Academic WorldQuest

[Hobbie Klivian]

Anybody familiar with the local and/or national stage of this competition? I am under an impression that it is similar to a typical quiz bowl setup, just with more emphasis on current events.

Some information on the subject matter and the format of the questions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Apostolic Prefecture of Kompong Cham]

I don't think that structure can vary for the different local competitions, and having played the local stage in DC, I can unequivocally say that it is nothing like standard quiz bowl. In my experience, the structure was ten rounds of ten multiple choice questions fitting into ten pre-announced (beginning of the school year) categories. The questions were answered collaboratively and ranged from almost offensively easy current events and geo rounds to questions asking for single statistics that were pretty much just testing whether people had read every minuscule detail of the study guide material. (There is an official study guide that lists all the sources from which they are allowed to draw questions.) Needless to say, since the team was me and three second-semester seniors whose entire preparation consisted of reading a few of the suggested readings the night before, we did very poorly on the latter type of question. To the best of my knowledge, before last year, the competition was not so reading-comprehension heavy, and according to various Blair graduates, was much more enjoyable. The bottom line: Last year it was more of a reading test than a knowledge test, and I don't know if they are planning to revert this year, all I can say is that I sincerely hope so.

[Schmidt Sting Pain Index]

I don't think that structure can vary for the different local competitions, and having played the local stage in DC, I can unequivocally say that it is nothing like standard quiz bowl. In my experience, the structure was ten rounds of ten multiple choice questions fitting into ten pre-announced (beginning of the school year) categories. The questions were answered collaboratively and ranged from almost offensively easy current events and geo rounds to questions asking for single statistics that were pretty much just testing whether people had read every minuscule detail of the study guide material. (There is an official study guide that lists all the sources from which they are allowed to draw questions.) Needless to say, since the team was me and three second-semester seniors whose entire preparation consisted of reading a few of the suggested readings the night before, we did very poorly on the latter type of question. To the best of my knowledge, before last year, the competition was not so reading-comprehension heavy, and according to various Blair graduates, was much more enjoyable. The bottom line: Last year it was more of a reading test than a knowledge test, and I don't know if they are planning to revert this year, all I can say is that I sincerely hope so.

Same for us in Delaware, but the competition was really stat heavy my freshman year as well.

[Hobbie Klivian]

Thanks for the info. My local competition didn't provide a study guide, so I guess I'll just have to absorb as much info as I can on current events.

[Apostolic Prefecture of Kompong Cham]

The study guide is the same for all chapters, and I sent you a PM with the link. If for some reason the link doesn't work, googling "Academic WorldQuest 2013-14" brings it up on the World Affairs Council website.

[VishnuRachakonda]

Went to the DC one last year, and only 5 schools participated. It's not hard to qualify for nationals, you just need to devote a couple days to their study guide and know all the stats.