Quiz Bowl is an academic organization open to all students where principles, caring and reflection are encouraged along with being risk-takers by competing in a wide variety of categories.  Students should be both open-minded  in their pursuit of winning and competition. All Lamar students are able to participate in Quiz Bowl but teams may be chosen for specific competitions based on student’s participation in practices, tournaments and work on training for the competitions.

How is quiz bowl different from other academic competitions?

Many academic competitions require students to take written tests. Some team competitions are just the sum of student scores on written tests. Quiz Bowl teams are more than the sum of its parts. Quiz Bowl is a dynamic team competition matching one team against one other team. All questions are directed to the competitors by a neutral judge. The students compete with each other to answer questions quickly and accurately. Over half of all available points reward team work. Quiz Bowl is the most team oriented and most enjoyable academic competition available.

Who plays quiz bowl?

Quiz Bowl caters to students in need of an outlet for their intellectual energy. Quiz Bowl students are motivated. Quiz Bowl students aspire to attend top colleges and universities. Quiz Bowl students are curious about the world around them and want to learn about things they may not be able to learn in school (e.g. Opera, Modern Physics, or Japanese Literature).

What benefits do students gain from quiz bowl?

Quiz Bowl challenges students to overachieve. Successful quiz bowl students lead by example, prioritize, effectively communicate, and think critically on the fly. A winning quiz bowl strategy requires patience and discipline--a student does not have to answer every question, he can focus on the subjects in which he is strong and rely on his teammates to answer the questions in other subjects. Teams must work together under a time crunch; efficient and effective communication is required on bonuses. Students are required to integrate critical thinking into their play; students must figure out where a tossup is heading and whether to buzz in a split second. Successful quiz bowl students go above and beyond expectations. Students quickly learn that they are capable of great learning feats with hard work and are empowered to accomplish success beyond what may be thought possible.

What is a typical tournament like?

Tournament registration begins at 8:00 and a team meeting starts at 8:45. The first matches start at 9:10. Each team plays six preliminary matches over eight rounds. A lunch break is taken after round 6. The top 16 teams in each division (middle school, junior varsity, varsity) are seeded into single elimination brackets and played off. Winners of the tournament are declared around 5:30.