Frequently Asked Questions

What is this?

This is a friendly reading competition between DoDEA PAC West Secondary Schools. Participation is completely voluntary and will not have any effect on grades.

Who can participate?

Students from Daegu Middle High School, Humphreys Middle School, Osan Middle High School, and Humphreys High School can participate, along with faculty and staff from each school. Family members are welcome to play along, but cannot earn points.

Do I need parent/guardian approval to participate?

Yes, please talk to your parent/guardian first before joining the competition. Remember the participation is strictly voluntary, but you must have parent/guardian approval before you are allowed to participate.

What book are we reading?

We are reading the first Harry Potter book. The book was originally published as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in the UK, but they changed it to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the US edition.

Where can I get the book?

The first Harry Potter audiobook is currently available to stream for free online (in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Japanese) from Audible Stories. The ebook and audiobook are also available for free to download/checkout from Army MWR libraries, and the ebook is free on Amazon for Amazon Prime members (please talk to your parent/guardian for assistance).

What if I've already read the book before?

Then think of this as a time to revisit what happens and make fun Harry Potter crafts!

Even if you're only interested in the Trivia Competition, you might want to re-read the book along with everyone else, as some of the questions are going to be tricky! Mwahaha.

Besides, the more students from your school who participate (whether they've read the book before or not), the higher chance you will have of being House Cup Champions.

When will the competition take place?

The competition will open the week of April 20th, and will go until May 22nd.

Where will we compete?

All challenges will take place virtually through the Google Site page for this competition.

Do we have to participate in every single challenge?

Not if you don't want to! Your level of participation is totally up to you. If you're too busy to do the challenge that week, that's fine. If you're only interested in doing the Trivia Competition, that's fine. You do you!

Can we participate even if it's past Week One?

Yes! If you didn't find out about this until later, or were too busy at the beginning to participate, that's totally fine; we welcome all latecomers! Just start at the beginning and do the bits you want to do; go at your own pace and don't worry about trying to catch up with the official schedule.

You won't be able to compete in the Trivia Competition of previous weeks, but if you take the Trivia Quiz, you can still earn participation points for your school. If you've read the book before and want to jump into the current week's Trivia Competition, you are more than welcome to do so.

How do we earn points?

There will be a series of challenges, including participation in polls, creating things, and Harry Potter trivia.

How does the Trivia Competition work?

Each week, there will be a Trivia Quiz based on that week's reading. The link to the Trivia Quiz will be added to that week's information on The Challenges page of the Google Site; it will be available by noon on Thursday and is due by noon on Friday. For the Trivia Quiz, you will be competing against the other people at your school, and the winner will go on to compete in the Trivia Match against the winners from the other schools.

If you are your school's winner, you will be contacted by 1pm, so you will be ready for the Trivia Match against the other schools at 3pm. Please RSVP no later than 2pm, otherwise we will contact the next runner-up and have them compete in your place. The Trivia Match will be held via Google Meet, and you will be given access to the game at that time.

Everyone who takes the Trivia Quiz (no matter when they submit it) will earn participation points for their school; however, only students who submit their answers by noon on Friday can be in the running to compete in the Trivia Match against the other schools. Trivia Quiz winners, and the Trivia Match winner, will earn points for correct answers, in addition to their participation points.

The final Trivia Match will be the Trivia Cup Final, which will be harder, and will have questions from the whole book; however, since it is harder, there will be more points up for grabs!

After the Trivia Cup Final, we will add up the points for the correct answers each House earned each week to determine the Trivia Cup Champions.

Who is winning?

Track the current rankings on the leaderboard on the Home page.

How will we find out who won?

The school with the most points at the end will be House Cup Champions, and the school with the most points for correct answers will be Trivia Cup Champions. Both winners will be announced on Monday, May 25th on the Home page.

How are points tallied?

The short answer is, the number of points a school gets for a particular activity depends on how many points that activity is worth, and the percentage of students who participated at that school. The reason we based this on percent participation, rather than just the number of students who participated, is to make it fair for every school, no matter the size. If we just counted the number of students who participated, bigger schools would have the advantage, because they have more potential participants.

If you want the long answer (and we do mean long!), you can check out all the math we used to figure it out here.

How many people are participating?

Participation will vary depending on the activity; however, the current number of people who are signed up is 203. [Last updated: 05/20 @ 8:00am]