Making an impact at MSNCT...

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idek
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Making an impact at MSNCT...

Post by idek »

Hey ya'll,

I play for/captain the Coppell MS quiz bowl team, and we qualified for MSNCT early this season. Despite our ecstasy about this, however, we've been in need of some advice on how to be a real threat at MSNCT(6-2 or higher), as we were 3-5 last year at MSNCT (and finished #108) with a full lineup of non eighth graders, and look to make a major turnaround. For a little background information, we're a 20-23PPB team on regular MS sets and average around 385PPG at local Dallas metroplex tournaments.

I understand it's pretty difficult to accrue such a record, but time is on our side this time, and we'll have more time to practice this year, so I gravitated towards the boards for some help on things that pose a red flag to our future success.

For reference, here are some more stats (I love numbers):

On MS-19:https://www.naqt.com/stats/team-perform ... yoffs=true

On IS-161A:https://www.naqt.com/stats/team-perform ... yoffs=true

Thanks for your help,

Vishal
Vishal Sivamani
Coppell
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Re: Making an impact at MSNCT...

Post by Stained Diviner »

Thanks for posting, and welcome to the boards! Based on your stats, I think there is a good chance that you will improve on last year's performance, though you still have some work to do if you want to get to 6-2.

One thing you want to do is to read through some packets that are a little on the difficult side for your team but not overwhelming. You can go to http://www.quizbowlpackets.com/ and check out the SCOP and LIST packets. You can also look through recent HSAPQ questions, particularly VHSL Regular Season, Conferences, and Regionals. Look for tossups that your team does not know anything about, or only knows based on the last clue, and for bonuses that your team gets 10 or fewer points on. Pay particularly strong attention to literature, and also pay attentions to science and history. Ignore pop culture. Because NAQT has a lot of current events, you also need to make sure that at least one person on your team is paying attention to current events, which reading packets won't help much with.

If there are individual topics (eg Hemingway or electronegativity) that you are weak on, look them up. Keep in mind that lives of writers and artists don't come up much--you need to focus on the content of their work. Keep a list of wider topics that you are weak on (eg biology or ancient history) and find a textbook or similar source to read about them.

If you look something up on Quinterest, just look at the middle school and high school questions.

You have a lot to learn, as we all do, but work as a team and be patient. If you want to improve significantly, it is going to take several months at least, and you can decide what you want to focus on each week or each month. Don't spend too much time planning, because you need to spend your time learning, but it's OK to say, "I am focusing on Topic X now, so Topic Y can wait until February or March, and I'm going to ask one of my teammates about possibly learning Topic Z." When dividing up topics, it is good for students to build on their strengths--your team has some balance, and it will get better if your best science player gets better at science, your best history player gets better at history, and your best literature player gets better at literature.

There is a good article on this topic at QBWiki, though you should keep in mind that it was written for a college audience, so it is fine to pick and choose which pieces of advice work for you.

If you have more specific questions, this is a good place to ask them. Good luck!
David Reinstein
Head Writer and Editor for Scobol Solo, Masonics, and IESA; TD for Scobol Solo and Reinstein Varsity; IHSSBCA Board Member; IHSSBCA Chair (2004-2014); PACE President (2016-2018)
idek
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Re: Making an impact at MSNCT...

Post by idek »

Thanks a lot for your advice! We only went 5-3, but we were able to become much better than we were last year!
Vishal Sivamani
Coppell
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Re: Making an impact at MSNCT...

Post by Stained Diviner »

Going from 5/27/7 to 26/45/19 in one year is an impressive amount of improvement.
David Reinstein
Head Writer and Editor for Scobol Solo, Masonics, and IESA; TD for Scobol Solo and Reinstein Varsity; IHSSBCA Board Member; IHSSBCA Chair (2004-2014); PACE President (2016-2018)
idek
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Re: Making an impact at MSNCT...

Post by idek »

Big Y wrote:Going from 5/27/7 to 26/45/19 in one year is an impressive amount of improvement.
I'm flattered, really! I just love quiz bowl a lot and love working hard to try and succeed! Thanks for all of the advice and help!
Vishal Sivamani
Coppell
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