Parts of a Question
This author wrote about the smuggler Harry Morgan in To Have and Have Not.Lead-in: The first sentence in a tossup with the hardest clues. Although difficult, the sentence should unambiguously point to the answer and specify using a pronoun what the answer is looking for (this author, this novel, etc). "The American" pressures Jig into getting an abortion in this man's short story "Hills Like White Elephants." His collection In Our Time includes many short stories about Power: Although still in power, harder clues are still ordered before earlier clues, and there is a clear middle part without a sharp drop in difficulty. (*)Powermark: The boundary between where the tossup is worth 15 (or sometimes 20) points and where it is worth 10 points.Nick Adams, and a novella by this man sees Santiago struggle with a giant marlin. For 10 points, identify this American author of A Farewell to Arms and The Old man and the Sea. For 10 points / Giveaway: The final clue in the tossup that contains the most well-known information about the answer.
Answer: Ernest (Miller) HemingwayAnswer: Only the last name, Hemingway, is sufficient, as in generally the case, except when there are two people with the same last name (eg John Quincy Adams and John Adams).
Johannes Kepler used inscribed Platonic solids to model this region of the universe.Bonus lead-in: The first sentence of the bonus introduces the common topic and gives clues for the first part. For 10 points each:
[10] Name this cosmological region, which, in Kepler's time, only included six of the eight planets around the Sun.
Answer: solar system
[10] Kepler's first law states that a planet's orbit is one of these shapes with the sun at one focus.
Answer: ellipse (accept elliptical)
[10] Kepler's second law states that planets sweep out equal areas in equal times and is a consequence of this quantity's conservation. Its time derivative equals net torque.
Answer: angular momentum (prompt on "L"; do not accept or prompt on "momentum")Prompt: Sometimes, prompts are given to ask for more information. In this case, the answer "momentum" cannot be prompted because linear and angular momentum are different.
~ Question from 2013 SCOP Novice
Question Set Types
NAQT (National Academic Quiz Tournaments)
NAQT questions are never released publicly; however, links to sample packets are provided.
- IS (Invitational Series): The "standard difficulty" sets, numbered IS-213, IS-215, etc, consist of 24 tossups and bonuses. These sets are powermarked and capped at 425 characters (about 3-4 sentences).
- IS-A (Introductory Invitational Series): These sets have shorter and easier questions than IS sets, and are mainly meant to be used by beginners.
- HSNCT (High School National Championship Tournament Packet): Significantly harder than an IS set, this is about the difficulty of a novice college set and used at HSNCT, one of two major national championships.
PACE (Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence)
- NSC (National Scholastic Championship): A 25-packet set with 7-8 line tossups, 20 point powers, no negs, and bouncebacks on bonuses.
Question Distributions
The "Big Three" categories of Science, History, and Literature typically make up 60% of the distribution.
NAQT Distro
5.6 tossups / 5.4 bonuses Science 4.7 / 4.5 History 4.1 / 4.0 Literature 1.6 / 1.5 Fine Arts 1.9 / 1.9 Geography 1.8 / 1.7 Current Events 1.0 / 1.0 RMP 1.6 / 1.6 Sports / Pop culture 0.6 / 0.7 Social Science 1.0 / 1.7 Misc / Mixed (Total 24 tossups / 24 bonuses per packet) |
Housewrite Distro
Although there is no set housewrite distro followed by all housewrites, Yale's BHSAT distro is similar to many other sets. 4/4 Science (1/1 each biology, chemistry, physics, and other science, with a heavy focus on math) 4/4 History (1/1 American, 2/2 European/British/Ancient, 1/1 "World") 4/4 Literature (at least 1/1 each American, British, European, 0.5/0.5 one more of the above, 0.5/0.5 World) 3/3 Fine Arts (1/1 of visual, auditory including jazz, audiovisual and other) 3/3 RMPSS (1/1 Religion, 1/1 Mythology, 0.5/0.5 each SS and Philosophy) 2/2 Modern world (1/1 split between geography and current events, 1/1 pop culture/Trash) (Total 20/20) |
Question Difficulty
- MSNCT: NAQT's Middle School National Championship Tournament
- CERES: Written by high schoolers for middle schoolers
HS Regular Minus
- NAQT A sets: A shorter version of the NAQT IS series, explained above.
- SCOP Novice: Written by high schoolers for underclassmen.
HS Regular Difficulty
- NAQT IS sets: Considered the standard for high school standard difficulty.
- CALISTO: Universally lauded as one of the best housewritten regs sets.
- RAFT:
- LONE STAR: Slightly shorter questions, but very high quality.
HS Regular Plus / College Introductory
- NAQT DII SCT: NAQT's college sectionals set.
- Prison Bowl: A yearly housewrite written by Hunter College High School in NYC.
- BHSAT: One of the harder high school sets, written by Yale University's team.
- DART: Question distribution varies from the standard (increased geography + current events).
- ACF Fall: An introductory set for college novices.
HS Nationals
- HSNCT: Used at NAQT high school nationals.
- PACE NSC: Used at PACE high school nationals.
HS Nationals Plus / College Regular Difficulty
- NASAT: The hardest high school set produced each year, used for the All-Star tournament.
- Penn Bowl: Regular difficulty college.
- ACF Regionals: The standard for college regular difficulty.