FAQ

We keep this page of Q&A, hoping that at some point we will be back to a "normal" life.

Below are some Frequently Asked Questions about Burleigh's It's Academic Team, quizbowl tournaments, practices, etc.

Attendance for practices and tournaments:

    • Does my child have to attend practices?
      • Your child must be a regular participant as there are many rules to the game that need to be reinforced with the students and it is a team activity.
      • Missing a couple of practices throughout the year are excused. We simply ask that you please contact Mme. Lanz by email at least 24 hours earlier if your child will be missing after school practice as we take a lot of time to prepare the teams and questions based on who will be in attendance that day. Thank you for your consideration!
    • Is my child required to take part in all tournaments?
      • No. Your child can participate in as many or as few tournaments as he/she would like. However, we ask that you check your calendar carefully before signing your child up for a tournament. If you have signed your child up for a tournament and an emergency occurs and your child is unable to participate, it is very important that you let us know as soon as possible if your child is no longer able to attend. Quizbowl is a team event and if one of our teams does not have a student show up, it will negatively impact the entire team and lessen other children's chances at qualifying for the playoffs and/or regional/national tournaments. Please be considerate of the other students who have worked very hard and depend on their teammates by letting us know as soon as possible if your child cannot attend a tournament.
      • If you do cancel a tournament that your child has already signed up for, we will try our best to refund your money. However, if you cancel your child's entry after the deadline, we will not be able to recover the funds to return to you because we will have already registered the teams into the tournament.
    • Do I have to attend tournaments and practices with my child?
      • Yes for tournaments. You must be at the tournament site the entire time with your student. Mrs. Seifter will not be able to supervise all of the children during the tournament ... there are far too many kids and teams move from room to room at slightly different times for each round so there is no way we can keep an eye on them all day.
      • No for practices. Please, pick them up promptly at 4:00.

What happens at tournaments?

    • How long does a tournament last?
      • Tournaments usually begin early in the morning (around 8:30 a.m.). There are normally about 5 or so games in the round-robin preliminary games. Each round lasts about 30-40 minutes. Teams change rooms in between each round. There are normally several rounds in the morning, then a break for lunch, then a couple of rounds after lunch. Typically, the preliminary games last until the early afternoon. There is no way to know the exact times when rounds begin or end. Times given on the schedule are estimates only!!! The win-loss record and total points are then tallied, and the brackets for the playoff rounds are announced. Each tournament has its own cut-off for determining which teams get into the playoffs. If your child's team does not make it into the playoffs, your child will be finished competing for the day. Please check with one of the coaches before you leave the site! (We have had several instances of parents thinking there is no way their child's team made the playoffs and left without notice and that left their teammates without a key player!) If your child's team does make the playoffs (YAY!), they will be competing until they lose a game (or win the championship!!) The championship round could end up running until after 5 p.m. so you and your child should commit to that time frame. There are many tournaments where every team plays in all rounds whether or not they are in the playoffs. For these tournaments, all students must remain all day at the tournament, and will play at least 9 total rounds.
    • Can my child be late to/leave early from a tournament?
      • As a general rule, no. Here are some of the reasons why your child needs to be at the tournament the entire time:
        • Leaving a team with only three players (as opposed to a full team of four) puts the team at a significant disadvantage. We, as coaches, go to great lengths to try to make the teams as balanced as possible pairing students who cover all of the different disciplines with each other on each team. So if your child is the strongest with literature questions, and he/she has to leave in the middle of the tournament, the rest of the team will suffer by not having their literature specialist to answer those questions. This may cost the other students on the team a chance at the playoffs or to qualify for regional or national tournaments.
        • Teams from other schools in other states (we have several from Connecticut and New Jersey) pay a lot of money and spend a lot of time to come to these tournaments. It shows poorly on Burleigh Manor if we show up with only half of a team and do not give the other team a competitive match.
    • Can spectators attend a tournament?
      • Yes. Spectators may attend the tournaments and are encouraged to do so; however, they must be EXTREMELY quiet during the competition!!!! Cell phones/tablets MUST be turned off! Absolutely NO talking or distractions in any way while questions are being asked!!! The students are listening very closely to the questions and a whisper or bag rustling by a person in the audience may make them miss a key word they need to be able to answer the question.
      • It is inadvisable to bring younger siblings into the competition rooms as it is a very long time for young children to be very quiet and not disruptive.
    • Can I freely go from room to room during the tournament?
      • Once the questions have started for that round, people should not leave or enter the room as it is very distracting to the players. A round will last anywhere from 30 - 40 minutes.
    • Are the times on the tournament schedule followed exactly? Can I plan to meet up with my child at a certain time based on the schedule?
      • No. The times on the schedule are only guides - they are not exact. If a room is running behind due to some technical difficulty, challenge, overtime, or any number of other circumstances, it could throw half of the games off schedule.
    • What are lunch/snack arrangements during tournaments?
      • At tournaments, there is often the opportunity to purchase pizza for lunch. We will send out a notice before a tournament asking who would like to purchase pizza and buy them as a group.You are, of course, welcome to bring your own lunch for you and your child if you do not want pizza. There is rarely time during the lunch break to go off site for lunch so we will be having lunch at the tournament site unless otherwise noted.
      • Snacks and drinks are normally for sale at the tournament.
    • What are the travel arrangements to get to a tournament?
      • If the tournament is not local (i.e., at CHS or BMMS), parents will drive their children to the site of the tournament.
    • Who gets to play in a tournament?
      • Tournaments that do not require a student or team to have qualified in a previous tournament or on an exam (for the History Bee) are open to all Burleigh Manor It's Academic Club students. Students who have attended at least some of the practices and have registered for the tournament before the tournament deadline will be eligible to participate.
      • As mentioned above, the regional and national tournaments require students/teams to qualify to be invited to these events. Coaches will notify students individually who qualify to participate in these tournaments.

How can my child improve at Quizbowl?

    • Please see the page Study Aids for suggestions.
    • Attending practices significantly increases a player's performance in tournaments. Knowing the material is important, but there are a lot of techniques and skills that help a player get to the next level of quizbowl competition.

General questions:

    • What are the costs associated with Burleigh Manor It's Academic?
      • After school practices are free.
      • Tournaments range in cost. Local tournaments cost $10 - $18 per player depending on entry fees and student participation. Regional and National tournaments cost more ($50 - $100+) depending on the tournament. We do our best to get entry fee discounts by providing buzzer sets (graciously lent to us by the CHS It's Ac team!) and readers (again, thanks to CHS students and parents of the It's Ac team!). We also sometimes have the opportunity to run the concession stand at a tournament to raise money where Burleigh Manor It's Academic families donate drinks and snacks to sell at the tournament and the money made from these sales goes towards entry fees for the teams at future tournaments.
      • We have a Trivia Night in February/March as the only fundraising. Parents will be invited to contribute.
    • How are teams divided up/determined?
      • The coaches take a lot of time to place students on teams for tournaments, as well as practices, that we feel benefit the individual as well as the teams. There are many factors that go into this decision. For the tournaments, we try to balance the team with students who we notice, or are told by the student, they have a particular interest in a specific discipline. If there are two students who excel at answering science questions, we wouldn't want them to be on the same team. We would assign them to different teams so two teams could benefit from having someone who is strong in science. Knowing this, it is important for parents and students to understand that being on the 'C' team does NOT mean they are better or worse than the students on the 'A' team.
      • For practices, the coaches try different combinations of teams to try out how a team works together or just to have fun. However, if we are preparing for an upcoming tournament, we will try to keep the teams as they are going to the tournament so they have the opportunity to practice working with each other.