INTRODUCING COLLEGE QUIZZING TO SCHOOL CHILDREN: (PART I)

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As the date for the organization of QUEST's much awaited 'college quiz for schools' draws nearer i draw myself to think about the pre-requisites and the points to be taken into consideration as regards the setting of the quiz with respect to scoring, question setting and so many small nuances that can be included to make this quiz much more successful in achieving its objectives. It would be very unfortunate that if in the logistical details the big picture (read objectives) of the quiz are forgotten. Hence this effort to jot down what all can be done in achieving this objective.

For the uninitiated QUEST is organizing a quiz aimed at introducing college level quizzing to school children i.e. 9th /10th std. students who are soon going to be in the college scene. It is going be called "Chanaksha" and will be held around 2nd/3rd week of July. Following are a few of the points that can be included in this quiz to help in achieving this goal:

Scoring System:Well since the norm is IR in college quizzing, undoubtedly this should be the system in this quiz. There have been a few arguments that school children will not 'understand' it. I think now that we are all supposedly 'grown up' we should make the mistake that some of our elders made that of under rating school children. I also think that a general consensus has been reached on this issue. However this method should be properly explained to the audience, maybe when the checking of the papers is going on.

Team Names:
Definite yes! Give them examples, tell them what team names are, tell them how they are supposed to be. While registering we can ask them to think of something beforehand instead of telling them at the last moment. This should definitely be done. Maybe 3 excellent team names from the innumerable good ones that we have should be put up somewhere in the hall. Maybe a poster comprising what makes a good name, and etc etc should be put up somewhere.

Connects:
Again a definite yes, i don't know if the QM is going to include connects but i think it should definitely be done but albeit in a small way. There shouldn't be a barrage of connects nor should there be a special connect round. They can be slipped in between, as regular questions, and maybe even a picture connect should be included. This will help a long way.

Familiarizing Trivia:
School children don't know what trivia is. Quizzing is thought of to be rattling away already known facts rather than working out questions etc etc. The concept of workable questions needs to be introduced. I think a good way of doing this will be through the quizmaster himself. There are going be some really workable questions and therefore if no one gets it right the QM should explain the process of working out a question. Not every time but at least once this should be done.

Round Formats:
I think the concept of Rapid Fire must be done away with. Rounds might be content based or format based. This is left to the discretion of the QM and really does not matter. I personally prefer content-based rounds like sports, music etc.

CONCLUDING PART NEXT TIME