In order for this to work, we have to maintain a few assumptions:
1. A quizbowl player is better equipped to answer questions than a regular high school student. This can be compared to the idea that a member of the high school basketball team is better (way better) at basketball than the regular high school student.
2. Based on the first assumption, we can equate very basic quizbowl canon knowledge to stuff students are taught in school, because they fit into the "beyond the classroom" classification. To continue the basketball analogy: most everyone can dribble the ball, but it takes more advanced skill to play a zone defense--skill that every basketball player should have.
3. If a question can be answered by the giveaway, it is considered gettable and, furthermore, it is equated to a question that can be answered in the middle or even at the beginning. This assumption works because detractors of HSAPQ difficulty claim that those tossups would go dead. Therefore we also assume that all questions go to the end, and no negs happen.
Posted are just the giveaways and answers.
I supposed you can say this is on the hard side, but I should hope that most high school world history classes will talk about the Maginot Line at some point. Definitely gettable.1. For 10 points, name this heavily fortified French defensive position that failed to prevent German invasion in
World War II.
ANSWER: the Maginot Line
Every team should have at least one person who would get this, and any team that doesn't is a team in which someone isn't doing their job.2. For 10 points, identify this protagonist of a novel by Miguel de Cervantes.
ANSWER: Don Quixote
I suppose someone can say something like "barium" or "beryllium", but there's still no excuse for getting this wrong, especially since we require our students to learn at least basic chemistry in Illinois. Additionally, this is basic science canon knowledge.3. For 10 points, identify this element with atomic number 5 and symbol B.
ANSWER: boron
This definitely isn't school knowledge, so I can see people fighting it. But if there's one thing you know about Norse myth, it's Odin. If there's one more thing, it's Thor. If there's just one more, it's probably Valhalla. This is admittedly less gettable than other mythology, but it's still very very basic quizbowl knowledge.4. For 10 points, name this "Hall of the Slain" where Valkyries escort fallen warriors in Norse myth.
ANSWER: Valhalla
It's trash, so it doesn't pertain to our discussion. But for the record, this should have a 100% conversion rate.5. Billy Dee Williams played him as DA Harvey Dent in one film. For 10 points, name this dualistic villain played by Aaron Eckhart in “The Dark Knight”.
ANSWER: Two-Face
This isn't that hard for even a moderately serious quizbowler, but I can see this going dead in a lot of places. In fact, I don't even expect half the teams in the IHSA to get this. We'll call this one a dead ("ungettable") tossup.6. Formerly his country's ambassador to India, for 10 points, name this Mexican poet of The Labyrinth of Solitude.
ANSWER: Octavio Paz
The Nutcracker is perhaps the most well-known ballet, and I'd be shocked if this ever went dead.7. For 10 points, name this ballet about Clara, which begins on Christmas eve, a composition by Tchaikovsky about a toy which turns into a
prince.
ANSWER: The Nutcracker
Learning about Hoover is integral to learning about the Great Depression, which has to be integral to every high school US history class. Shouldn't go dead.8. For 10 points, name this president who lost the 1932 election to Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression.
ANSWER: Herbert Hoover
100% conversion. Yes?9. For 10 points, identify this organelle, which houses the cell's genetic information.
ANSWER: nucleus
The knowledge the question is testing is somewhat hard, but the vocab clue is pretty easy. Still, I can see how people could mess this up, so I'll stay on the safe side and call this one dead.10. For 10 points, identify this Jewish sect that was known for its firm opposition to Roman polytheism, whose name is now synonymous with fanatic.
ANSWER: Zealots
The Great Gatsby is a very common "school novel", and it has to be one of the most basic parts of the high school literature canon. This shouldn't go dead.11. For 10 points, name this novel in which Nick Carraway describes the downfall of Jay Gatz, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
ANSWER: The Great Gatsby
There aren't that many oceans in the world, and there's only one that's known for being really really really cold.12. For 10 points, identify this ocean which in 2007 lost nearly 10 million kilometers of sea-ice during the summer thaw.
ANSWER: Arctic Ocean
There are enough Jews and studiers (I hope) where I shouldn't call this dead, but it is a moderately hard answer, so I'll let it go dead.13. For 10 points, identify this Jewish holiday, which celebrates Esther’s victory over Haman’s evil plans.
ANSWER: Purim
I can imagine tons of people buzzing in with "mice", but that doesn't really hurt this question's gettability, especially since the other team should get it if one team gets it wrong.14. Often placed in mazes by researchers, For 10 points, name these rodents frequently used in psychological experiments.
ANSWER: rats [do not accept “mice”]
Henry VIII easily is one of the most famous English monarchs, and I think most teams should get it.15. For 10 points, name this Tudor Monarch from 1509 to 1547 who had six wives.
ANSWER: Henry VIII
Okay, so they don't mention E=MC^2. I learned this giveaway in sophomore chemistry class, and it's basic quizbowl canon knowledge. But since I'm being forgiving in this analysis, we'll let this one go dead, even though Albert Einstein would be expected to be THE stock guess for a physicist.16. For 10 points, name this man who won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect.
ANSWER: Albert Einstein
I guess this is reasonably hard to get, and while I'd like to expect most players to get this, I won't. Dead.17. For 10 points, identify this Spanish painter of Third of May, 1808.
ANSWER: Francisco José de Goya
Should most every quizbowl team get this? Yes. Will they? No. Let it go dead.18. For 10 points, name this poet of “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” who wrote “beauty is truth; truth beauty” in “Ode on a Grecian Urn.”
ANSWER: John Keats
I guess this is a hard answer, but every calculus student should know it. It's not too hard, but we'll say it goes dead.19. For 10 points, identify this programming technique which reduces problems to base cases, commonly used for computing the terms of the Fibonacci sequence.
ANSWER: recursion
Fine, I'll let this one die, even though it shouldn't be that way.20. For 10 points, name this composer of The Creation and the “Farewell” and “Surprise” symphonies.
ANSWER: Franz Joseph Haydn