Preparation

New high school teams looking for advice should post here.
Post Reply
jman010295
Lulu
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 8:39 pm

Preparation

Post by jman010295 »

Hello, I am quite new to these forums but have recently been spending a lot of time recently on the quizbowl forums. I have sort of a good idea of how to start preparing, but I was wondering if you guys had any recommendations on how to learn the following subjects: the Bible, Mythology (Ancient History ie. Roman), Art, Literature, Music, History in General. Right now, I am pretty much a math/science guy, but I would like to improve my knowledge in those fields. If you guys also have any other general and helpful tips that would be great as currently I am very much a novice.

Thanks for all advice and help in advance.

User was reminded to enable a signature. --Mgmt
Jay
Great Neck, NY
User avatar
1992 in spaceflight
Auron
Posts: 1615
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2011 8:11 pm
Location: St. Louis-area, MO

Re: Preparation

Post by 1992 in spaceflight »

If you want to get good at literature, you'll want to look at plot details and stuff like that on sparknotes. And also, you could try reading some things (that helps me get literature).

I don't know if this would work for you, but with art, it generally helps me to look at the painting and then look at a question to see what details from a painting are coming up. And mythology, there's a lot of sources you can read to get good at it, like Ovid's Metamorphoses or Mythology by Edith Hamilton, which is a collection of a bunch of Greek, Roman, and Norse stories.
Jacob O'Rourke
Washington (MO) HS Assistant Coach (2014-Present); MOQBA Secretary (2015-Present)
Formerly: AQBL Administrator (2020-2023); HSAPQ Host Contact; NASAT Outreach Coordinator (2016 and 2017); Kirksville HS Assistant Coach (2012-2014); Truman State '14; and Pacific High (MO) '10


Like MOQBA on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!
User avatar
tinioril
Lulu
Posts: 61
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 10:36 am
Location: Chicago

Re: Preparation

Post by tinioril »

Read the Bible.
Ned Lauber
Wheaton Warrenville South '12
Vanderbilt '16
jman010295
Lulu
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 8:39 pm

Re: Preparation

Post by jman010295 »

any suggestions for Art, Music, History, and the Bible (besides reading it)
Jay
Great Neck, NY
User avatar
1992 in spaceflight
Auron
Posts: 1615
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2011 8:11 pm
Location: St. Louis-area, MO

Re: Preparation

Post by 1992 in spaceflight »

For History, some of it is just paying attention in class. What helps me to have deep knowledge about things is doing research about something (like Stalin's purges, which is what my term paper is on).

Art, like I've said, is something you can get better at just by noticing details in paintings.
Jacob O'Rourke
Washington (MO) HS Assistant Coach (2014-Present); MOQBA Secretary (2015-Present)
Formerly: AQBL Administrator (2020-2023); HSAPQ Host Contact; NASAT Outreach Coordinator (2016 and 2017); Kirksville HS Assistant Coach (2012-2014); Truman State '14; and Pacific High (MO) '10


Like MOQBA on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!
User avatar
Mike Bentley
Sin
Posts: 6461
Joined: Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:03 pm
Location: Bellevue, WA
Contact:

Re: Preparation

Post by Mike Bentley »

If you know essentially nothing about a subject, you should find an introductory text book and read it in order to get some context. Once you have that, you can begin to start studying in greater depth by reading more specialized texts, looking at old packets, reading encyclopedia articles about topics you're trying to study, writing questions, etc.
Mike Bentley
Treasurer, Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence
Adviser, Quizbowl Team at University of Washington
University of Maryland, Class of 2008
jman010295
Lulu
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 8:39 pm

Re: Preparation

Post by jman010295 »

how about the "for dummies" series because they have books on classical music and art that I am looking into?
Jay
Great Neck, NY
mrgsmath
Wakka
Posts: 126
Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2010 4:36 pm

Re: Preparation

Post by mrgsmath »

for art you might consider Olga's Gallery at www.abcgallery.com

Great source for the visual aspect and the biographies are decent as well.
Mark Grant
Coach - PORTA H.S.
"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got ."
jman010295
Lulu
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 8:39 pm

Re: Preparation

Post by jman010295 »

any other ideas??? especially in the realm of literature...

User was reminded of the rule insisting that "You must post using reasonable English spelling, grammar, and punctuation." --Mgmt
Jay
Great Neck, NY
User avatar
Auroni
Auron
Posts: 3145
Joined: Thu Nov 15, 2007 6:23 pm

Re: Preparation

Post by Auroni »

Read a Book (or a poem, or a short story, or an essay). Or read summaries of those things.
Auroni Gupta (she/her)
User avatar
Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)
Chairman of Anti-Music Mafia Committee
Posts: 5647
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2006 11:46 pm

Re: Preparation

Post by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) »

I think reading a lot of famous short poems is a good starting point for you to master a subset of literature, since it's basically just as easy to do that as it is to read summaries of the poems, plus you get the added benefit of then having real knowledge and getting the kind of true cultural exposure that quizbowl should aim for.
Charlie Dees, North Kansas City HS '08
"I won't say more because I know some of you parse everything I say." - Jeremy Gibbs

"At one TJ tournament the neg prize was the Hampshire College ultimate frisbee team (nude) calender featuring one Evan Silberman. In retrospect that could have been a disaster." - Harry White
User avatar
gizmo
Kimahri
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:04 pm

Re: Preparation

Post by gizmo »

For music, ACE has a pretty good guide to learning composers, which can be found here: http://acequizbowlcamp.com/wp-content/u ... posers.pdf

If you know this whole thing you should be able to get most tossups, at least on the giveaways. There's a few things it's missing (works by Debussy, Ravel is completely omitted, Schubert works a little small, etc.) but it should be a great start.
User avatar
NikhilSethi
Lulu
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2011 11:52 pm
Location: Alpharetta, GA

Re: Preparation

Post by NikhilSethi »

I'm not sure if this works, but I have heard that the best way to learn art is to just stare at paintings until you notice things you haven't seen before. Generally art questions focus on these things. If that doesn't work, you can use the Quizbowl DB reader and click art to learn common clues (this is true for most subjects).
Nikhil Sethi
Alpharetta HS '15
User avatar
Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin
Wakka
Posts: 125
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 3:51 pm
Location: Nashville, TN

Re: Preparation

Post by Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin »

Specifically for history, I think Palmer's A History of the Modern World can help if you read thoroughly. It has a lot of good content.
Rohan Nag
Vanderbilt '17 | MLK '13
Post Reply