Repeating Questions

[rleavitt]

I was recently moderating a tournament and a student asked me to repeat the question. I said no; was I right in doing so? What if a team had asked me to repeat a bonus-- is that allowable?

[AKKOLADE]

Well, local rules & all that, but I don't think that there are any circumstances where repeating the question is acceptable.

[mithokie]

I would say that you should not repeat a question unless the rules of the event specifically allow it, or if you as the moderator believe there is a specific reason that you should... (Like a cell phone went off halfway through the question or some other unusual circumstance). If a student just had a lapse in concentration then that is their loss.

Our local league (MACC) has a repeat rule that allows the students to ask for a question to be repeated (before the end of the question, but not after it is done), but that is the only competition I have ever competed in that specifically allows a repeat.

[STPickrell]

I was recently moderating a tournament and a student asked me to repeat the question. I said no; was I right in doing so? What if a team had asked me to repeat a bonus-- is that allowable?

Local rules supercede all else.

If and only if *both* teams ask you to do this, you might consider either throwing out the question or repeating the question.

Otherwise you did the right thing.

[First Chairman]

Only my opinion on the matter:

The local rules should be clear if repeating a question is proper, and you should have been briefed by your TD if that is the case. My rule of thumb is that the reader decides if he/she screwed up reading the question which would warrant repeating (realizing that the phrase "eats shoots, and leaves" really should have been "eats, shoots, and leaves" or "eats shoots and leaves": emphases on the wrong syllables or phrases...). So if you think that how you read a question could mislead the teams unintentionally, you have the opportunity (not sure the "obligation" but to be fair...) to repeat the question.

Requests to repeat though are tricky. A player should not be asking you to repeat a tossup unless you misstate a word (I do that because I skim-read ahead sometimes and insert the wrong adjective or noun). But I usually don't repeat the entire question unless the rule states I should. If the students are talking and not paying attention as you are moving along in the game, that's their fault. If a sonic boom happens while you're reading a question, be fair and repeat it. Context dictates appropriate calls to repeat questions, though the default is usually "no."

The exception is math calculation tossups for me. I really make sure that the concept/setup is well-understood and that I don't rush through reading equations, especially when powers and parentheses are involved.

[David Riley]

In Illinois, bonus parts may be repeated (but only the captain can ask for a repeat) but not tossups. However, I always tell my team that excessive requests for repeats annoys the other team--and me!--and show the other team that they're not really listening if they do.

[Tegan]

I would say that you should not repeat a question unless the rules of the event specifically allow it.

[AKKOLADE]

I would say that the rules shouldn't allow for repeating, either.

[Irreligion in Bangladesh]

I would say that the rules shouldn't allow for repeating, either.

I agree. If we're in the realm of proposing local rules/reconsidering existing local rules, no asking for repeats (while allowing a moderator to go back and fix a pronunciation or other mistake) is a good way to go. Just wastes time otherwise.

[Stained Diviner]

Within Illinois format, repeating works. Our bonuses are read all at once, and teams then have thirty seconds to discuss all the parts. If the captain of the controlling team asks for a repeat, it is allowed, but the clock keeps running and the moderator stops talking if time goes off while they are still repeating. We do not repeat tossups, except for cases like the ones described above with moderator discretion.

Under normal NAQT or ACF rules, there would be no way to repeat anything with the clock running because time would run out by the time the moderator figured out what the student wanted repeated.

[naturalistic phallacy]

I would say that the rules shouldn't allow for repeating, either.

Unless there's some sort of egregious disruption, it is the teams' responsibility to listen to questions attentively. There have been plenty of times when I've screwed up because I wasn't listening.

[theattachment]

I would say that the rules shouldn't allow for repeating, either.

Unless there's some sort of egregious disruption, it is the teams' responsibility to listen to questions attentively. There have been plenty of times when I've screwed up because I wasn't listening.

QFT. One of the problems a lot of teams have is that they don't know how to listen intently to questions. If repeat rules were allowed outside of a major disruption (i.e. a fire alarm) it would remove any incentive to listen to hear important phrases that say which thing the question is asking for. If there's an earthquake and the match resumes, repeat the question. If a person can't bother to listen, don't give them points they don't deserve.

[Saiem]

What about incompetent mumbling? Or overly fast reading in an untimed match. I've been accused of both of these, though I have become much better about the latter. I think questions are written so densely and often poorly, that it is hard to know where you should actually put emphasis or rest. It gets kind of confusing for teams occasionally.

If a team that I feel was listening but couldn't understand what I was saying, I don't feel like its a bad thing to repeat an odd part, especially if they tell me immediately. As a player, I've often been annoyed by this situation:

"This *unintelligible word* was inspired by *unintelligible word* while the creator was in Germany.."

As a player, I'm usually pretty vocal that I can't understand what the moderator is saying immediately. This may be considered rude, but I'd probably be like "Excuse me, What?!" and more often than not, a reader will repeat the offending part, so this hasn't really been a problem. This has more to do with bad moderating. As a moderator, I'm not usually opposed to reading a part of a question over if its a relatively friendly match. There have been times where I have slurred my words, and that happens. I think the case of mispronunciation/mumbling isn't being discussed here, but I agree that at the end of the question, there shouldn't be a repeat.

As far as bonus parts go... I'm usually okay with re-reading the lead-in if its one of those categorize these things that are often in silly NAQT packets, but only once. Especially if the lead-in isn't especially specific to say that its going to be one of a categorize type of bonus.

[Captain Sinico]

Consult rules.

MaS