Looking for practice material?

Find thousands of free archived packets for practice and study from the Quizbowl Packet Archive!

Search found 25 matches

by PaxHispanica
Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:55 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Missouri High School Preview 2010
Replies: 19
Views: 3613

Missouri High School Preview 2010

who ended up winning the mizzou tournament?
by PaxHispanica
Tue May 19, 2009 8:16 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: College destinations
Replies: 70
Views: 11737

College destinations

uhh... I guess college quiz bowl would be fun. What are the questions like?
by PaxHispanica
Sat May 16, 2009 9:43 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: MSA
Replies: 66
Views: 7350

MSA

I was in Steve M's House. MSA was pretty ballin.

If i remember correctly, there was a valiant attempt at pyramidal questions, but the early clues were ridiculously hard and so it ended up coming down to the giveaways.
by PaxHispanica
Tue May 12, 2009 3:52 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State
Replies: 83
Views: 26347

The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State

It's rather difficult to come up with the amount of math calculation that MSHSAA distribution requires and still have the questions be pyramidal. There is a very small number of askable topics that can be done pyramidally. While the derivative question that Charles just posted is in fact basically ...
by PaxHispanica
Tue May 12, 2009 3:44 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State
Replies: 83
Views: 26347

The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State

Can you honestly say that there's no advantage to at least this much pyramidality in math tossups? Or that the Questions Galore version does just as good a job of awarding deep knowledge as this tossup does? Yes, there is. Which proves that math calc isn't worthless, at least by your own standards....
by PaxHispanica
Tue May 12, 2009 3:31 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State
Replies: 83
Views: 26347

The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State

people want pyramidal questions not out of some neurotic obsession with them, but because they better test deep knowledge of a topic--something I think we all agree should trump basic knowledge in a tossup. That's what I've been saying this entire thread, actually. What no one seems to want to admi...
by PaxHispanica
Tue May 12, 2009 3:03 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State
Replies: 83
Views: 26347

The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State

Thus, saying that "I'm a player, not a writer" is a rather poor argument because good players are both. I'm sorry if I offended anyone with what I said. That being said, that remark wasn't an actual argument in itself. It was poking fun at the ridiculous nature of the original argument of...
by PaxHispanica
Mon May 11, 2009 10:38 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State
Replies: 83
Views: 26347

The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State

It wasn't an experiment as much as their whole approach to math calc which can be found in just about any NAQT IS set for the last decade. Instead of basically saying "find the derivative of 4x2-7x-ln" they'd be written as follows (QUOTING IS68): A first-class postage stamp in Freedonia n...
by PaxHispanica
Mon May 11, 2009 10:09 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State
Replies: 83
Views: 26347

The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State

To clarify my point: 1) Marc proposed a solution to make math q's less of a buzzer race and therefore justify math calc's existence in the distribution. 2) I stated that Marc's solvency had been attempted by some of the foremost experts on mathematics in quizbowl (NAQT) who are more eminently quali...
by PaxHispanica
Mon May 11, 2009 10:00 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State
Replies: 83
Views: 26347

The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State

Doing "research" to make questions take 10 seconds is precisely what NAQT tried to do this is nice, but doesn't actually say what the problem was. It does if you read the rest of the post, instead of cherry picking statements and quoting them out of context to try to prove a point. You se...
by PaxHispanica
Mon May 11, 2009 9:48 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State
Replies: 83
Views: 26347

The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State

The whole point of the High School Academic Pyramid Questions is to make q's that are pyramidal. well, yes... one would assume... lol they provide a combination of teaching new facts, reinforcing old ones, and rewarding those who do learn more about the topic. So do math calculations. No one has ev...
by PaxHispanica
Mon May 11, 2009 9:26 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State
Replies: 83
Views: 26347

The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State

ok, maybe this wasn't clear, but here goes. We don't love pyramidal questions because the name sounds cool. We love them because they eliminate buzzer beaters. I've already talked about how to eliminate buzzer beaters with regard to math calculations. Thus it doesn't really matter that math calculat...
by PaxHispanica
Mon May 11, 2009 9:06 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State
Replies: 83
Views: 26347

The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State

Read here for more argument that it really is something that is pretty unworkable - http://hsapq.com/math.html The arguments on the link are as follows 1. It is not possible to write math calculation tossups in the pyramidal style [because it is ultimately a buzzer beater] I've already addressed th...
by PaxHispanica
Mon May 11, 2009 8:17 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State
Replies: 83
Views: 26347

The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State

Then how come nationally computation is being reduced and reduced into irrelevancy. If a true solution to the problem of keeping computations pyramidal existed, you would think that around the country (and especially universally at the college level) they would have implemented that solution alread...
by PaxHispanica
Mon May 11, 2009 8:13 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State
Replies: 83
Views: 26347

The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State

About the computation thing, I actually think that question falls into a gray area. You can have the same situation in another topic like history--for example, if I buzz in too early on something like "He led United States troops in Vietnam" *Buzz*--Westmoreland--incorrect--"from 196...
by PaxHispanica
Mon May 11, 2009 8:03 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State
Replies: 83
Views: 26347

The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State

The whole point is that math calculations suck and shouldn't be in quizbowl. There's been a lot of debate about this, but I think that on the whole, math calculation is a perfectly acceptable format under certain conditions. People on this forum have emphasized the "theory" behind math, b...
by PaxHispanica
Mon May 11, 2009 7:45 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State
Replies: 83
Views: 26347

The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State

ashkenaziCD wrote:Imagine saying that about any other category of question.
Imagine that math calculation is a different type of question... like, what, are you supposed to blitz math now? :P
by PaxHispanica
Mon May 11, 2009 7:34 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State
Replies: 83
Views: 26347

The computation discussion post-MSHSAA State

Calculate the derivative of 4x<sup>2</sup>-7x -ln(x) That's a legit calculation (although I acknowledge that some people think that's an oxymoron). I don't know why you wouldn't wait until the mod stopped talking, especially when there are plenty of polynomial functions in the real world that have ...
by PaxHispanica
Mon May 11, 2009 5:59 pm
Forum: Tournament Announcements and Discussion
Topic: 2009 MSHSAA State Tournament Discussion
Replies: 113
Views: 25981

2009 MSHSAA State Tournament Discussion

My bad, Charles. Forgive my snarkiness.
by PaxHispanica
Mon May 11, 2009 5:17 pm
Forum: Tournament Announcements and Discussion
Topic: 2009 MSHSAA State Tournament Discussion
Replies: 113
Views: 25981

2009 MSHSAA State Tournament Discussion

Our coach noticed you guys getting several non-canonical QG things that would have made it seem that way. a broad base of knowledge is never going to hurt you, no matter what type of questions you're playing. In our case, Jason Bell knows really obscure things about food, e.g. what a quince is and ...
by PaxHispanica
Sun May 10, 2009 9:26 pm
Forum: Tournament Announcements and Discussion
Topic: 2009 MSHSAA State Tournament Discussion
Replies: 113
Views: 25981

2009 MSHSAA State Tournament Discussion

oh right, I forgot that it's now convention to form conclusions based on the absence of evidence. :D

(in reference to Will's post)
by PaxHispanica
Sun May 10, 2009 8:58 pm
Forum: Tournament Announcements and Discussion
Topic: 2009 MSHSAA State Tournament Discussion
Replies: 113
Views: 25981

2009 MSHSAA State Tournament Discussion

Dude I love buzzer racez so muchzors!!!! I mean, if we didn't have QG, we would never be able to beat other teamzzzzzz!
by PaxHispanica
Sun May 10, 2009 8:51 pm
Forum: Tournament Announcements and Discussion
Topic: 2009 MSHSAA State Tournament Discussion
Replies: 113
Views: 25981

2009 MSHSAA State Tournament Discussion

I don't know what you're talking about, jack, we go to QG tournaments all the time! :P
by PaxHispanica
Fri Apr 24, 2009 7:03 pm
Forum: Tournament Announcements and Discussion
Topic: 2009 MSHSAA Sectionals Discussion
Replies: 56
Views: 17417

2009 MSHSAA Sectionals Discussion

hahaha... I really was about to buzz in with Mao's book on that 2nd most published book question. I'm not sure what stopped me, but I'm glad I hesitated...
by PaxHispanica
Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:11 pm
Forum: Tournament Announcements and Discussion
Topic: 2009 MSHSAA Sectionals Discussion
Replies: 56
Views: 17417

2009 MSHSAA Sectionals Discussion

Some bonuses were inordinately easy while others were ridiculously hard.