2017 Northmont Middle School Set (NMMS 1)

Dormant threads from the middle school section are preserved here.
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djones
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2017 Northmont Middle School Set (NMMS 1)

Post by djones »

From the discussion on the boards, it appears that there are an abundance of high school sets, but it seems as though there aren't a ton of middle school sets available. I know in Ohio alone, we had 9 requests of NAQT to use their three regular season sets. Therefore, Northmont will be writing a middle school set for use during the upcoming season. The writing team will be myself, Emily Bingham (formerly of Wright State) and Kara Combs (2017 graduate of Northmont).

The difficulty of the set will be NAQT MS-level. The distribution of the set will be as follows:
4/4 Lit
4/4 Science
4/4 History
2/2 Fine Arts
1/1 Trash
1/1 Geography
3/3 Beliefs (Religion and Mythology)
0.5/0.5 Math
0.5/0.5 Social Science / Philosophy

Each packet will also contain one extra question drawing from lit, science, history, and fine arts.

The set will be power-marked, and questions will be approximately 4 lines in length. The set will be available for mirrors beginning on October 14, 2017 following our middle school event the weekend before. The mirror fee will be $10 per team. Anyone interested in mirroring the tournament can email me at [email protected] or PM me on here.

Mirrors:
Iowa Novice Tournament: September 30, 2017
Northmont Middle School Invitational: October 7, 2017
John Adams Middle School Tournament (WV): Tentative Date October 14 ,2017
Alabama ASCA Fall Tournament: October 28, 2017
Last edited by djones on Mon Sep 11, 2017 12:48 pm, edited 3 times in total.
David Jones
Coach, Northmont High School
alexdz
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Re: 2017 Northmont Middle School Set (NMMS 1)

Post by alexdz »

As someone familiar with the MS landscape, I'm a bit worried that you've got too much fine arts to fill with reasonable middle school answerlines. There just aren't enough creators and works that are studied at the MS level to fill those numbers - 30 tossups and 90 bonus parts is a lot to keep accessible.

For comparison, an NAQT set of 24/24 will have an average fine arts distribution of just 1.2/1.2 over the tournament packet set, and SCOP uses 2/2. That's an indication that maybe something more like 1.5/1.5 would be closer to an acceptable amount of fine arts at this level. You could use the other portion to expand Geo, Myth, and/or Religion, all of which will have more gettable answerlines in middle school than fine arts. Or you could even add to the "big three" categories if you so desire.
Alex Dzurick
====
Owner/Editor, SAGES Quizbowl Questions
Middle school teacher, Rohan Woods School
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South Callaway '08 -- Mizzou '12 -- Illinois '17
SCMS coach '12-'13 -- EFIP coach '20-'21 -- RWS coach '22-present
djones
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Re: 2017 Northmont Middle School Set (NMMS 1)

Post by djones »

Excellent point. I may tweak that down a hair once I see the answer lines, though the 7 rounds that are written in their entirely are very accessible for middle school students. I think the scop distribution is good but have always though that naqt grossly undervalues fine arts at the ms and hs levels. I will post here if any changes are made to the distribution.
David Jones
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Re: 2017 Northmont Middle School Set (NMMS 1)

Post by djones »

This set is now being mirrored at the Alabama ASCA Fall Tournament. We would love to see more mirrors around the country. Please email me if interested.
David Jones
Coach, Northmont High School
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Re: 2017 Northmont Middle School Set (NMMS 1)

Post by djones »

Thanks to those who provided feedback on the set. Everything is now completely written and is being play tested this week. We did decide to tweak the distribution slightly, moving to 2/2 fine arts and moving the 1/1 over to religion and mythology.

We currently have four mirrors set up nationally and would love to see the set played elsewhere. It will be ready for middle school events (or extremely novice high school events) by September 30th. You can email me at [email protected] with any questions.
David Jones
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WVquizbowlmom
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Re: 2017 Northmont Middle School Set (NMMS 1)

Post by WVquizbowlmom »

George Washington High School in Charleston, WV will be hosting an Invitational Academic Tournament on November 18, 2017. We hope you will join us at GWHS Inaugural Thanksgiving Invitational Quiz Bowl Tournament for middle schools and high schools! Question sets will be 2017 Northmont Middle School Set (NMMS 1) and 2017-2018 Richard Montgomery-Beavercreek Collaborative Tournament (RMBCT).

COST: $50/ team.  Schools will be afforded a $5 discount per working buzzer set, a reader/scorekeeper and will receive a $10 discount for traveling 100 miles or more (one-way), and $10 for discount for brand new to quiz bowl. Discounts are capped at $20.00.

TEAM SIZE:  5 members/ team with alternates as you wish.  Schools may enter as many teams as they wish, but the teams must be ranked in order, with the best team being designated as “A”, so that the morning brackets can be determined fairly.  Brackets will be predetermined for the morning rounds, with teams from the same school being placed in different brackets. Students may play on one team only--a student may not play on one team in the morning and then a different team in the afternoon.

TIME:  Registration is from 8:15-8:45 a.m.  Coffee and donuts will be available for purchase in the morning. There will be a lunch break between morning and afternoon sessions. We expect the tournament to last until 2-3 pm.

STRUCTURE:  Competition will be in divisions in the morning for placement.  The top 8 teams will advance to single elimination finals in the afternoon. Teams for the afternoon will be ranked according to the following criteria:  1) average points scored 2) win-loss record 3) results of head-head matches 4) coin toss.  There will be an option of two additional rounds in the afternoon for those teams not advancing to the finals. At the end of the day, the first, second, and third place teams and the tournament MVP (most points for an individual) will be awarded trophies and medals.

QUESTIONS:  The question source is the the Northmont Mirrored Set for the middle schools and the Beaver Creek Collaboration Set for the high schools. All rounds will consist of 10 tossups followed by 10 tossups with the associated three-part bonuses.  The team may work together on the bonus, but not the tossup.  Bonus questions that are answered incorrectly will not pass to the other team.

LUNCH: Lunch will be sold on site. The menu: cheese and pepperoni pizza from Husson's and Chick-fil-A. There are several fast food restaurants within a short driving distance, but teams returning late to lunch for an afternoon match run the risk of forfeiting the match. If you have time on your way out of town, Gelato fans should visit Cafe Romeo on Bridge Road (1.5 miles away). They serve fresh Italian Gelato, the owner is from Napoli (Naples). Delicious gelato, and he's charming as can be and will talk your ear off.

LOCATION:  All competitions will be held on the second floor with the counselors’ suite serving as the control room.  Please use the parking lot directly in front of the school for cars; buses may park on the other side of Tennis Club Road from the high school.

REGISTRATION DEADLINE:  Deadline for registration is Tuesday, November 14th, although registrations received after that time will be honored if space is available. You may register by mail or by sending the required information by email to [email protected] . Fees must be paid prior to the competition, but may be paid at registration. If you must withdraw any team, please notify me us as soon as possible so that brackets may be adjusted.  

If you have any questions, please call GWHS coach Chris McClung at 304-343-1549 (home), 304-550-3070 (mobile), or call JAMS coach Dawn Combs at 304-343-3861 or 304-437-1329 (mobile). If you require directions to the school, please email or phone and they will be sent to you.  We hope that you can join us for some friendly competition.
Last edited by WVquizbowlmom on Fri Oct 27, 2017 1:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
:roll: Dawn Combs

George Washington High School History Bowl (Parent volunteer) :cool:
djones
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Re: 2017 Northmont Middle School Set (NMMS 1)

Post by djones »

We have stats from the first two events to use the set this year. They can be found here:

Northmont Middle School Tournament: http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/4484/

Iowa Quiz Bowl Kickoff: http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/4428/

It appears the set is playing at a normal difficulty level and I have received nothing but positive feedback on the questions. Any school interested in mirroring this season can contact me at [email protected].
Last edited by djones on Mon Oct 09, 2017 12:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
David Jones
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Re: 2017 Northmont Middle School Set (NMMS 1)

Post by the return of AHAN »

djones wrote: Iowa Quiz Bowl Kickoff: http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db/tournament ... all_games/
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Jeff Price
Barrington High School Coach (2021 & 2023 HSNCT Champions, 2023 PACE Champions, 2023 Illinois Masonic Bowl Class 3A State Champions)
Barrington Station Middle School Coach (2013 MSNCT Champions, 2013 & 2017 Illinois Class AA State Champions)
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djones
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Location: Northmont High School

Re: 2017 Northmont Middle School Set (NMMS 1)

Post by djones »

Fixed - sorry about that, I didn't paste the entire link for some reason.
David Jones
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Re: 2017 Northmont Middle School Set (NMMS 1)

Post by trbenedict »

I'll go ahead and take my positive feedback on the set public...three of our Miami Valley teams, each with different levels of experience, played the NMMS set at the main site this past Saturday and the set proved very accessible for each of our squads. The playing experience felt about on par with the last two iterations of SCOP MS, which has earned its reputation as one of the top independent middle school sets...questions well-grounded in quiz bowl canon that provide a good introduction to the game. Definitely a strong set for both competition and practice material, and a worthy endeavor for a level that's very challenging to write for.
Tyler Benedict
Miami Valley
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