Practice Resources
How to Practice Effectively
Below on this page you will find information on how to access both free and paid practice materials. However, simply having the material does not make for an effective practice! There are many strategies which teams use to prepare for quizbowl tournaments, each of which has its own advantages. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Practice "game-style": A reader reads practice packets to the team, who buzz in as if they were playing a real game. This practice method simulates the conditions of a game most closely, and can be useful to practice following the rules for timing, conferring, and correctness.
- Take notes: Students maintain a "quizbowl notebook" where they write down clues and other associations to help them study topics on their own later.
- Specialize!: In this method, each player focuses on their specialty category/ies. For example, a team of four students may divide into a science specialist, a literature specialist, a history specialist, and an arts specialist, with the team dividing up any of the other remaining minor categories. During a practice session, players may concentrate on questions in their category to help them widen their knowledge of that category specifically.
- Guest presenters: With subject matter experts on campus, you may consider inviting them to join you at a practice to present on a topic to your students. An anatomy teacher can review major muscles and bones, a history professor can share major battles, or a librarian can share the basics of classic literature.
- Asynchronous practice: Some teams may find it difficult to gather the team together at the same time to host practices - but that's OK! There are many online resources such as QuizDB that can allow students to practice on their own time. As long as someone checks in and guides the strategy for the team moving forward, being at the same place at the same time need not be a barrier to effective practice.
Free Resources
Many sets of practice questions can be accessed at no charge. The Quizbowl Resource Center hosts a free packet archive of question sets that may be useful to teams preparing to compete at this tournament. Some sets which will be at approximately the same difficulty level as the questions used at the tournament are the SCOP Novice sets (linked here). Other sets with "novice" in their names would also be appropriate, but be forewarned: the quality of editing of any given set may vary, especially as one goes back in time. Please contact tournament director Alex Dzurick for more information on how to use this free archive.
NAQT-Specific Resources
The organization providing questions for this tournament is NAQT, one of the highest-profile and largest quizbowl organizations in the world. In addition to the free community archive, NAQT maintains its own previous years questions and makes them available for a fee. For example, the "New Community College Package" offer provides access to 61 rounds worth of questions as well as additional practice material for $119. NAQT's "practice and learn" tab on their home page would be a great place to start exploring their materials. Questions about NAQT's offerings should be directed to NAQT.