HSAPQ Questions

Dormant threads from the high school sections are preserved here.
Locked
User avatar
quizbowllee
Auron
Posts: 2180
Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2004 2:12 am
Location: Alabama

HSAPQ Questions

Post by quizbowllee »

Based on the discussion of the set used at Brookwood, I am concerned about using HSAPQ for our tournament on Dec. 6. Should I be? I thought that the set at Hoover was great, but moderators were definitely struggling. Now I'm concerned about how late I'm going to get the set, too. I will probably let me team(s) play, so I don't WANT the questions days and days in advance, but I think 24 hours before the tournament is reasonable, seeing as I have to copy them all and such.

Thoughts?
Lee Henry
AP Lit and APUSH Teacher
Quiz Bowl Coach
West Point High School
President-Elect/Past President- Alabama Scholastic Competition Association (ASCA)
User avatar
azngod1992
Wakka
Posts: 103
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2008 11:33 pm

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by azngod1992 »

Use HSAPQ questions please!

If i'm correct, this set has already been written and edited (correct me if I'm wrong).
Alvin Shi
Alabama School of Fine Arts 2005-2009
Duke 2009-13
MIT 2015-???
User avatar
ClemsonQB
Tidus
Posts: 511
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:12 pm
Location: Clemson, SC

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by ClemsonQB »

azngod1992 wrote:Use HSAPQ questions please!

If i'm correct, this set has already been written and edited (correct me if I'm wrong).
Yeah, according to the website, mACF set 2 has been used at UVA (October 25) and Kent State (November 22).
George Stevens

Dorman High School 2008
Clemson University 2012
Magister Ludi
Tidus
Posts: 677
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 1:57 am
Location: Washington DC

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by Magister Ludi »

The set that will be used at the Brindlee Mountain tournament is already written. There is no need to worry about receiving the questions in time.

The issues that lead to the late delivery of questions for Brookwood and Indian Springs are being dealt with immediately as HSAPQ is inviting several more writers to join the group next semester. With the workload spread out this will not be an issue in the future. In fact, we have already begun to write the sets that will be used in the spring semester. HSAPQ is very sorry for any inconvenience that Brookwood and Indian Springs may have faced. As a first year company, HSAPQ has made a few mistakes in managing the progress of editing several sets. We hope these few missteps will not tarnish our reputation for any team considering using our questions in the future. From now on, HSAPQ gurantees we will have our questions finished and mailed one week before any tournament using our questions.
Ted Gioia - Harvard '12
Editor ACF, PACE
User avatar
Ike
Auron
Posts: 1063
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 5:01 pm

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by Ike »

These questions were the best thing I have seen on the high school level all year. People should be using them no matter what time they arrive or whether they contain residual grammatical errors, or semi-professional bonus lead-ins. I find it hilarious that people think the above things aforementioned are so bad that they invalidate HSAPQ's product.

I'm hoping other people in Ohio besides me run a tournament with them. Someone needs to, as they are amazing.
Last edited by Ike on Mon Nov 24, 2008 4:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ike
UIUC 13
User avatar
at your pleasure
Auron
Posts: 1723
Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 7:56 pm

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by at your pleasure »

Run your tournament on the HSAPQ questions. They're worth staying up all night copying packets.
Douglas Graebner, Walt Whitman HS 10, Uchicago 14
"... imagination acts upon man as really as does gravitation, and may kill him as certainly as a dose of prussic acid."-Sir James Frazer,The Golden Bough

http://avorticistking.wordpress.com/
User avatar
Frater Taciturnus
Auron
Posts: 2463
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 1:26 pm
Location: Richmond, VA

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by Frater Taciturnus »

Yeah the UVA set was just fine when it was run a month ago; by now it should be good to go.
Janet Berry
[email protected]
she/they
--------------
J. Sargeant Reynolds CC 2008, 2009, 2014
Virginia Commonwealth 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013,
Douglas Freeman 2005, 2006, 2007
jrbarry
Tidus
Posts: 690
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2003 10:22 pm
Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by jrbarry »

Monday of tournament week is the very latest I need our questions to run my tournament in the most efficient manner possible. Running very large tournamernts (80-120) is different than running small tournaments (30-40 teams).

I think the BISB ran smoothly on Saturday, but I had to run it without my two most experienced players plus one of my best readers who were sequestered away editing questions all day. Those guys had other tournament day assignments which we had to scramble to fill.

Had the questions had even the most basic editing process put to them, they would have been fine. For the most part, I liked what was asked. But, needing that much editing, I needed to have them on Monday and not some on Thursday, some on Friday at midnight, and tiebreakers on Saturday at 6am. IT was more than a minor inconvenience.
J.R. Barry
Retired teacher and former coach
User avatar
AlphaQuizBowler
Tidus
Posts: 695
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2007 6:31 pm
Location: Alpharetta, GA

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by AlphaQuizBowler »

Ike wrote:These questions were the best thing I have seen on the high school level all year. People should be using them no matter what time they arrive or whether they contain residual grammatical errors, or semi-professional bonus lead-ins. I find it hilarious that people think the above things aforementioned are so bad that they invalidate HSAPQ's product.
I don't think anyone said they "invalidate the product" in any way. I think Mr. Barry would agree that the question content was excellent. I'm pretty sure he was commenting on the inconvenience it caused him as tournament director. I don't think it's "hilarious" that he's upset that he received the questions so late; I think he has good reason.

EDIT: Fixed tags
Last edited by AlphaQuizBowler on Mon Nov 24, 2008 7:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
William
Alpharetta High School '11
Harvard '15
Joshua Rutsky
Tidus
Posts: 663
Joined: Mon Oct 24, 2005 9:59 am
Location: Hoover, AL

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by Joshua Rutsky »

I think this is a very real issue that HSAPQ is clearly taking seriously. Following our tournament (it was Hoover, not Indian Springs, that was being referenced earlier in this thread--Indian Springs has not hosted a HS event this year), I was contacted and asked for any critique I might provide for the company (which is far more than most providers would ever do.) I hope the feedback I offered was helpful, but it basically boiled down to this:

1) HSAPQ questions are excellent pyramidal questions, but make for a very, very long four-quarter format tourney, and if teams are looking for something in that vein, then the company might need to consider providing one quarter of slightly shorter questions, or suggest politely that the tourney director look elsewhere for questions.

2) The questions need to be delivered earlier so TDs have time to prepare effectively.

3) Questions with potentially difficult names or phrases should have pronunciations provided to minimize reader error.

4) Questions should be provided in a format other than PDF, as PDFs take forever to print.


It would certainly appear to me that HSAPQ is taking steps to deal with at least #2, and I think that #1 is as much an issue for states like mine who use a local format as it is for HSAPQ to deal with. I hope that #3 will also be included in future versions of the questions.

Honestly, Lee, I think that if you want to bring in high-quality questions, these are among the best I've seen. I would like to see more tourneys that use them, though I imagine I am going to see a huge drop in our tourney turnout next year from local teams because of the set. I thought scores for the tourney were reasonable and that the questions were good for everyone, and I'm willing to take that chance to make a step forward with Alabama's teams. I know that teams like yours and the other stronger teams will continue to come, and that'll have to do for now.

A lot of people post about good quizbowl vs. bad quizbowl, with the recommendation that one should simply refuse to play bad quizbowl. Down here, that's obviously not the most viable option, as we don't have a lot of readily accessible "good quizbowl" events to attend. A four hour trip doesn't seem that long for some people, but if you either have to get up at 4 AM to make an 8:30 tourney start or spend the night somewhere for $150 for three rooms, your budget goes quickly. We need all the local events we can to be "good" events, because we aren't going to be pulling trips to SC, NC, or the DC area on a regular basis anytime soon, especially not on Alabama prorated school funding.
Joshua Rutsky
VP for Curriculum and Camp Operations, Qwiz
ASCA Board Member
Hoover High School Coach (Retired)
User avatar
Ike
Auron
Posts: 1063
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 5:01 pm

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by Ike »

I don't think anyone said they "invalidate the product" in any way.
I never said anyone said that. I don't think Mr. Barry thought that, but I was pretty shocked when Mr. Henry posted an inquiry about whether he should run a tournament due to time issues.
Had the questions had even the most basic editing process put to them, they would have been fine. For the most part, I liked what was asked. But, needing that much editing, I needed to have them on Monday and not some on Thursday, some on Friday at midnight, and tiebreakers on Saturday at 6am.
I can agree with this, there were a bunch of typos and etc, and that really needs to be taken care of.
I don't think it's "hilarious" that he's upset that he received the questions so late; I think he has good reason.
I wasn't referring to Mr. Barry in particular. But what sparked my thought was looking at Mr. Lee's field size and its not anywhere close to the magnitude of the size of Mr. Barry's tournament, therefore I was pretty puzzled when Mr. Lee made an inquiry about this (In no way was I trying to offend Mr. Lee.) I got these questions at 9:31pm the night before I ran my 9 team tournament, and it took one person two-three hours to put everything together. Maybe 12:30 is past the time I want to be up when running a tournament, but I don't think its such a big deal.
Ike
UIUC 13
User avatar
Captain Sinico
Auron
Posts: 2675
Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2003 1:46 pm
Location: Champaign, Illinois

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by Captain Sinico »

Hey,
There's no reason PDF's should take any longer to print than anything else. What are you using to print them?

MaS
Mike Sorice
Former Coach, Centennial High School of Champaign, IL (2014-2020) & Team Illinois (2016-2018)
Alumnus, Illinois ABT (2000-2002; 2003-2009) & Fenwick Scholastic Bowl (1999-2000)
Member, ACF (Emeritus), IHSSBCA, & PACE
User avatar
quizbowllee
Auron
Posts: 2180
Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2004 2:12 am
Location: Alabama

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by quizbowllee »

OK. I now have no worries about the set. I didn't realize that the Brookwood set was a "custom" set. I was very impressed with the questions at Hoover, I know many of the people involved in HSAPQ and I have the utmost confidence now that some of these issues have been clarified.
Ike wrote: ...I was pretty shocked when Mr. Henry posted an inquiry about whether he should run a tournament due to time issues.
Ike wrote: But what sparked my thought was looking at Mr. Lee's field size and its not anywhere close to the magnitude of the size of Mr. Barry's tournament, therefore I was pretty puzzled when Mr. Lee made an inquiry about this (In no way was I trying to offend Mr. Lee.) I got these questions at 9:31pm the night before I ran my 9 team tournament, and it took one person two-three hours to put everything together. Maybe 12:30 is past the time I want to be up when running a tournament, but I don't think its such a big deal.
No offense taken. My concerns weren't only based upon the time the questions were received, but also the apparent number of typos, etc.

Also, though, while not on the level of Brookwood, our tournament has had fields as large as 60-70 teams in the past. However, we are nowhere near that this year. Even so, I have a million things that I have to take care of the morning of a tournament and I want to have the questions sorted and stapled before I leave the school Friday afternoon. Regardless of field size, I think that is a good rule of thumb.

If I don't get questions until late Friday night or early Saturday morning, I will be freaking out. I'm sort of anal in that regard.

Anyway, my mind has been set at ease. I'm looking forward to a great tournament on what I know will be great questions.
Lee Henry
AP Lit and APUSH Teacher
Quiz Bowl Coach
West Point High School
President-Elect/Past President- Alabama Scholastic Competition Association (ASCA)
howlin
Lulu
Posts: 22
Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2007 6:20 pm

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by howlin »

I don't like them. I read them at Vandy and found them awkard and pretentious. But there are those who love them; I don't know why. But they are still better than most questions that are written in house.
I think you will be fine at your tournament. And we all need to remember that if the question is screwy, it is the same screwy question for each team.
But I would check to make sure the numbering of the questions is correct (it wasn't always at Vandy).

Good luck at your tournament; I am sure all will go fine.
Coach Howell
MLK
User avatar
Sir Thopas
Auron
Posts: 1330
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2006 10:10 pm
Location: Hunter, NYC

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by Sir Thopas »

howlin wrote:I don't like them. I read them at Vandy and found them awkard and pretentious.
What makes them pretentious?
Guy Tabachnick
Hunter '09
Brown '13

http://memoryofthisimpertinence.blogspot.com/
User avatar
Auks Ran Ova
Forums Staff: Chief Administrator
Posts: 4295
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2006 10:28 pm
Location: Minneapolis
Contact:

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

Sir Thopas wrote:
howlin wrote:I don't like them. I read them at Vandy and found them awkard and pretentious.
What makes them pretentious?
I too would love to know this.
Rob Carson
University of Minnesota '11, MCTC '??, BHSU forever
Member, ACF
Member emeritus, PACE
Writer and Editor, NAQT
User avatar
Mechanical Beasts
Banned Cheater
Posts: 5673
Joined: Thu Jun 08, 2006 10:50 pm

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by Mechanical Beasts »

howlin wrote:But I would check to make sure the numbering of the questions is correct (it wasn't always at Vandy).
How does this affect gameplay?
Andrew Watkins
User avatar
at your pleasure
Auron
Posts: 1723
Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 7:56 pm

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by at your pleasure »

don't like them. I read them at Vandy and found them awkard and pretentious
I too would like to know how they are "pretentious", or indeed how it is possible for a question set to be pretentious or akward. I suspect length and/or answer selection might have something to do with it.
Douglas Graebner, Walt Whitman HS 10, Uchicago 14
"... imagination acts upon man as really as does gravitation, and may kill him as certainly as a dose of prussic acid."-Sir James Frazer,The Golden Bough

http://avorticistking.wordpress.com/
User avatar
cvdwightw
Auron
Posts: 3291
Joined: Tue May 13, 2003 12:46 am
Location: Southern CA
Contact:

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by cvdwightw »

everyday847 wrote:
howlin wrote:But I would check to make sure the numbering of the questions is correct (it wasn't always at Vandy).
How does this affect gameplay?
ACF Fall 2005 had a round end with a question on the Cleveland Browns due to accidentally skipping the number 2 while numbering questions. It doesn't affect gameplay (unless there end up being fewer than 20 questions due to numbering problems), but can affect the distribution of what's heard.
Dwight Wynne
socalquizbowl.org
UC Irvine 2008-2013; UCLA 2004-2007; Capistrano Valley High School 2000-2003

"It's a competition, but it's not a sport. On a scale, if football is a 10, then rowing would be a two. One would be Quiz Bowl." --Matt Birk on rowing, SI On Campus, 10/21/03

"If you were my teammate, I would have tossed your ass out the door so fast you'd be emitting Cerenkov radiation, but I'm not classy like Dwight." --Jerry
User avatar
Captain Sinico
Auron
Posts: 2675
Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2003 1:46 pm
Location: Champaign, Illinois

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by Captain Sinico »

howlin wrote:...questions...awkard (sic) and pretentious.
What does that even mean?
howlin wrote:And we all need to remember that if the question is screwy, it is the same screwy question for each team.
I doubt anyone's ever forgotten that, but it's a bad justification for anything. You could use that logic to justify hoses or... well, really, anything. That logic says there are no good questions whatsoever. The fact that everyone's getting screwed doesn't make anyone less screwed.
howlin wrote:But I would check to make sure the numbering of the questions is correct (it wasn't always at Vandy).
Yeah, I mean, yes, they should be numbered correctly but you certainly are focusing on this non-issue, this being the third time you've mentioned it.

MaS
Mike Sorice
Former Coach, Centennial High School of Champaign, IL (2014-2020) & Team Illinois (2016-2018)
Alumnus, Illinois ABT (2000-2002; 2003-2009) & Fenwick Scholastic Bowl (1999-2000)
Member, ACF (Emeritus), IHSSBCA, & PACE
User avatar
Sir Thopas
Auron
Posts: 1330
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2006 10:10 pm
Location: Hunter, NYC

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by Sir Thopas »

At least Vanderbilt (presumably) stapled their packets.
Guy Tabachnick
Hunter '09
Brown '13

http://memoryofthisimpertinence.blogspot.com/
User avatar
rjaguar3
Rikku
Posts: 278
Joined: Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:39 am

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by rjaguar3 »

Sir Thopas wrote:At least Vanderbilt (presumably) stapled their packets.
No we didn't. Made it easier for us readers, too.
Greg (Vanderbilt 2012, Wheaton North 2008)
vandyhawk
Tidus
Posts: 555
Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2003 3:42 am
Location: Seattle

Re: HSAPQ Questions

Post by vandyhawk »

rjaguar3 wrote:
Sir Thopas wrote:At least Vanderbilt (presumably) stapled their packets.
No we didn't. Made it easier for us readers, too.
Ha ha, that was accidental too by Jack, but actually worked out well since Kinko's fortunately placed dividers between each printed round. As for the misnumbering, I only remember one instance - it just happened to be in the first half of round 1, so probably stuck out more.
Matt Keller
Vanderbilt (alum)
ACF editor (emeritus)
NAQT editor (emeritus)
Locked