Search found 88 matches

by joshxu
Tue Feb 13, 2024 3:57 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: On Team Splitting at National Qualifiers
Replies: 19
Views: 3917

Re: On Team Splitting at National Qualifiers

Chipping in a few thoughts as a player on a team that might be impacted by this issue. Being on the bubble, outside-looking-in for D1 ICT qualification right now, I can scroll up the D-value list and identify at least one, maybe two instances of team splitting that has resulted in multiple bids. Whe...
by joshxu
Tue Dec 26, 2023 9:55 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: CREEK+ at UCLA (1/20/2024)
Replies: 0
Views: 1158

CREEK+ at UCLA (1/20/2024)

Hello everyone! I am excited to announce that UCLA will be hosting a mirror of CREEK+ on Saturday, January 20, 2024. The tournament will take place on the UCLA campus, with the exact location (and with it, parking recommendations) TBD. The opening meeting will begin at 8:45 AM, with games starting a...
by joshxu
Sun Oct 29, 2023 6:01 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: Improving Power Percentage
Replies: 9
Views: 3991

Re: Improving Power Percentage

The most sure way to improve your power percentage is to never get a question correct outside of power—and anytime your teammates fear that your buzz occurred outside of power, they will remind you to neg on purpose to prevent you from getting a 10 . This real statline and the true story behind it s...
by joshxu
Thu Oct 19, 2023 3:37 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: Use "lower" instead of "reduce" in questions about molecules
Replies: 2
Views: 4085

Re: Use "lower" instead of "reduce" in questions about molecules

It's easier for mods to read words with fewer syllables. Since "lower" and "reduce" have the same number of syllables, this argument does not apply in this scenario. An example where this principle does apply is the usage of "BC" or "BCE" when referring to yea...
by joshxu
Wed Oct 18, 2023 6:50 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 ACF Fall Discussion
Replies: 6
Views: 4477

Re: 2023 ACF Fall Discussion

As a staffer, I gathered that all teams in my room generally enjoyed this set. Just a couple observations from my experience: 18. If the double integral of this function composed with some arbitrary function is finite, then the order of iterated integration can be changed via Fubini’s theorem. In Eu...
by joshxu
Tue Oct 10, 2023 12:19 am
Forum: Theory
Topic: On Buzzer Techniques
Replies: 7
Views: 3527

Re: On Buzzer Techniques

A trick to winning buzzer races is to buzz earlier , not faster. Most players first hear a clue they recognize, and then they buzz. Instead of doing this, you should buzz first, and then hear a clue you recognize. In essence, even though you don't know the answer when you buzz, you're overwhelmingly...
by joshxu
Sun Jun 25, 2023 3:05 am
Forum: Middle School Quizbowl Announcements & Discussion
Topic: Brooklyn Bridge Battle Tournament (RESCHEDULED to 6/24/23) (HS Regs Minus)
Replies: 17
Views: 8757

Re: Brooklyn Bridge Battle Tournament (RESCHEDULED to 6/24/23) (HS Regs Minus)

Thanks to everyone who played, staffed, or organized this tournament! I commend the writers' determination to undertake the difficult task of writing a tournament from scratch, especially for their commitment to writing original questions after concerns were raised about potential plagiarism. The im...
by joshxu
Mon Oct 24, 2022 7:06 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: Building a quiz bowl team
Replies: 1
Views: 3641

Re: Building a quiz bowl team

1) What could make a coach prioritize its school's math team for scouting, other than perceived weaknesses in math and science? That's an interesting question! The answer will vary from school to school, and many (if not most) quiz bowl teams aren't formed by scouting from coaches at all. I can sha...
by joshxu
Mon Jun 13, 2022 3:56 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: What is the ceiling of QuizDB's usefulness?
Replies: 9
Views: 6987

Re: What is the ceiling of QuizDB's usefulness?

I see two major limitations of using QuizDB to study. 1) Quiz bowl questions, especially at lower difficulties, have caps on how long they can be. This means no single question will provide you with a holistic understanding of a topic. Every question will only contain a limited subset of the importa...
by joshxu
Mon Apr 04, 2022 8:24 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 NAQT ICT: Division II specific question discussion
Replies: 7
Views: 829

Re: 2022 NAQT ICT: Division II specific question discussion

Can I see the tossup on the 1932 presidential election in Round 9? While playing it live I registered the first line as saying (paraphrased, not verbatim) "this election ended the Fourth Party System" and buzzed with 1928, for which I was negged and subsequently protested. My reasoning as ...
by joshxu
Sun Feb 06, 2022 8:15 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: AGQBA Quizbowl
Replies: 22
Views: 7794

Re: AGQBA Quizbowl

The format described in the original post sounds very similar to that used in History Bowl tournaments, namely a four-quarter system where Q1 is tossups only, Q2 is tossups + bonuses, Q3 is a lightning round, and Q4 is tossups only. The three main differences are that History Bowl only has 8–10 ques...
by joshxu
Thu Jan 06, 2022 4:38 pm
Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
Topic: Mixed Zoom/In-Person Practice
Replies: 6
Views: 2839

Re: Mixed Zoom/In-Person Practice

My high school team had mixed Zoom/in-person practices for about a month last spring with mixed success. When we played with the configuration described in the OP, we likewise found it difficult to impossible for the online players to hear the in-person players conferring; if instead the device was ...
by joshxu
Tue Nov 16, 2021 10:57 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: Myths about Westphalia
Replies: 8
Views: 7512

Re: Myths about Westphalia

The original post didn't explicitly argue against the acceptability of "Treaty of Westphalia" as an answer given by a player, so apologies that I may be straw-manning this paragraph (though I think the points are relevant nevertheless). I agree with the previous posters that while the term...
by joshxu
Tue Aug 31, 2021 9:38 pm
Forum: Western Comparisons and Discussion
Topic: Southern California 2021-22 Discussion
Replies: 6
Views: 6439

Re: Southern California 2021-22 Discussion

As I'll be attending UCLA, I will still physically be in SoCal this season, but if the HS season is primarily in-person and in San Diego as it normally is then I don't foresee myself being very involved with the circuit. That being said, I do believe I know enough about the circuit at present to wri...
by joshxu
Sun Jun 13, 2021 3:34 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion
Replies: 34
Views: 18249

Re: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion

The 2020–2021 quiz bowl season in SoCal was definitely tough, as all tournaments had to be held online, but there were nevertheless many interesting tournaments and results to look back at and analyze. This post will reflect on how we did in our preseason and midseason predictions. Although I'll mos...
by joshxu
Wed Jun 02, 2021 7:46 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2021 HSNCT discussion
Replies: 57
Views: 18312

Re: 2021 HSNCT discussion

Could I see the German Requiem tossup from Round 7? Just wanted to see some of the clues again. Thanks!
by joshxu
Wed Jun 02, 2021 11:54 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2021 HSNCT discussion
Replies: 57
Views: 18312

Re: 2021 HSNCT discussion

Can I see the bonus that was attached to the aldosterone tossup in Round 15? I'm curious to see what we would've gotten had we converted the tossup. I'd also like to see bonus 7 from Round 15—I believe it was biology but I'm not entirely certain. Thanks in advance!
by joshxu
Mon May 31, 2021 8:44 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion
Replies: 34
Views: 18249

Re: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion

HSNCT concluded yesterday, and accordingly, this post will recap what happened to SoCal teams in the playoffs. That being said, I will begin by congratulating Barrington on a well deserved win. Coming in ranked 21st in Groger Ranks and 23rd in the national poll, I'm sure nobody would have predicted ...
by joshxu
Sun May 30, 2021 1:23 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion
Replies: 34
Views: 18249

Re: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion

Prelims for HSNCT have concluded for today, and playoffs will begin tomorrow. So here is a post recapping prelim performances by SoCal teams as well as looking ahead to the playoffs. I would be pleasantly surprised if SoCal can actually get eight teams in the top 100 Unfortunately as I expected, thi...
by joshxu
Thu May 27, 2021 10:04 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion
Replies: 34
Views: 18249

Re: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion

As HSNCT is only two days away, it's now time for my prenats writeup of the SoCal circuit. General Remarks : While in a normal year I would probably have made predictions in this post, I won't be doing so this year because the HSNCT format is nontraditional. That is, I really don't know how many pla...
by joshxu
Sun Apr 18, 2021 12:40 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion
Replies: 34
Views: 18249

Re: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion

CHASE happened today, and it was an interesting tournament. First off, the set was Prison Bowl, and judging on the historical variability of the set, I don't think any of us could make a serious prediction about the result. Further complicating matters was the makeup of this field, as this was by fa...
by joshxu
Sun Apr 11, 2021 12:55 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion
Replies: 34
Views: 18249

Re: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion

ReKT IV happened today, and it was quite an interesting tournament. Before this tournament, everybody in SoCal would have told you that Arcadia A was going to win out the rest of the regular season in SoCal tourneys, with the possible exception of Westview, who would have told you that they would be...
by joshxu
Sun Mar 28, 2021 1:36 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion
Replies: 34
Views: 18249

Re: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion

Nick addressed all the important points in his post, so I'll just chip in a few miscellaneous thoughts. Arcadia A: With about 8 powers per game and under 3 negs per game, Arcadia have put up the record highest stats any high school team has ever achieved on a set harder than HSNCT. With 44 powers, A...
by joshxu
Sat Mar 13, 2021 8:11 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2021 NAQT HSNCT: Congratulations Barrington!
Replies: 17
Views: 9203

Re: 2021 NAQT HSNCT: May 29-30, online

Registration is limited to invited teams through Sunday, March 21. Beginning Monday, March 22 at midnight Central time, any middle school may register, with a limit of two teams per school. Beginning Monday, April 4 at midnight Central time, the two-teams-per-school limit will be lifted and any mid...
by joshxu
Mon Mar 08, 2021 5:02 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion
Replies: 34
Views: 18249

Re: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion

Since the previous writeup, there have been two SoCal tournaments, DNE (MCMT) and SRIRACHA! (DART). At DNE, Westview won its first varsity tournament of the season, while Arcadia picked up its circuit-best third win at SRIRACHA! One factor in analyzing these tournaments, however, is that there were ...
by joshxu
Mon Jan 18, 2021 1:37 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion
Replies: 34
Views: 18249

Re: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion

Thanks to UCSD for hosting and all moderators and scorekeepers for making Triton Winter a smooth and fun tournament! We got through 11 rounds in just over eight hours with no major delays, ending at a very solid time for an online tournament. I also want to thank Yusuf for sharing his perspective on...
by joshxu
Mon Nov 30, 2020 2:28 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion
Replies: 34
Views: 18249

Re: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion

[Edit: So in the month since ACE occurred, there have been some major adjustments to the official stats, with two teams (Del Norte A and St. Margaret's Episcopal) having been DQ'ed. Updating this post to reflect all the stats changes would be too much of a hassle, so for anyone reading this, keep in...
by joshxu
Sun Nov 15, 2020 7:13 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion
Replies: 34
Views: 18249

Re: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion

I second Nick in thanking UCSD and everyone who staffed Triton Fall yesterday—this tournament was very smooth and we finished 11 rounds in 8 hours. I would also like to thank the writers and editors of LONE STAR, as in my opinion this was the best regs set that I've ever played. Yesterday, we saw Ar...
by joshxu
Mon Oct 26, 2020 3:50 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Inconsistency
Replies: 6
Views: 4855

Re: Inconsistency

Did you play sloppy, or did you just encounter clues you didn't know? Probably a combination of the two, but the former is definitely the bigger issue. I'm not so sure I would call it "sloppy" play per se, but rather an inability to find a "groove" and settle into the game. For ...
by joshxu
Fri Sep 18, 2020 3:24 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion
Replies: 34
Views: 18249

Re: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion

I generally agree with Nick's analysis of the SoCal circuit this year, although I believe that the season beginning online will be a major factor that can lead to some major changes in these rankings (because of poor Internet, lack of motivation, people refusing to play, people being more eager to p...
by joshxu
Sat Jul 11, 2020 7:56 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Mindset in Quiz Bowl
Replies: 3
Views: 3461

Re: Mindset in Quiz Bowl

I have always struggled from relatively minute occurrences impeding my ability to perform well. Usually these are mental; sometimes I get bothered when I anticipate a question alluding to one thing but another clue contradicts my prediction, sometimes I get bothered when a moderator horribly mispro...
by joshxu
Thu Jun 18, 2020 1:14 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2019-20 Groger Ranks Player Poll: RESULTS POSTED
Replies: 35
Views: 11479

Re: 2019-20 Groger Ranks Player Poll

Nick Dai has already done a solid "shilling" of SoCal, and I'd like to highlight some of these players as well. Largely because SoCal is a relatively small region, I don't believe that any more than two or three of these players should really be ranked in your top 30 overall, but neverthel...
by joshxu
Sun May 17, 2020 9:30 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2019-20 Groger Ranks Postseason Poll
Replies: 14
Views: 5122

Re: 2019-20 Groger Ranks Postseason Poll

Dropping by to shill for my own team. Don't want to flex too much here, but just wanted to say that as an A team, we have the Cars opening monologue down pat. In terms of actual ability, we're pretty unrivaled, too. Wayzata has won Minnesota's largest speedcheck tournament for the past 9 years in a...
by joshxu
Thu Apr 16, 2020 3:27 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2019-20 Discussion
Replies: 11
Views: 8345

Re: Southern California 2019-20 Discussion

How will WAIT, CALISTO, RAFT, and BHSAT play out? Will Westview return to dominance and win the three they won't host? Will Arcadia move up into tier 1? Will Canyon Crest prove all of our doubts wrong and meet its top-four expectations? Or will their A team again go missing until HSNCT? Will Del No...
by joshxu
Tue Mar 03, 2020 8:29 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Vulching (Continued)
Replies: 6
Views: 5069

Vulching (Continued)

*I was going to post this in the previous vulching thread, but it's been locked now. This post should be read as a continuation of that earlier thread. Vulching and giving an incorrect answer has understandably been a problem for my team's novices. I used to tell them the traditional, "After a ...
by joshxu
Tue Mar 03, 2020 2:16 pm
Forum: New High School Teams
Topic: Keeping Score During Practices
Replies: 5
Views: 9098

Re: Keeping Score During Practices

At our practices we have always kept score, for the reasons you listed under "pros". Additional reasons why we do so include 1) it trains players for in-game situations (e.g. knowing when to be extremely cautious, knowing when to not buzz no matter what), and 2) by keeping individual stats...
by joshxu
Mon Mar 02, 2020 3:26 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2019-20 Discussion
Replies: 11
Views: 8345

Re: Southern California 2019-20 Discussion

Another four tournaments have occurred (Triton Winter (LOGIC), DNE (BLAST), SoCal States (IS #192), and NEGFIVE (IS #190)—I'm intentionally ignoring MWT at UCSD because it was a college tournament), and accordingly it's time to revisit the state of SoCal quiz bowl again. First, I'm going to direct y...
by joshxu
Sat Feb 01, 2020 1:26 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: "Should have been prompted" replacement policy
Replies: 15
Views: 6013

Re: "Should have been prompted" replacement policy

As a disclaimer, I don't have a strong opinion on this topic and I'm not endorsing any positions or proposals made in this thread so far. To me, this seems too generous. Except for the bottom few teams at a tournament (which I'm guessing are much less likely to lodge a should have been prompted prot...
by joshxu
Sun Jan 26, 2020 7:06 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 8
Views: 753

Re: Specific Question Discussion

I played this set yesterday, and overall I thought it was well written and met its target difficulty. I would like to see the "United Kingdom and Spain" tossup from packet 10, particularly the text of the answerline. An opponent buzzed on that tossup with "England and Spain" afte...
by joshxu
Mon Dec 02, 2019 12:45 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2019-20 Discussion
Replies: 11
Views: 8345

Re: Southern California 2019-20 Discussion

Hey Rohan, thanks for sharing your thoughts! Josh, has SaMo established an A team, or at least part of one, yet? What about your B team? As with most other teams, our rosters aren't yet set in stone. We've essentially been constructing the rest of our A team (i.e. outside of me) based off of my weak...
by joshxu
Mon Nov 25, 2019 1:57 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2019-20 Discussion
Replies: 11
Views: 8345

Re: Southern California 2019-20 Discussion

The first wave of tournaments has concluded, and as promised I'll take some time to share my thoughts on how things have transpired. General thoughts : Analyzing teams in SoCal at this point in time proved to be a difficult task for me, and these are only a few complicating factors, listed in no par...
by joshxu
Wed Oct 09, 2019 12:47 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2019-20 Discussion
Replies: 11
Views: 8345

Re: Southern California 2019-20 Discussion

I mostly agree with Ameya on his analysis, and I just wanted to highlight some of the teams that particularly interest me. Arcadia (Varsity): With Andrew Hoagland's graduation, I don't know what to expect from Arcadia this year. I think it's somewhat of a stretch to call them national title contende...
by joshxu
Wed Oct 09, 2019 12:11 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2019-20 Discussion
Replies: 11
Views: 8345

Re: Southern California 2019-20 Discussion

The NHBB circuit in Southern California has definitely been struggling the past few years, much of which stems from the fact that nobody wants to host any tournaments. Despite having an extremely limited sample size, Ameya Singh from Laurel Springs has written this solid writeup of the circuit, whic...
by joshxu
Wed Aug 07, 2019 9:20 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: NAQT rules and policy changes for 2019-2020
Replies: 8
Views: 6069

Re: NAQT rules and policy changes for 2019-2020

If the player who responds is not on the same team as a player who did signal, the moderator will ignore the response (even if it is correct), and will recognize the player who actually signaled. Only that player will have a chance to respond, as the non-signaler has disqualified his team on that t...
by joshxu
Sun Aug 04, 2019 9:17 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2019-20 Discussion
Replies: 11
Views: 8345

Re: Southern California 2019-20 Discussion

There are only about five people from SoCal who check these forums with any sort of regularity, so, like last year, this thread is probably going to remain idle for most of the season. Anyway, for those five or so people (or anyone not from SoCal who cares), here are some of my thoughts on the upcom...
by joshxu
Fri Jul 12, 2019 3:16 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2019 HSNCT discussion
Replies: 144
Views: 56926

Re: 2019 HSNCT discussion

Can we see conversion stats for the tossups on Chile (round 2), the Toronto Raptors (round 4), Cyrus the Great (round 4), Fort Ticonderoga (round 6), the Kurds (round 7), Huawei (round 22), and the Red Sea (round 22)? I'm also interested in seeing which tossups were the most powered, least powered (...
by joshxu
Wed May 29, 2019 7:16 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2019 HSNCT discussion
Replies: 144
Views: 56926

Re: 2019 HSNCT discussion

Can I see the Turkmenistan (round 1), Bounty Mutiny (round 7), Lake Texcoco (round 7), and Red Sea (round 22) tossups, and the Brunei bonus (round 20)? Edit: In light of Mike Bentley's post, the reason why I want to see the four tossups is that I feel I could [should?] have powered them all, and I w...
by joshxu
Sat May 25, 2019 8:36 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2019-2020 Scheduling Discussion
Replies: 15
Views: 8835

Re: Southern California 2019-2020 Scheduling Discussion

TheScientists wrote: Fri May 24, 2019 4:01 pm On another note - how many HSNCT qualifying events will be in SoCal?
There are usually tournaments run on every IS set in the season, so probably at least four. In years past there have also been SSNCT and SCT D-2 mirrors in SoCal.
by joshxu
Fri Feb 22, 2019 2:33 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: NEGFIVE I @North Hollywood High (2/23/2019, Los Angeles)
Replies: 2
Views: 2264

Re: NEGFIVE I @North Hollywood High (2/23/2019, Los Angeles)

Hello Ronen,

The tournament is fast approaching, and I filled out the registration form a while ago but I have yet to receive any sort of confirmation. I have sent you an email--a reply when you see it would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
Josh

Update: Thanks Ronen!
by joshxu
Tue Jan 08, 2019 9:59 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: HSQBRank 2018-19: Is Happening
Replies: 34
Views: 23550

Re: HSQBRank 2018-19: Is Happening

I don't see Triton Fall at UCSD on there (HS tournament). http://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/5348/stats/combined/ A shorthanded CCA A team played ACF Fall at UCLA. http://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/5393/stats/combined/teamdetail/#t0 Saratoga played Penn Bowl at Stanford. http://hsquizbowl.org/d...