Frequently Asked Questions

Vermont-NEA Scholars' Bowl

Frequently Asked Questions About

What is Scholars' Bowl? VT-NEA Scholars' Bowl is a competition involving questions and answer games where speedy answers are the key to winning. Most people think of it as a more academic form of Jeopardy between high school teams.

What is the goal of Scholars' Bowl competition? The purpose of Scholars' Bowl is to promote academic excellence and give as many students the opportunity to compete against one another on an academic playing field.

Are all the topics like on Jeopardy? Not really. The focus of the questions is primarily in the four basic areas of knowledge: English, science, social studies and math. There are also questions on geography, current events and various other subjects throughout. While Jeopardy deals more with trivia, Scholars' Bowl focuses on academics.

What type of student is ideal for the team? Students with large bases of knowledge and quick recall are the best suited for the Scholars' Bowl format. If a student likes watching and playing against the competitors on Jeopardy or enjoys Trivial Pursuit, then they generally do well in this competition. It is not always true that the best classroom students make the best Scholars' Bowl players; quite often the top classroom students are more deliberate and do not have as quick a recall as Scholars' Bowl players. Scholars' Bowl players can be anyone in your school regardless of their GPA!

What if my students are already involved in other activities and sports? It is quite natural that students involved in Scholars' Bowl are involved in many other activities as well. We do our best to plan competitions during non-sports times, but this is sometimes unavoidable. We schedule our matches around SAT taking but every school has individual activities around that we cannot avoid. Playoff competition dates are made prior to the beginning of the season, and once the regional schedule has been made you will know your season schedule and be able to plan accordingly.

How many students do I need on a team? Teams compete with four on a side for two of the three rounds of competition, and up to six for the other round. You may substitute for as many as you like in between rounds. Technically, you could work with 14 different students during a match, but most use 6 to 8 allowing the top players to play more than one round.

How often do the matches occur? Preliminary matches begin in October and continue through December. Playoffs begin in January, March and conclude the first Saturday in April. Overall, each team is guaranteed to play all the teams in its region on two or three different dates plus at least one playoff match. In most regions, this translates to six guaranteed matches.

What is the tournament format? Teams are in regional groups that meet two or three times throughout the fall with each team in the region playing one another. All teams are in the playoffs which feature two divisions to ensure that newer and smaller programs have a good chance of advancing.

What are the matches like? The matches are like playing on a game show, with three rounds of competition. The first round is 9 minutes of toss-up questions followed by a bonus question to the team that answers the toss-up correctly. The second round is rapid fire: each team is read a list of 10 short answers on a given topic, with the other team afforded the opportunity to give answers missed by the other team. The final round is 9 minutes of toss-up questions.

What is the responsibility of my team to the tournament? Each team pays a one-hundred twenty-five dollar entry fee prior to the beginning of the season to help cover the costs of the tournament.

Once I form a team, how and when do we practice? Teams use different practice methods, some use Trivial Pursuit cards or make up questions while others purchase questions from independent companies (a list of these companies can be provided to you). Practice times vary according to school and student schedules. Some teams meet before school, others after- some teams even meet during school to practice. How often teams meet is varies as well, but it is typical to meet 1-3 times a week for about a half-hour each session.

What other things might we need? While it is not necessary to have, a lock-out (buzzer system) is helpful tool for practice. They can be constructed, but generally are purchased from one of a handful of companies around the country. The typical price on a lockout system is about $400-$500.

Are there any other tournaments in which we can practice? There are more and more tournaments being held each year. Locally, Hanover has an open round robin tournament in the fall, while other schools have done this as well in the past. Additionally, there are other forms of competition, such as the Knowledge Master Open, played in school on a computer disc by the entire team with each team phoning in their results. This tournament takes place in December and April. There are also some northeast colleges that run high school tournaments as well.

What does the winner get? A Vermont State Championship, trophies, your name engraved on the VT-NEA Scholars's Bowl championship plaque, local fame, the pride of the teaching staff, an all expense paid trip to Disneyworld to play in the Panasonic Academic Championship or a comparable championship against many other state and territory representatives.

Is there anywhere else we could get a feel for the tournament and get students in the school interested? We have a website at: www.scholarsbowl.org. This is the official site for all the participants to keep track of all the scores and standings.

How can we get started? First, find a faculty or parent willing to have the time of their life enriching and promoting academics. Next, contact Tournament Director David Rome at vtdavidr@gmail.com to get a contract sent to you and to answer any additional questions you might have including sources for questions, equipment, etc.