 58879

Re: 2015 NHBB/USGO Discussion Thread

I'd also agree with the idea that the competition has really gotten a lot better. Our freshman team was better than my team freshman year, but they went 1-4 in the afternoon upper rounds while my freshman year team made the playoffs. Yeah, the significantly better competition was noticeable for me,...
by acrosby1861
Sun May 03, 2015 1:59 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2015 NHBB/USGO Discussion Thread
Replies: 122
Views: 58879

Re: 2015 NHBB/USGO Discussion Thread

But the little things do add up that make the process noticably longer, like having someone not show up for the bee playoff tiebreaks (not really NHBB's fault, but possibly more communication would have helped) or not having a lightning round timer pre-set for the JV bowl final (you might be able t...
by acrosby1861
Sat May 02, 2015 11:04 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2015 NHBB/USGO Discussion Thread
Replies: 122
Views: 58879

Re: 2015 NHBB/USGO Discussion Thread

Personally, I felt that with 10 rounds before the finals, the bowl took longer than needed, too. I don't know if anyone else feels the same way, but I was mentally drained after 10 rounds, and I couldn't really concentrate in the finals. Maybe 7 or 8 bowl rounds would be better (it would help short...
by acrosby1861
Sat May 02, 2015 2:20 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2015 NHBB/USGO Discussion Thread
Replies: 122
Views: 58879

Re: 2015 NHBB/USGO Discussion Thread

Cutting either a bee round (do we need 6 in the prelims?) or a bowl round would free up extra time. This doesn't seem to be a bad idea. I'd agree with this idea as well. Bee prelims seems a bit longer than necessary because after around round 3-4 its pretty clear who the top players that have a sho...
by acrosby1861
Fri May 01, 2015 11:30 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2015 NHBB/USGO Discussion Thread
Replies: 122
Views: 58879

Re: 2015 NHBB/USGO Discussion Thread

Mucho Macho Man wrote:Cutting either a bee round (do we need 6 in the prelims?) or a bowl round would free up extra time.
This doesn't seem to be a bad idea.
by acrosby1861
Thu Apr 30, 2015 12:29 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2015 NHBB/USGO Discussion Thread
Replies: 122
Views: 58879

Re: 2015 NHBB/USGO Discussion Thread

The thing I found most irritating about Bee was the lack of penalty for buzzing in early. In semi-finals, at least 5 questions were just killed by people. I find myself agreeing with the above quote, but if there was a penalty for buzzing in early (like being deducted points or something, if that's...
by acrosby1861
Wed Mar 25, 2015 11:49 pm
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: What defines a team captain?
Replies: 23
Views: 20945

Re: What defines a team captain?

If the issue is bad enough where you don't think you can stay on the team, talk to the coach and voice your concern. If this doesn't work, I guess you can either put up with it or just walk away. I agree with this statement / strategy because it worked out pretty well for me. The quiz bowl team at ...
by acrosby1861
Mon Mar 23, 2015 11:53 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: THOR Novice Tournament @ Tesoro High School (3/28/15)
Replies: 5
Views: 3031

Re: THOR Novice Tournament @ Tesoro High School (3/28/15)

Los Alamitos registered for this tournament through an email because the link to the Google form on the So Cal Quiz Bowl page didn't go through. Does the team need to register through the Google form on the original forum post, or is the team okay just by registering the way we did? Somehow Los Al d...