Tips

New high school teams looking for advice should post here.
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randomkdebater
Kimahri
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2016 9:14 pm

Tips

Post by randomkdebater »

Hi,

I've been doing history bee/bowl for a year now (alone), and I was hoping to get some tips.

1. I want to create a club/team at my school, but I don't know how to go about doing that, especially since I don't know how many people are strictly interested in answering history trivia. I've also never done quiz bowl, so should I just join that team and find people there to work with and bring to tournaments?

2. What's the best way to study. I've heard a lot of people say 'read a lot', but I really don't know how to get started and what that encompasses. My studying has basically just been having my mom quiz me on old history bowl packets, and googling whoever/whatever I didn't know. Are there better ways to approach this?

Thank you so much for all the help!

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a Joe
Rikku
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Re: Tips

Post by a Joe »

randomkdebater wrote:1. I want to create a club/team at my school, but I don't know how to go about doing that, especially since I don't know how many people are strictly interested in answering history trivia. I've also never done quiz bowl, so should I just join that team and find people there to work with and bring to tournaments?
If your school already has a Quiz Bowl team, that would definitely be a good place to find History Bowl teammates. You should also join the club and compete in QB with them since you probably have the knowledge to do so.
2. What's the best way to study. I've heard a lot of people say 'read a lot', but I really don't know how to get started and what that encompasses. My studying has basically just been having my mom quiz me on old history bowl packets, and googling whoever/whatever I didn't know. Are there better ways to approach this?
There really is no "best" way to study; it really is whatever works for you. Reading a lot always helps, as does reading old packets like you are doing. Other people might do some variant of flashcard-based studying, and still others might be wikipedia-bingers. But most of the best players write their own questions, which, if you can do it, is extremely effective. There's a million guides to all these methods here and in the theory section, so I won't waste time rehashing them here.
"THE" Joe Feldman
President, The Long Island Quiz Bowl Alliance
President, Suffolk County Community College Traveling Trivia Team
Founder, American Quizbowl League
President Emeritus, Smithtown High School West

Ask me how I (almost) monopolized Quizbowl
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Skepticism and Animal Feed
Auron
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Re: Tips

Post by Skepticism and Animal Feed »

So there are history questions in regular quizbowl packets too - history comprises a good 20% of a standard quizbowl packet. Many of those questions are written by the same people who write NHBB questions.

There are a ton of quizbowl packets here:
http://www.quizbowlpackets.com/

There are also other websites where you can read quizbowl questions online. On some of these, you'll be able to filter questions so you only read history questions. Other folks can chime in with what the good question archives are.

Your general approach is solid: read old questions, look up anything you've never heard of before. I would say, supplement it by identifying areas or periods of history that you are particularly weak on or want to become better at (such as, say, "Ancient Greece" or "The Seven Years War") and read a book about it. Visit a lot of museums if you can: I find that they are often good for putting historical events into a larger social context. One of the big differences between NHBB and regular quizbowl is that NHBB asks a lot more cultural and social history.
Bruce
Harvard '10 / UChicago '07 / Roycemore School '04
ACF Member emeritus
My guide to using Wikipedia as a question source
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Irreligion in Bangladesh
Auron
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Re: Tips

Post by Irreligion in Bangladesh »

Hello! I 100% agree with joining the general quizbowl team at your school. Getting playing experience is a huge part of improving, and as NHBB's questions are written in the same style as all-subject quizbowl, getting better at one immediately entails getting better at the other. NHBB packets are available at our website, but also at quizbowlpackets.com with countless more all-subject packets. If you're reading packets, use all those resources, not just ours. :)

A lot of schools have History Clubs that sponsor teams at NHBB tournaments, and a lot of schools have all-subject quizbowl teams that include NHBB events on their competition calendars; both options work well. If your school's quizbowl team is interested in attending NHBB events, that's easier organizationally for you than starting a new history club would be. Even if they aren't able to add NHBB events on their schedule, definitely join the quizbowl team; if you've loved NHBB, you'll love all-subject quizbowl, too.
Brad Fischer
Head Editor, IHSA State Series
IHSSBCA Chair

Winnebago HS ('06)
Northern Illinois University ('10)
Assistant Coach, IMSA (2010-12)
Coach, Keith Country Day School (2012-16)
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