Kentucky 09-10

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Kentucky 09-10

Post by Andrew from jc »

Let's get the Talk started, what is everyone thinking about for next year?
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Huang »

Dunbar is planning a house-written fall high school tournament with a date yet to be decided upon. Our goal is to introduce good pyramidal quizbowl to other Kentucky teams. We know Gov Cup has provided most teams with the necessary base knowledge to compete at a possibly high level at national tournaments such as PACE NSC. However we hope Kentucky teams will be willing to expand that base knowledge into more in depth knowledge so they'll enjoy playing pyramidal quizbowl more than let's say our outdated state format of Quick Recall. I've heard that Gov Cup is trying to improve their question quality to modern pyramidal quizbowl standards, but I've come to the conclusion that I cannot sit around passively and hope for some miracle to occur. We might even attract some out of state teams so the competition should hopefully also be excellent. I hope alot of you will be excited about this tournament and your coaches should be receiving emails when we've finalized the date.

This will also hopefully be a really well-written tournament. Practicing real quizbowl questions will also help you on Gov Cup. However practicing Gov Cup will not help you with real quizbowl. So I encourage all Kentucky teams who are academically curious to strongly consider attending this tournament in the fall. These questions will be similar to HSAPQ questions and will certainly be alot better than NAQT.

EDIT: If you have any questions about the tournament, please email me at huang.sundi NOSPAMPLEASE AT gmail DOT com
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Scott »

Grayson would like to attend Dunbar's tournament. (If there are no conflicts)

I have never competed in a non-NAQT pyramidal tournament, but have practiced with PACE and HSAPQ questions.
I find them to be superior to NAQT and look forward to attending an event which uses questions similar to them.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Rococo A Go Go »

I think next year will be the tipping point where Kentucky starts to move from "Quick Recall" to more "Quiz Bowl". With tournaments like Dunbar, U of L, and hopefully what we're trying to do with ours, there should be ample oppurtunity for teams from all over the state to play pyramid style questions. One of our local leagues has started using Pyramidal questions, and hopefully other leagues will move in this direction as well.

Governor's Cup is slowly but surely moving in the right direction, and I think their march toward the Pyramid will help the state in the long run. However, I think the NAQT State Championship may attract enough teams next year to be considered a legitimate state title next year. They had 21 teams this year, and I seriously think that number could almost double for next year if things work out right.

As far as competition goes, I think Johnson Central, Dunbar, Manual, Adair County, Pikeville, Russell, and Danville will definitely be competitive statewide next year. I'd also like to throw in Madisonville-North Hopkins and whoever wins our region (3rd Region) into that mix. Madisonville returns Aaron, which is a good base to build any team around. Our region feature 6 teams who are competitve once again: Grayson, Edmonson, Daviess, Owensboro, Henderson, and Apollo. The competition should create a strong winner.

Obviously, for biased reasons, I hope Grayson does well. Cole should be able to fill my shoes and Scott and some of our other young players are coming back, so we should compete next year. I think this upcoming year is going to be exciting to watch, and I only wish I still had eligibility so I could be a part of it all. Good luck to all the teams in the state for next season.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Huang »

soaringeagle22 wrote: I think the NAQT State Championship may attract enough teams next year to be considered a legitimate state title next year.
Since when was there ever a legitimate state title?
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Andrew from jc »

Put Johnson down as Interested for your guy's tournament, Sandy. I'm really hoping that we will start to see more teams heading out state and hearing more pyramidal style questions. Also, what teams are planning on heading to the KAAC camp at Berea, Scott said Grayson is, anyone else?
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by jackatthedisco »

Pikeville is always low on money, so going to tournaments is a problem for us. I'd like to go to the Dunbar tournament, yet I have trouble seeing it happen.
...Can I play as a one-man team? Haha.

I'm going to both KAAC and ACE (Milligan). After state, my entire team was like "yea. let's go to ACE camp! woo!"...and I'm the one who followed through with it (Save a few freshman I've not spoken to much). I'm pretty excited. ACE was awesome last year, but I'm curious about how KAAC will go.
Either way, I look forward to seeing you all at the camps!
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Huang »

jackatthedisco wrote: ...Can I play as a one-man team? Haha.
Of course. We might be able to give you a discount possibly too if that makes it any more appealing for you. Although we would be disappointed if all our teams consisted of one person.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Rococo A Go Go »

So what's the situation on coaching changes? Does anyone know what Russell is doing in regards to their coaching situation? Are there other schools seeing staff changes this year?
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Scott »

We are,
Not sure who are coach is going to be this year.
Hopefully they will be more dedicated then the staff we had this year.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Coach K »

Huang wrote:Dunbar is planning a house-written fall high school tournament with a date yet to be decided upon. Our goal is to introduce good pyramidal quizbowl to other Kentucky teams. We know Gov Cup has provided most teams with the necessary base knowledge to compete at a possibly high level at national tournaments such as PACE NSC. However we hope Kentucky teams will be willing to expand that base knowledge into more in depth knowledge so they'll enjoy playing pyramidal quizbowl more than let's say our outdated state format of Quick Recall. I've heard that Gov Cup is trying to improve their question quality to modern pyramidal quizbowl standards, but I've come to the conclusion that I cannot sit around passively and hope for some miracle to occur. We might even attract some out of state teams so the competition should hopefully also be excellent. I hope alot of you will be excited about this tournament and your coaches should be receiving emails when we've finalized the date.

This will also hopefully be a really well-written tournament. Practicing real quizbowl questions will also help you on Gov Cup. However practicing Gov Cup will not help you with real quizbowl. So I encourage all Kentucky teams who are academically curious to strongly consider attending this tournament in the fall. These questions will be similar to HSAPQ questions and will certainly be alot better than NAQT.

EDIT: If you have any questions about the tournament, please email me at huang.sundi NOSPAMPLEASE AT gmail DOT com
Sandy,

Have you all set a tentative date for your tournament?
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Huang »

Coach K wrote: Sandy,

Have you all set a tentative date for your tournament?
We're looking at these dates

September 26
Pros: As far as I know, no conflicts
Cons: Maybe too early?

October 3
Pros: Good early date
Cons: Might conflict with Brown's EFT tournament although Dunbar hopes there will be a mirror of it at some other date if we decide to hold our tournament on this day

October 10
Pros: No quizbowl conflicts
Cons: SAT date

October 24
Pros: Same day as our (tentative?) mirror at Loyola
Cons: ACT date and same day as Illinois' THUNDER tournament

Those are the four dates we're deciding on currently. Let me know which one(s) will allow your team the best chance to travel to Lexington.


Edit: October 3rd is now out of the question unless teams in Georgia and South Carolina completely drop any indication that they would be interested in coming since Walton's tournament is the same day
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Scott »

I know that the date may be a conflict for some people, but October 10th would work best for Grayson.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Huang »

grayson77 wrote:I know that the date may be a conflict for some people, but October 10th would work best for Grayson.
Sorry Scott, we've narrowed the dates down to 9/26 and 10/24 but we're strongly leaning towards 9/26 due to the ACT conflict on 10/24
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Andrew from jc »

Safe travels to everyone traveling to Berea for KAAC camp.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Huang »

Dunbar Academic Fall Tournament Update:

We're 90 percent sure it will be on October 24th since on September 26th there's some KAAC convention crap. If a majority of Kentucky coaches won't be traveling to this convention, then we can definitely change the date back to September 26th.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Scott »

If it is the 24th Grayson will most likely go.
If it is the other date, I will not be able to.
However, if we progress as we hope to, I believe we will send a team regardless.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Faiyad »

We should move the tournament talk to the tournament forum.
What are the teams looking like state-wide. Who's leaving and who is staying.

We are losing Josh Collins, but keeping everyone else.
How are duPont Manual and Dunbar looking?
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Rococo A Go Go »

Grayson loses me and Chris, but Cole and Scott are coming back to form half of next year's starting line up. Some of the stronger JV players like Julie will most likely move up to Varsity, but that's not for certain. There are some people who haven't played before who are joining, and former players looking to rejoin as well. Also, the coaching staff is supposed to be undergoing its 2nd overhaul in as many years.

Overall, I think we'll be better next year, because my Social Studies knowledge should be filled in by Cole, and the rest of the team has a lot of talent and should only improve. I'm going to hang around as a sort of volunteer assistant and try to beat some of my knowledge into the heads of the rest of team.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Faiyad »

soaringeagle22 wrote: I'm going to hang around as a sort of volunteer assistant and try to beat some of my knowledge into the heads of the rest of team.
Rock on! Lol.
It'd be nice if I could do that when I leave, but sadly I will be going as far away as possible.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Scott »

I'm going to go out on a limb and make a few predictions for state quick recall.
This is just based on this year, the people that I know teams are losing, and what the teams did at KAAC camp.
I could definitely change.

1st- Johnson Central
2nd- Dunbar
3rd- Manual
4th- Russel

5th-8th
Pikeville
Grayson
Adair
Madisonville North Hopkins
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Huang »

grayson77 wrote:state quick recall.
Haha, what other useless skills are we predicting teams for this year?
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Scott »

Very good point Sandy. :smile:
I really do wish that KAAC would do what is best for Kentucky and become pyramidal.
Hopefully, this year, they will finally do what they have been promising for quite a while, and produce higher quality questions in a better format.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Faiyad »

According to some of the staff at KAAC, Quick Recall will NOT become pyramidal.
But the questions will be longer and contain 2-3 clues rather than the simple one-liners.
I agree 100%, Quick Recall is not as legitamate as Quiz Bowl, but that doesn't mean that it is an improper test of knowledge.

I've heard people always say, "the better you know it, the faster you know it."
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Huang »

Faiyad wrote: I've heard people always say, "the better you know it, the faster you know it."
I've heard those same people are delusional. Anyways, I believe it becomes quite self-evident to many players how ridiculous it is to compete on a set of glorified Trivial Pursuit questions. The game quickly boils down to who can buzz on the right adjective/preposition so the moderator accidentally over reads to the next clue. I don't see how such nonsense could be rationally seen as a proper test of knowledge.

Edit: Attaching KAAC 2008-2009 Practice Questions with some of those supposedly "better" 2-3 line questions

User was warned for posting questions that are still being sold for free .
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Faiyad »

Huang wrote:
Faiyad wrote: I've heard people always say, "the better you know it, the faster you know it."
I've heard those same people are delusional.
Quick Recall isn't the BEST way of determining the team with the greatest array of knowledge, but you can't argue with the fact that people who know it the best, know it the fastest.
And analyzing a question for grammatical clues and "buzz words" while it's being read is a popular strategy used in Quiz Bowl as well.

Btw, Sandy, it is great that you have an opinion, but stop trying to make everyone feel the same way as you.
To me is seems very unsportsmanlike.
Some may not agree, but I don't care if they do or not.

User was warned for failing to adhere to the principles of logical argumentation.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) »

I guess it's a bad thing to be right then.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Huang »

Faiyad wrote: Quick Recall isn't the BEST way of determining the team with the greatest array of knowledge, but you can't argue with the fact that people who know it the best, know it the fastest.
If there's a better way to determine which team is better, why not use it?
Faiyad wrote: analyzing a question for grammatical clues
I'm not sure what sort of quizbowl you've been playing but I've never tried to guess which adjective/preposition I should be buzzing on.
Faiyad wrote: Btw, Sandy, it is great that you have an opinion, but stop trying to make everyone feel the same way as you.
Yeah I'm totally being a quizbowl fascist here by explaining the horrors of KAAC Gov Cup. "EVERYONE MUST FEEL THE SAME WAY I DO!"
Faiyad wrote: To me is seems very unsportsmanlike.
That makes absolutely no sense.
Faiyad wrote: I don't care if they do or not.
Good, because they don't care about your attempts at defending a flawed format.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Faiyad »

What was I warned for?
I guess since I semi-contradicted myself.

Oh well lol.
So how is Danville looking? I know Dowell is pretty beast at AH and Math, but I didn't see anyone else from Danville at KAAC.
Times like this make me wish I really could go to ACE.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Rococo A Go Go »

I know Danville had some pretty strong young players last year, so I expect they'll be good next year as long as those players stick with it.

As for KAAC, we can all agree it's not perfect, but it's not the worst thing in the world either. I'd say it's probably middle of the road in the grand scheme of things. They've moved in the right direction, now we just need to push for a more pyramidality and lobby for them to do away with the excessive amount of math questions. It's not going to happen overnight, but I don't think that the people at KAAC are oblivious to what needs to be done.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by children of the mountains »

It's good to see that many of us agree with each other. I see both sides of the point. It does however, take knowledge for both types of the questions. Yes, there requires less knowledge to compete in straight up quick recall. I acknowledge that good quizbowlers may have more knowledge than those of us who usually only compete in quick recall. However quick recall requires vasts amounts of knowledge too. If you truly listen to the questions you hear several pieces of info that comes up in both. That being said lets just find common ground on these arguments. Both styles require true skill. The best way that I can put this, is the team that is the most prepared is generally the team which will win. Besides usually the teams that finish high in governor's cup are adept in bothstyles. Lets please get off this heated debate and look forward to hopefully a great year.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Matt Weiner »

Notice to everyone in this thread: Stop telling other people what they are and are not allowed to post about in this thread.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Faiyad »

children of the mountains wrote:It's good to see that many of us agree with each other. I see both sides of the point. It does however, take knowledge for both types of the questions. Yes, there requires less knowledge to compete in straight up quick recall. I acknowledge that good quizbowlers may have more knowledge than those of us who usually only compete in quick recall. However quick recall requires vasts amounts of knowledge too. If you truly listen to the questions you hear several pieces of info that comes up in both. That being said lets just find common ground on these arguments. Both styles require true skill. The best way that I can put this, is the team that is the most prepared is generally the team which will win. Besides usually the teams that finish high in governor's cup are adept in bothstyles. Lets please get off this heated debate and look forward to hopefully a great year.
Beautiful sentiment "James".
Lets talk about schools' strengths and weaknesses, since this is a comparison forum.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Mechanical Beasts »

Hey,

I've split off the computational math discussion into a computational math thread here because it will quickly grow to take over the Kentucky comparisons thread. I've also forbidden zoned my nonsense.

The new thread is here.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Andrew from jc »

My top 4 in no paticular order:
Pikeville-They have Jack and Shika that will help the
Dunbar- Return everyone except Patriva
Central- We lose Josh
Russell- They lost shelby, but should still be a strong team
Last edited by Andrew from jc on Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by David Riley »

Some comments from an Illinois interloper but a native Kentuckian [b. Louisville, Atherton HS '74, University of Louisville '79]:

Sandy: I'm looking forward to mirroring your tournament--howz it progressing?

In terms of KY moving from quick recall to good quiz bowl: I think one thing you guys have going for you is that the competitive teams are spread throughout the state. And KAAC doesn'tg appear to be standing in your way. Here, with a few notable exceptions, virtually all of the teams who want to play good quiz bowl are in one pocket of the state. Keep up the good work and the promotion chatter!
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Huang »

David Riley wrote: Sandy: I'm looking forward to mirroring your tournament--howz it progressing?
I've finished one round so far but significant progress should be made this month. Prior writing commitments to Fall Novice and Sun n' Fun in addition to a two week road trip slowed me down in June. We're also adding a few writers including Jack Glerum and possibly Benji Nguyen from LASA in Texas. Jeffrey Hill and company might also be contributing since they're also possibly mirroring Dunbar Fall via Liberty High School in Missouri. But the majority of the tournament I hope/imagine will still be written by me.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by rjaguar3 »

Man those Quick Recall questions blow.

Two-to-three line questions do no good if the first two lines consist of CLOOS and tangents that only reward players who can make a good ESPN connection with the question writer.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Andrew from jc »

I do think that if change is going to come to the Kentucky circuit you will first have to introduce quizbowl to the majority of Teams in the state first. I heard 2 or 3 people say to at KAAC camp that they had played on Naqt before and hated the questions due to the length.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Huang »

Inhospitable wrote:I heard 2 or 3 people say to at KAAC camp that they had played on Naqt before and hated the questions due to the length.
This is when you ask them if they're physically incapable of listening for just 40 seconds.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Scott »

I hate it when that argument is used against pyramidal questions.
If a person does not have a long enough attention span to listen to a 30 second question, then how could they study long enough to be competitive, without getting bored.

A thing that few people in Kentucky point out is the irrationality of using one "set" for tossups and bonuses.
If the questions are semi-pyramidal, then there is no reason to have to sit and listen to in depth clues during a bonus that has the giveaway at the end of the question.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by millionwaves »

Huang wrote: Edit: Attaching KAAC 2008-2009 Practice Questions with some of those supposedly "better" 2-3 line questions
The questions that you posted are still for sale. Do not ever post things for free on this forum that other people are still trying to make money from.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by J C Bennett »

Faiyad wrote:According to some of the staff at KAAC, Quick Recall will NOT become pyramidal.
Hey folks.

To clear up any uncertainty, I'd like to make it clear that KAAC recognizes the value of multiple clues in descending order of difficulty. I'll avoid using the P-word, and another debate, out of deference to those who believe a good question must be 5-7 lines or more.

This is a fairly new thing for us. Like most quiz competitions years ago, our first questions were one-line buzzer races. The good folks at PACE have been very helpful in helping us teach writers the concepts behind a good question.

The best way to describe us now is "in transition." I believe it best for our students and coaches not to make an immediate, radical shift, but to advance steadily toward questions that more effectively measure in-depth knowledge. Those familiar with the breadth and scope of Kentucky academic competitions should understand the reasons behind this view. We have to overcome organizational inertia and other factors to get where we want to be, and re-train scores of writers and editors to look for more than just a correct answer and good grammar.

We'd welcome your help. We're always looking for effective, dependable writers and editors.

https://kaac.wufoo.com/forms/kaac-quest ... plication/
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Faiyad »

J C Bennett wrote:
Faiyad wrote:According to some of the staff at KAAC, Quick Recall will NOT become pyramidal.
Hey folks.

To clear up any uncertainty, I'd like to make it clear that KAAC recognizes the value of multiple clues in descending order of difficulty. I'll avoid using the P-word, and another debate, out of deference to those who believe a good question must be 5-7 lines or more.

This is a fairly new thing for us. Like most quiz competitions years ago, our first questions were one-line buzzer races. The good folks at PACE have been very helpful in helping us teach writers the concepts behind a good question.

The best way to describe us now is "in transition." I believe it best for our students and coaches not to make an immediate, radical shift, but to advance steadily toward questions that more effectively measure in-depth knowledge. Those familiar with the breadth and scope of Kentucky academic competitions should understand the reasons behind this view. We have to overcome organizational inertia and other factors to get where we want to be, and re-train scores of writers and editors to look for more than just a correct answer and good grammar.

We'd welcome your help. We're always looking for effective, dependable writers and editors.

https://kaac.wufoo.com/forms/kaac-quest ... plication/
Any idea on how long this "transition" stage will last? It would be nice to play a very competitive Quick Recall format that relies more on knowledge than speed, before I graduate. :grin:

Another thing as well, will this new format be similar to that of PACE or HSAPQ or NAQT?
Because whenver we do change gears fully, we will need to have practice materials, and by that time there will not really be enough new KAAC stuff to really study by.
Faiyad Mannan,
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by J C Bennett »

Everything hinges on having writers who either (a) know our format and understand the concept of multiple clues in descending order of difficulty or (b) know the concept of multiple clues in descending order of difficulty and can follow the format instructions we provide.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by rjaguar3 »

J C Bennett wrote:Everything hinges on having writers who either (a) know our format and understand the concept of multiple clues in descending order of difficulty or (b) know the concept of multiple clues in descending order of difficulty and can follow the format instructions we provide.
If I can make a suggestion, I think the biggest problems that you can fix are that you have too many CLOOS (biographical, fame, useless statistics) and tangents (that merely state a true fact without giving any indication what type of answer is expected). Additionally, there are some very easy lead-ins, and some questions are anti-pyramidal.

I'm at work until 5; if you want me to send you an e-mail with more details, please let me know.
Greg (Vanderbilt 2012, Wheaton North 2008)
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by J C Bennett »

Thanks Greg. The writing guidelines we developed over the winter address these very issues.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by rjaguar3 »

J C Bennett wrote:Thanks Greg. The writing guidelines we developed over the winter address these very issues.
Are these the guidelines?

If so, I do have some brief comments about them:
  • On the Poe example question (p. 2), a clue about one of his lesser-known works or a plot description of one of his major works would be in order for the lead-in, as opposed to some trivial biographical CLOOS about what happened to his parents.
  • On the other hand, I do like the anti-tangent emphasis given in that diagram.
  • Step 2 (p. 2) should be clear about proscribing useless statistics and similar almanac-style CLOOS.
  • The Tesla question (p. 3) seems to be encouraging the use of nationality lead-ins, which in many cases are stock clues ("This Norwegian playwright"), and in other cases, transparent clues that narrow the answer space before a uniquely identifying clue. Also, the first sentence has more biographical CLOOS, which could be replaced with some of his lesser-known scientific achievements.
  • The section on spelling questions (p. 6) advises writers to "[m]ake sure to include more than one polysyllabic word in your example sentence, to avoid a buzzer race." This does not avoid a buzzer race. Rather, it simply moves the inevitable spelling buzzer-race to the end of the question, unless one of the students thinks he or she has good enough ESPN to predict which of the polysyllabic words the question writer wants spelled--consequently, such a question does not reward deep knowledge. Honestly, I don't see how a good spelling question can be written (and I can elaborate on this if you want me to).
Otherwise, I do like a lot of the points you have in the guidelines. They're very useful to someone who's not familiar with the ins and outs of quizbowl writing and how it differs from regular writing.
Greg (Vanderbilt 2012, Wheaton North 2008)
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Huang »

In case anyone misses it (Dunbar Fall announcement): viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8127

I realized I never apologized to Mr. Bennett for haphazardly overlooking the fact the questions I posted were still being sold. I can assure KAAC this won't happen again.
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Re: Kentucky 09-10

Post by Rococo A Go Go »

OK, this is just an idea that I had the other day and probably won't come to fruition, but...

I'm wondering if any teams would be interested in a Frosh/Soph state tournament sometime next spring? It's only an idea, and I don't have the materials, facilities, time, or money to run it, not to mention that I'm too involved with Grayson Co. to be an impartial TD of this. But I think it would be a cool idea, and there's definitely a gap in the market there that could be filled. JV Challenge is nice for local comparisons but doesn't match up too many top teams because of the regional nature, and Derby Academic Challenge is run by nice enough folks but has horrible questions.
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