#1 -Family Quiz Night
Left home on Thursday morning and made the 8/9 hour drive and arrived at the Bee venue in the O'Hare area in time for family quiz night.
This contest included roughly 60 to 80 family teams-this was a relatively small percentage of the total contestants in the Bee.
The format included 4 rounds of 30 questions each in a fill-in-the-blank format. The questions were projected on a screen and 30 seconds was allowed for each question.
After each round-the top 3 teams were recognized and each received a $10 gift certificate to the hotel store.
Team Spock finished in first place for Round 1 and second place for Round 3. We did not place the other 2 rounds.
The winning team had 93 points-we did not keep track but we could not have been far behind-they showed the answers. They only announced the Winning Team. We figured we were Top 5 for sure, possibly Top 3.
We noted that the winning team was based on a 7th Grade regional champion from North Carolina with his parents and grandparents. The differing age brackets helped in this contest. For example, there was a question on the Long March in China that probably is more widely known among those of a certain age-We got that one right.
My personal favorite question was "What name of an earlier battle did the Union Soldiers yell at the Southern soldiers during Pickett's Charge? Fredericksburg
Next up-The Geography Olympiad on Friday morning.
National History Bee Report
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Spock
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Re: National History Bee Report
#2-Friday Morning-The Geography Olympiad
Step 1-The Geography Olympiad opened for Littlest Spock with a 30(or 40) question Map Challenge. He came out shaking his head. He thought it was pretty hard.
Step 2-Next up was a 30 question "World Geography" Buzzer round.
I love the way they run Buzzer Rounds. There are 8 to 10 contestants per round. Once you answer 8 questions you are out-earning a sliding bonus based on how early you win out. For example, if you get the first 8 questions, you earn 12 bonus points-all the way down to 1 bonus point if you get your 8th point on question 29.
You are also booted out (but you keep your points) if you have 4 "Incorrect Interrupts". No penalty for wrong answers after the question is completed.
The World Geography buzzer didn't go real well for Littlest Spock. He got a couple or maybe 4.
This round leads to me first complaint of the weekend. There were many very hard words in this category and the reader did a very poor job of pronunciation. Many times the words only became clear to me once the question was complete and I could place them in context.
Step 3-World Exam-same format as the Family Quiz night-He thought this was hard as well.
Step 4-"United States Geography Buzzer Round"-This went well for Littlest Spock-He went out with 8 points at about Question 22.
Step 5-US Geography Exam-This went better for him than the world exam.
He placed 28th out of about 130 7th Grade geography contestants. So we were very happy with that result.
Step 1-The Geography Olympiad opened for Littlest Spock with a 30(or 40) question Map Challenge. He came out shaking his head. He thought it was pretty hard.
Step 2-Next up was a 30 question "World Geography" Buzzer round.
I love the way they run Buzzer Rounds. There are 8 to 10 contestants per round. Once you answer 8 questions you are out-earning a sliding bonus based on how early you win out. For example, if you get the first 8 questions, you earn 12 bonus points-all the way down to 1 bonus point if you get your 8th point on question 29.
You are also booted out (but you keep your points) if you have 4 "Incorrect Interrupts". No penalty for wrong answers after the question is completed.
The World Geography buzzer didn't go real well for Littlest Spock. He got a couple or maybe 4.
This round leads to me first complaint of the weekend. There were many very hard words in this category and the reader did a very poor job of pronunciation. Many times the words only became clear to me once the question was complete and I could place them in context.
Step 3-World Exam-same format as the Family Quiz night-He thought this was hard as well.
Step 4-"United States Geography Buzzer Round"-This went well for Littlest Spock-He went out with 8 points at about Question 22.
Step 5-US Geography Exam-This went better for him than the world exam.
He placed 28th out of about 130 7th Grade geography contestants. So we were very happy with that result.
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MarleysGh0st
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Re: National History Bee Report
Congratulations to Littlest Spock!
He'll be back even stronger next year!
He'll be back even stronger next year!
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Spock
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Re: National History Bee Report
Just looked up the results-he got 34th out of 149 in the Geography Olympiad. There were ties so about 200 took part.MarleysGh0st wrote:Congratulations to Littlest Spock!
He'll be back even stronger next year!
The story will continue, and I have some thoughts on the competition that I will talk about later, but he got shellacked(but still finished mid-range) in the actual History Bee. Tough competition. He is a big fish in a very small pond here, going against kids from the top private schools on the East Coast and elite kids from the Silicon Valley.
He doesn't quite grasp what that means in academic competition circles. I suspect PSM's kids moved in those elite circles.
We kept telling him that he was the only 5-sport athlete there (Football, Basketball, Golf, Trap and baseball) and he was the only kid who would be poisoning rats in the barns on Monday (today). He ended up not doing that today-but he is likely the only competitor driving tractor today.
I hope we can get him to go again-
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Spock
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Re: National History Bee Report
#3-Friday Afternoon-"The National Citizenship Bee"-
One of the side events we signed Littlest Spock up for was "The National Citizenship Bee". Was slightly different than I thought it might be. Lots of questions on artists and so forth that are not in Littlest Spock's wheelhouse.
He finished in 16th out of 27 with 2, 3 and 5 points in each round of 30.
One of the side events we signed Littlest Spock up for was "The National Citizenship Bee". Was slightly different than I thought it might be. Lots of questions on artists and so forth that are not in Littlest Spock's wheelhouse.
He finished in 16th out of 27 with 2, 3 and 5 points in each round of 30.
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Spock
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- Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:01 pm
Re: National History Bee Report
Friday Evening-Pop Culture Challenge
This was another side event that we signed him up for. 3 buzzer rounds and he again finished roughly in the middle.
My favorite question that he got correct all week was this one. The questions all have about 4 clues, starting with the obscure and getting more obvious as the question progresses.
"This actor won an Oscar for The African Queen; This actor...Maltese Falcon."
Littlest Spock buzzed in and correctly said "Humphrey Bogart".
After this question, one parent, that we got to kind of know over the weekend, asked us a question that you would not expect to hear at this type of event. "How did he know Humphrey Bogart"?"
I guess making him watch "The African Queen" paid off. He later told us that his thought process was that he was trying to think of the Casablanca guy during the question.
This was another side event that we signed him up for. 3 buzzer rounds and he again finished roughly in the middle.
My favorite question that he got correct all week was this one. The questions all have about 4 clues, starting with the obscure and getting more obvious as the question progresses.
"This actor won an Oscar for The African Queen; This actor...Maltese Falcon."
Littlest Spock buzzed in and correctly said "Humphrey Bogart".
After this question, one parent, that we got to kind of know over the weekend, asked us a question that you would not expect to hear at this type of event. "How did he know Humphrey Bogart"?"
I guess making him watch "The African Queen" paid off. He later told us that his thought process was that he was trying to think of the Casablanca guy during the question.
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Spock
- Posts: 4860
- Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:01 pm
Re: National History Bee Report
My personal favorite question of the whole weekend took place in the Pop Culture round.
The answer was "Cecil the Lion." The kid got it on the 3rd or 4th clue in the question which was "Shot by a Minnesota Dentist."
I am still absolutely flabbergasted at the first obscure clue in the question which roughly went like this.
"This individual is a member of a species that is found in the Bubye Conservancy."
That is really getting into the tall grass of obscurity. I am familiar with the Bubye and I have posted about it here. It is a million-acre former cattle ranch in Zimbabwe that has been converted to a hunting and wildlife property. 50 years ago it had no lions, now they have about 400.
It has been in the news in the hunting/conservation community because if they can't sell trophy lion hunts there, they are going to have to kill the population. But the general population would have little or no knowledge of it.
For example, I follow Ivan Carter on Facebook and here are a couple of his comments
https://www.facebook.com/ivancartersafrica/
>>>"A historical moment on Bubye Valley Conservancy, with Julian Fennessy from giraffe conservation foundation. We collared the first giraffe ever collared in Zimbabwe. The Bubye Valley Conservancy is the largest giraffe population in private hands in Africa. Amazing to think that just 30 years ago it was mostly cattle and now thriving wildlife. We often overlook giraffe but actually they are heavily threatened in many parts of Africa as they are used for bushmeat. This is the first step into what could hopefully become a very worthwhile study by GCF on Bubye!!"<<<<
>>>>"On Bubye Valley Conservancy. We were looking for an adult female to collar. Lots of giraffes here but the population appears to have declined due to the incredible success of their lion project. Some good research will go a long way here on this property. Very pleased to see this great initiative starting with Bubye Valley Conservancy and the giraffe conservation foundation."
If I am writing the question, I use "Serengeti" or even "Hwange National Park" instead of "Bubye." The question writer must be interested/knowledgeable of Safari Hunting/conservation. I can guarantee that I am one of the only parents there who has ever heard of the Bubye Conservancy.
The answer was "Cecil the Lion." The kid got it on the 3rd or 4th clue in the question which was "Shot by a Minnesota Dentist."
I am still absolutely flabbergasted at the first obscure clue in the question which roughly went like this.
"This individual is a member of a species that is found in the Bubye Conservancy."
That is really getting into the tall grass of obscurity. I am familiar with the Bubye and I have posted about it here. It is a million-acre former cattle ranch in Zimbabwe that has been converted to a hunting and wildlife property. 50 years ago it had no lions, now they have about 400.
It has been in the news in the hunting/conservation community because if they can't sell trophy lion hunts there, they are going to have to kill the population. But the general population would have little or no knowledge of it.
For example, I follow Ivan Carter on Facebook and here are a couple of his comments
https://www.facebook.com/ivancartersafrica/
>>>"A historical moment on Bubye Valley Conservancy, with Julian Fennessy from giraffe conservation foundation. We collared the first giraffe ever collared in Zimbabwe. The Bubye Valley Conservancy is the largest giraffe population in private hands in Africa. Amazing to think that just 30 years ago it was mostly cattle and now thriving wildlife. We often overlook giraffe but actually they are heavily threatened in many parts of Africa as they are used for bushmeat. This is the first step into what could hopefully become a very worthwhile study by GCF on Bubye!!"<<<<
>>>>"On Bubye Valley Conservancy. We were looking for an adult female to collar. Lots of giraffes here but the population appears to have declined due to the incredible success of their lion project. Some good research will go a long way here on this property. Very pleased to see this great initiative starting with Bubye Valley Conservancy and the giraffe conservation foundation."
If I am writing the question, I use "Serengeti" or even "Hwange National Park" instead of "Bubye." The question writer must be interested/knowledgeable of Safari Hunting/conservation. I can guarantee that I am one of the only parents there who has ever heard of the Bubye Conservancy.