Personal Aggressiveness

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Chef Curry
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Personal Aggressiveness

Post by Chef Curry »

During tournaments, and practice, I often find myself thinking an answer, but don't buzz in. Of course, it later turns out that I was right and could have gotten the question. About a line into a question, I develop this guess in my brain, but frequently do not buzz. I start to doubt myself as to the probability that my answer is correct. I kind of start to tell myself that my guess cannot be right that early in the question when barely any information has been mentioned. But when I do(rarely) decide to go for it, most of the time(early in the question), my guess just turns out to be a very silly neg, that is pretty far off from the answer. The times that I do not buzz and end up having the correct answer outweigh the times when I buzz and have inane negs. Another problem I have also pertaining to aggressiveness, is that I am fairly sure of the answer but wait to buzz in until more information appears. This is often the difference between a power and ten points for me. In a close game, those five points, and an attempt to convert the bonus may be the difference between winning or losing. So what do I do? Do I just go for it, or is their a strategical approach? When do I decide to buzz in and go for the answer versus just to sit there and not buzz/wait? How do I sort of get over the "fear" of being wrong? Any and all tips are appreciated.
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Re: Personal Aggressiveness

Post by Ndg »

ahan108 wrote: Another problem I have also pertaining to aggressiveness, is that I am fairly sure of the answer but wait to buzz in until more information appears. This is often the difference between a power and ten points for me.
I don't think it's right to call it a 'problem' to wait for more information in this case. There's a difference between "fairly sure" and "totally sure."

Don't worry about whether or not you're specifically going to get power, unless you're actually in the rare situation late in the game where that matters. (I think late game strategies have been discussed elsewhere.) Aiming specifically for powers will definitely get you lots of bad negs.

My aggressiveness often depends on who I'm playing. If I'm playing a much weaker team who isn't going to get many questions before the giveaway, then there's less incentive to buzz early.
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Re: Personal Aggressiveness

Post by Schmidt Sting Pain Index »

Simply learn more things, and what you do know, you should know really well. When a phrase triggers my memory, I buzz in. I don't really strategize about it. If you are at the point where you left guessing early on many questions, I think the simplest thing is to just improve and learn more stuff, so you know more questions earlier. When I buzz, I usually neg if I either mix something up or blank on the answer. This usually happens if I haven't reviewed my notes or studied in a while, so my neg rate is fairly variable from tournament to tournament. Thus, knowing what I have studied really well is the key to minimizing negs for me in this regard. On other questions that do come down to attempting to use lateral thinking or guessing/frauding, depending on how I am doing with negs at the tournament, I will choose to be agressive or not (or I just go for the buzz anyway). It also depends on if the question falls into the "I recognize this from somewhere but can't 100% pinpoint" or "I have studied topic x and this sounds like it could be that" categories. In the grand scheme of things, its all about keeping a decent G/N ratio, so if you minimize the other types of negs, you can afford more in this area. I mostly don't situationally change my approach, aside from the fact that I am more aggressive in important matches, until I get a neg. At that point I will probably be less aggressive.
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Re: Personal Aggressiveness

Post by johntait1 »

Personally I usually play it safe and really don't like to guess even if I'm say 80% sure because our team tries to minimize negging when playing competition that is close in ability to us. Instead I try to rely on my studying and buzz in on a clue that I know for sure. I feel like this worked pretty well at NHBB Nationals as I managed to put up ~167 ppg with a ~24 tossup/neg ratio and still managed to put up a lot more powers than 10's in fourth quarter despite playing ultra-conservative.
However the situation matters a lot, when going to PACE this year, I will probably play a lot more aggressive because we will probably be facing extremely good teams, and if I sit on questions the other team will probably get it.
Another thing is category, our History Bowl team divides up the categories, so if it is someone else's category, we pretty much avoid guessing because someone else on the team probably knows the question better than you. However, if its your category and you know that the other team knows the subject better than you, then I would guess.
Another thing is I think it also depends on how many points you are putting up in total. If you are putting up a lot of points but getting a few negs it is better than if you are only putting up a few points with similar amounts of negs. For example, our second scorer only had a ~1.4 tossup/neg ratio at History Bowl Nationals, but we were okay with it because he was getting lots of clutch buzzes and had a ridiculous power rate(same number of 30's in fourth quarter as 10's), but if our fourth scorer had put up a ~1.4 tossup/neg ratio we would have been pretty mad at him.
Lastly, did you play on Manheim Township at History Bowl Nationals? I remember Manheim was ranked fourth going in and we played Manheim in playoffs and they were really good.
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Re: Personal Aggressiveness

Post by Chef Curry »

Personally I usually play it safe and really don't like to guess even if I'm say 80% sure because our team tries to minimize negging when playing competition that is close in ability to us. Instead I try to rely on my studying and buzz in on a clue that I know for sure. I feel like this worked pretty well at NHBB Nationals as I managed to put up ~167 ppg with a ~24 tossup/neg ratio and still managed to put up a lot more powers than 10's in fourth quarter despite playing ultra-conservative.
However the situation matters a lot, when going to PACE this year, I will probably play a lot more aggressive because we will probably be facing extremely good teams, and if I sit on questions the other team will probably get it.
Another thing is category, our History Bowl team divides up the categories, so if it is someone else's category, we pretty much avoid guessing because someone else on the team probably knows the question better than you. However, if its your category and you know that the other team knows the subject better than you, then I would guess.
Another thing is I think it also depends on how many points you are putting up in total. If you are putting up a lot of points but getting a few negs it is better than if you are only putting up a few points with similar amounts of negs. For example, our second scorer only had a ~1.4 tossup/neg ratio at History Bowl Nationals, but we were okay with it because he was getting lots of clutch buzzes and had a ridiculous power rate(same number of 30's in fourth quarter as 10's), but if our fourth scorer had put up a ~1.4 tossup/neg ratio we would have been pretty mad at him.
Lastly, did you play on Manheim Township at History Bowl Nationals? I remember Manheim was ranked fourth going in and we played Manheim in playoffs and they were really good.
Yes I did play on Manheim Township during NHB, I believe I was captain during our match. Ha, we didn't have to good of a day. . . But I really enjoyed playing your team, and thought you guys were an excellent team; you looked like you had everything down. The point about dividing up categories is interesting and it seems to have worked for you. Pertaining to my post, it does matter what tournament/what team you are playing. Yes I guess I will just try to go for it more often. Thanks for the advice and hopefully we'll play each other at NSC!
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Re: Personal Aggressiveness

Post by The Stately Rhododendron »

johntait1 wrote:Personally I usually play it safe and really don't like to guess even if I'm say 80% sure because our team tries to minimize negging when playing competition that is close in ability to us. Instead I try to rely on my studying and buzz in on a clue that I know for sure. I feel like this worked pretty well at NHBB Nationals as I managed to put up ~167 ppg with a ~24 tossup/neg ratio and still managed to put up a lot more powers than 10's in fourth quarter despite playing ultra-conservative.
However the situation matters a lot, when going to PACE this year, I will probably play a lot more aggressive because we will probably be facing extremely good teams, and if I sit on questions the other team will probably get it.
Another thing is category, our History Bowl team divides up the categories, so if it is someone else's category, we pretty much avoid guessing because someone else on the team probably knows the question better than you. However, if its your category and you know that the other team knows the subject better than you, then I would guess.
Another thing is I think it also depends on how many points you are putting up in total. If you are putting up a lot of points but getting a few negs it is better than if you are only putting up a few points with similar amounts of negs. For example, our second scorer only had a ~1.4 tossup/neg ratio at History Bowl Nationals, but we were okay with it because he was getting lots of clutch buzzes and had a ridiculous power rate(same number of 30's in fourth quarter as 10's), but if our fourth scorer had put up a ~1.4 tossup/neg ratio we would have been pretty mad at him.
Lastly, did you play on Manheim Township at History Bowl Nationals? I remember Manheim was ranked fourth going in and we played Manheim in playoffs and they were really good.
I'm not sure how you get a G/N ratio in a format with no negs.
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Re: Personal Aggressiveness

Post by Urech hydantoin synthesis »

Mr. Joyboy wrote:
I'm not sure how you get a G/N ratio in a format with no negs.
Probably because you're keeping track of negs yourself and counting "incorrect buzzes" as negs.
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Re: Personal Aggressiveness

Post by johntait1 »

ahan108 wrote:
Personally I usually play it safe and really don't like to guess even if I'm say 80% sure because our team tries to minimize negging when playing competition that is close in ability to us. Instead I try to rely on my studying and buzz in on a clue that I know for sure. I feel like this worked pretty well at NHBB Nationals as I managed to put up ~167 ppg with a ~24 tossup/neg ratio and still managed to put up a lot more powers than 10's in fourth quarter despite playing ultra-conservative.
However the situation matters a lot, when going to PACE this year, I will probably play a lot more aggressive because we will probably be facing extremely good teams, and if I sit on questions the other team will probably get it.
Another thing is category, our History Bowl team divides up the categories, so if it is someone else's category, we pretty much avoid guessing because someone else on the team probably knows the question better than you. However, if its your category and you know that the other team knows the subject better than you, then I would guess.
Another thing is I think it also depends on how many points you are putting up in total. If you are putting up a lot of points but getting a few negs it is better than if you are only putting up a few points with similar amounts of negs. For example, our second scorer only had a ~1.4 tossup/neg ratio at History Bowl Nationals, but we were okay with it because he was getting lots of clutch buzzes and had a ridiculous power rate(same number of 30's in fourth quarter as 10's), but if our fourth scorer had put up a ~1.4 tossup/neg ratio we would have been pretty mad at him.
Lastly, did you play on Manheim Township at History Bowl Nationals? I remember Manheim was ranked fourth going in and we played Manheim in playoffs and they were really good.
Yes I did play on Manheim Township during NHB, I believe I was captain during our match. Ha, we didn't have to good of a day. . . But I really enjoyed playing your team, and thought you guys were an excellent team; you looked like you had everything down. The point about dividing up categories is interesting and it seems to have worked for you. Pertaining to my post, it does matter what tournament/what team you are playing. Yes I guess I will just try to go for it more often. Thanks for the advice and hopefully we'll play each other at NSC!
Yeah it would be fun to play at NSC again. You guys were pretty good, it was our closest game in playoffs until finals!
christino wrote:
Mr. Joyboy wrote:
I'm not sure how you get a G/N ratio in a format with no negs.
Probably because you're keeping track of negs yourself and counting "incorrect buzzes" as negs.
Sorry my fault, the correct term should be "incorrect interrupts". Our team just is used to referring to them as "negs"
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