Hey guys! We have something super cool planned for today! Since I've moved up here, I've found some newer quizzers who would like to specialize/grow their skills in Memory and According To questions. The problem was, though, that I'd never really focused on those question types (:P). So, while I was at the national tournament back in June, I talked to some of my friends from the South Texas district (woop-woop), and I asked them if they could help me with this problem. Being the awesome friends they are, they readily agreed! As the result, we've compiled some Q&As about Memory and According To's! Both of these quizzers have quizzed for a good long while, have been on several regional teams, and have competed at the highest level with these question types - they know what they're talking about! :P So here we go! Lets start with the Memory questions! (Answers by Olivia) Q: What's the best way to get all of the memory verses memorized? A: "The best way that I've found to memorize all the memory verses is to start on the first one and memorize it over the course of one day. Then the next day, making sure that you can still quote the first verse, move on to the second verse. On the third day, review the first and second verses and then start on the third. Continue this process until you know all the memory verses really well." Q: What's the best way to learn all of the verses' pre-jumps? A: "I like to put my memory verse flash cards in alphabetical order and quote the verses that way for a couple days. After a while you'll start to remember the order of the flash cards; once that starts to happen, mix them up and try to quote the verses from the pre-jumps. I usually repeat the process 4-5 times a month." Q: How do you practice lipreading? (an essential Memory verse quizzing skill) A: "This is going to sound a little strange, but watch yourself in the mirror as you say your memory verses. It'll help you to notice what sounds make certain shapes and to remember which verses start with those shapes. I've even tried watching TV without the sound to see how much I understand, and to get used to seeing words without hearing the sounds they make." Q: What is the right time to jump, and how can you practice jumping at that point? A: "It's hard to say exactly when to jump on a memory verse just because every quiz master is different in how they read the questions. But if the QM bleeds a lot, I usually jump on the last word of the question right before the QM starts to say the first word of the verse (like 'finish this verse and give the reference--jump). If the QM doesn't bleed a lot, I usually just stick to jumping as soon as I see them form the first word of the memory verse with their mouth." And now for the According To's! (Answers by Megan Marotz) Q: What's the best way to light-study for according to's? A: "On days when I'm in a time crunch or simply lack motivation to put in a big amount of work, I usually just memorize a couple of new verses. That way, you're at least continuing to move forward and make progress instead of missing your study time completely. Or, if I don't have the time to sit down and memorize, I try to listen to a couple of chapters on YouVersion while I'm doing chores or getting ready in the morning." Q: What's the best way to heavy-study for according to's? A: "On days with heavy study, besides memorizing some new verses, I also try to recite the chapters forwards or backwards. This makes it so you can recall the verses more quickly without having to go through the whole chapter, or sections, in your head to be able to find it. "Another way you could do this is to make flash cards for each verse, with the reference on one side and the first 5 words on the other. This further scrambles the verses, and most of the time 5 words is all you need for you to recall the verse, so it saves a lot of time in the creating process." Q: How do you best prepare for doing according to's at a tournament? A: "With your flashcards, pick out a random verse, set a timer for 30 seconds, and try to be able to both recall the verse and say all of the possible questions and answers within the time frame. Most of the time you will go over at first, but with practice it gets easier and you'll be able to do it in the time limit - even though jumping after you hear the reference isn't typically necessary at the beginning of the season. But already practicing this from the get go will make you prepared for the end of the year competitions. "Although, you don't need to go through every verse like this. By doing a small amount of them each day, your mind will get used to the process and will be able to do it even with verses you haven't practiced as long as you have them memorized." Q: What is an easy (beginner) answering strategy, and what is one general tip that's helped you with according to's? A: "A tip that really helped me with according to's was to think of each verse in phrases. This helps you to better keep track of what questions you already asked, and allows you to do it in a faster manner. Also, if you keep track on your fingers of how many questions you've asked, and group them together according to the number of phrases, it keeps your answering process more organized and cuts down on the amount of time needed." And there you go! Thank you so much, Olivia and Megan! And we hope that these help you to improve your memory and according to skills this quiz season.
Speaking of which, it is really sneaking up on us, and it's almost time to start figuring out our strategies for how we're gonna kill it this year! But until then, have an awesome week, guys, and I'll see you next Monday! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory
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Hey guys! I'm super excited to share this with y'all today! I think it'll help you, if you're thinking about trying to make a regional team this season - which you totally should :P. So to follow up the last post I did, about What To Know About Nationals, I decided to compile a list of what I took away from making the SNU and NNU regional teams, and from failing to make a team the year in between :P. So lets get right into it! But first, if you're not yet convinced about why to aim to make a regional team this year, let me tell you how having it as an annual quizzing (and life, in a way) goal has benefited me so much... My second year of quizzing, I really wanted to make a team in order to quiz with one of my quizzing role-models, who was graduating that year. That caused me to work super hard (especially the last half of the season) in order to achieve my goal. This work made me involuntarily discover some important facts about myself and about quizzing; for example, how I study quizzing the best, how to do generals in the best way I know, etc., and it really gave me a boost in quizzing, especially in the area of realizing what I'm capable of, and that I can do anything that I set my mind to. All of us can! But until you get that lens of "I don't know if I can do that" removed, it forces mental limitations on your abilities, and you will be held back solely by yourself. Removing this lens in entirety is, in my mind, one of the most important steppingstones in continually becoming a better quizzer - even after you make a regional team. Also, getting to be on a team with my biggest quizzing role-model (a lot of you will probably know who I'm talking about :P) was a huge motivator, not only to keep quizzing well after that season, but to try and be that kind of role-model for other quizzers - so, if you're reading this (and you know who you are) thank you so much for that! And with no further ado, here are my regional-qualifying takeaways...
This is one of the reasons that I made a team that first time. I had virtually no idea what it took to be on a team, and I didn't know how (or that I even should) measure myself up against the available competition to see how I was doing, and to get an idea for how hard I needed to continue working to prepare. Even days before the qualifying tournament, I was still studying like a crazy person because I was stressed out, and that's because I was severely under-estimating myself. I honestly didn't think that I would make a team, and I ended up getting second in the preliminary rounds, and first in the quiz off (surpassing the number of points I needed to get on the team with that role-model I mentioned previously). But long story short, do above and beyond what you think you need to do, in order to achieve your goals. This gives you some wiggle room in the event that some of your competition has really stepped up their game, and it also gives you more confidence in an intense round (therefore also causing you to perform better). So in conclusion of this point, don't set your goal for the B team this year - make your goal to get FIRST PLACE in the preliminary rounds, and in the quiz off! And work towards those goals, not towards what you believe the minimum to be, to get on a team.
Just to clarify real quick, this comparing (for lack of a better word) does not in any sense imply that we should be looking at other people in order to know whether we should feel good or bad about our own performances. It does mean, however, that we should observe where the rest of the quizzing community is (competition-wise, and in knowledge of the material), in order to know how hard we will have to work to be the best and/or achieve our goals for this season and quizzing in general. If, after making these observations, you realize that you're lagging behind where you would like to be, then adjust your schedule/goals as you are able, and put in the work that your dreams require. If you're doing well, almost at or already achieving what you set out to do, then you have two options: 1) keep up the pace you're at, or 2) create new, higher goals that will keep you straining for that next level, and working your darn hardest. Here's a quick differentiating tool, to make sure that this "comparing" stays on the right side of the line we just discussed: Performance comparing must be conducted within an intellectual and professional state of mind, rather than in an emotional or personal one.
To be fair, this may slightly differ from person to person, but I've found that whenever I really PLAN on reaching my goal, it happens a lot faster than it would if I wasn't completely sure of what I wanted, and committed to getting it. Especially at this level, of getting on a regional team, it's important to know exactly what you need to do in order to get to where you'd like to be - overall and throughout the entire season, each month, each week, and each day. There are three steps to all kinds of success: 1) creating your vision, 2) planning how you are going to tangibly make your way towards that vision, and 3) putting in the hard work that you planned. Creating and writing out your vision for this season, and then planning how you're going to get there (setting tangible goals that you can check off along the way), inspire an incredible amount of motivation and commitment for your end goal (if your vision is something that you actually want). And that newly-created motivation and commitment are what propel you to put in the hard work (step #3 of success) that your vision will require. But if you never sit down and figure out what your vision is, what you really want from this season, and if you don't plan out how you are going to go about achieving that goal, you'll just be running blind - and that never ends well ;P.
But of course, we will all inevitably have those days when we literally don't want to do anything but lay in bed and watch Netflix or read a novel. And those days are hard. Those are the times when even thinking about your vision, and remembering the next steps that you've outlined, don't seem to stir up any energy to get done what needs to get done. What happens then? In order to become (more so) consistent, I've learned that I need to have several places that I can go to, to become motivated to give quizzing (or anything else) my very best efforts - fill up your motivational tool belt and get it done! (For more on motivation, check out my post on "3 Keys to Unlocking Motivation") Now, I honestly can't say very much about the discipline part of this point, because I (admittedly) have not been the most consistent person regarding studying for quizzing (obviously... *cough* GEPCP season *cough*... :P). But I'm working on it, and that's the best any of us can do, right? Nevertheless, here's my one nugget regarding discipline: Recognize the incredible potential, and power that comes with being a disciplined person - being someone who works towards their goals not only on the days that they jump out of bed with excitement for it, but on the bad days, when they literally have sit down (or stand up) with clenched teeth to get to the work, until they remember why they love doing it so much. And there we are!
I hope that these tips help you guys if you're going to try and make a regional team this year - and even if you're not, or if you've already achieved this goal in a previous season, I hope that you were able to take away something that inspires you this week! Whether or not you've already started studying for this season, I hope that the rest of your summer is an absolute BLAST! I love you guys, have an awesome week, and I'll see you next Monday! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory Hey guys! How are y'all? I hope you're having a FANTASTIC week! This week marks the date last year, when we officially moved out of our house back in Texas! I can't believe it's already been a year! And, to tell you the truth, it's been one of the best years of my life. Yes, there was some of hard stuff I had to work through, what with leaving old friends, having to make new ones, and everything else that comes with being a Christian Sophomore. But it's just been an awesome time of discovery in the Lord, growing into who I think I'm supposed to be - and all I can say is thank you Jesus! But enough of that now :P Lets get into this awesome topic today! Throughout my three years of quizzing with SNU and one year with NNU, I've found that there's some misconceptions about making a Regional team, and what it's like to compete on one. And I know that a lot of you guys have already made a regional team (because y'all are just that awesome), and I know a good amount of people who are aiming for the very top in this next season - but I am also aware of the newer quizzers among us. So I'm going to take the time today to go through and tell you a little bit about what I've learned from being on two regional teams, and from competing at two national tournaments. First things first...
Kind of like your first year quizzing, your first time at nationals is most likely going to be a time of figuring out how it actually works, rather than focusing on making first place. Nationals, competing only against the top eighty quizzers in the country, is an entirely new level of the sport - and I'll talk a little more about that later on, in another post. But in general, pushing yourself even harder, when you're already at that high level of competition, becomes much easier once you have a vague idea of what's going on, and what it's like :P 2. Taking chances is the only way to succeed. At nationals, almost every question you jump on will be a toss-up because the pre-jumps are so crazy (given, that the harder you study, the luckier you get on these because your instincts are being honed to perfection ;)), and that means that you have to take a lot of chances. Think of it like this... If you never let the basketball leave your hands, and shoot for the hoop, taking the chance that you may totally miss, you have absolutely zero chance of scoring any points. The people who place the highest at nationals, are those who have almost as many, or even more errors than they do correct jumps! Erroring out with one right jump still leaves you with positive points - and that's a heck of a lot better than leaving with an even zero. If you don't take these necessary risks, people who are less skilled and talented, less prepared, and less experienced will pass you up and place higher for the simple reason that they're taking more chances than you - in addition, the more chances you take, the better your odds will be. But when you do have that unfortunate error out, every once in a while, it's important to know how to shake it off and just go into the next room with a fresh, positive mindset - that persistence, paired with hard work, is what is going to help you place. 3. Be overly compassionate, considerate, sportsmanlike, and Christlike. As you might expect, there are inevitably going to be people who are really stressed out, and who get torn up at larger, more important tournaments. And when that happens, when people have hard days, it's important for us to try and make it a little better. That means watching out for nice things we can do, being respectful and considerate in our sportsmanship during quizzes, and being an encouraging and compassionate face and voice - it will always come back to you. Even if they snap at you during the tournament, just do your best to smile and be kind and understanding, and they'll get over it eventually. I've had to do this a few times, when people didn't like how quizzes turned out, and I can tell you that after they cooled down, they really appreciated that I didn't argue back and make it a big deal - quizzers are generally really cool people :P And last but not least... 4. Those who deal with the stress the best, will place the best. Nationals is usually full of people who are stressing too much about it - and I'm guilty of that, but I'm working through it and this past year was a lot better than my first time :P I did a Part 1 and Part 2 about dealing with "High-Stress Competition" so I won't repeat all of that here, but this is the bottom line: if you have nerves, get rid of them! Enter a state of laser-like focus, where all you're thinking about are the words coming out of the quiz master's mouth, the condition of competition, and getting that one phenomenal jump - get to the place where you can literally anticipate a good pre-jump. If you're overly stressed out about quizzing, to the point where you feel physically sick, you've got the wrong motivations and/or values. If you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong :P Quizzing is an awesome thing! We've only got so many years to do it, so let's do it the best we can and not waste any time stressing over it! So there you are! Four basics of what to know about nationals for when you make a regional team this season! :P (Confidence is vital!)
I have some FIRE posts planned to drop later this month and in August, that will really get you pumped up for this year, so you can be looking forward to that, too! 1-2 Corinthians is going to be super amazing as well, even above what I believe the advances will be in the competition in 2017-2018 - the Lord is going to do some incredible things is our lives this year through the material, so lets throw the door wide open for Him and enter in with EXPECTATION! I'll be coming back will some exciting new developments in this blog soon, in time for the season kick-off, and I know they are just going to rock the quizzing world ;P Anyways, I love you guys SO much, and I hope that this week is the absolute best! I'll see y'all next Monday! But until then, as always... Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory Hello there, world changers! How are y'all doing today? I can't believe how fast this summer is flying by! I'm personally really enjoying the break from quizzing, and even though I obviously love it a lot, it really pays to take a nice and long step back from it. As you can see from the title, today we'll be touching a little bit on the subject of the future - specifically the futures of quizzers, after we graduate. I know that, to some of us, the world outside of high (or middle) school seems pretty far away, and there doesn't seem to be any immediate need to concern ourselves with it. But the truth is, that it'll be here before a lot of us know it, and I can't imagine it would be good to be caught off guard when it finally comes. Quizzing is a difficult thing to leave, because it plays such an instrumental part in so many people's lives, and it works its way into our personalities. Some of us may continue to be involved in quizzing after graduation and through college, and some of us will be so caught up in the awesome work that the Lord has planned for us that we'll have to leave it in the hands of the others - and both of these are awesome! But either way, we're all going to eventually get to that last round - the last few questions of our quizzing careers - and then, suddenly, it'll all be over. And what happens then? If quizzing is such a hard thing to pull away from, and that last round is a thought that inspires dread, then I think I may have a few points to help you with that. But first, answer this question for me... Do you believe that God has a plan for your future, and what do you believe about that plan? First off, He has a specific purpose for every single one of us. We may or may not know what that is yet, but it will be something that we will love, something that we may already be interested in, and something that we will be (or already are) good at. When we're seeking the Lord, it says in Psalms that He will put godly desires into our hearts - those desires are not always (and usually aren't) going to be to move to Africa as a missionary and eat bugs :P God's plans for you are so good! God isn't looking to use people up - to just take them and use up all of the potential and have them work for His purposes until they run out, and then toss them to the side. God wants you so much more than He wants what you can do for Him in this world and in His kingdom! If we never did anything for the Lord in this life, except accepting Him into our hearts, that would be enough! That would be so much more than enough for Him. The Bible says that we were created for fellowship with our creator! That is our primary purpose. When what you're doing or what you're planning on doing with your life, is something that you genuinely love, you're going to be excited about it! That excitement is part of what helps make leaving quizzing a little bit easier. I know that the subject of God's will is a slightly touchy subject within the church, so I'm not going to get into all of that. I think I have a pretty good, solid understanding of it, but I don't think I am qualified enough at the moment to properly relate it to you guys - so I won't :P But here's the bottom line: Seeking the Lord, getting revelations of His love and character, and finding out what your purpose is, will give you a passion for living! Too many people are going to a job they hate every day, just to put food on the table and pay the rent, so that they can go on living and thereby go on doing what they hate every single day. Thats pretty awful! This life is supposed to be one of joy, excitement, fulfillment, and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, reaching the world with the good news, and especially, getting to know our Father better! Don't settle for mediocrity - the Lord has made no one to be normal, average, or below. He designs vessels of success, and the Bible is packed full of His promises of blessings and prosperity! It's a good life, y'all. And even though we'll be forced to explore a new aspect of it after graduation, it is going to be uniquely incredible, and adventurous for every one of us! So there you go! I'll have some links down below that will take you to some of my favorite teachings on the subject of God's will, and they're awesome!
If you have some free time, I would really encourage you to seek this out, listen to the linked pages, and talk to the Lord about it over your coffee! :P Some of my favorite teaching on God's will: pastorduane.com/series/jogw/ Anyways, I love you guys so so much, and I'll see you next week! Keep being blessed, keep seeking our Father, growing in the knowledge of His love and greatness! I pray that you have an awesome week, y'all! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory Hey there, beautiful children of God! How's your summer break going? I hope it's been very relaxing so far! Summer is a great time to think of new goals, dreams and projects to launch, so I just wanted to encourage you to take an hour or two this week, and brain storm some new things to try your hand at this year! Because of the way the Lord wrote your DNA, and designed your personality, there's a pretty darn good chance that the things you're interested in today, will have something to do with your purpose in this world and in His kingdom - may this summer be an amazing time of exploration and discovery! If you haven't seen the first part of this series, Captaining - Part 1, we discussed the basic essentials to being a good captain for your team, and I would encourage you to check that out :P. To build on that today, we're going to be diving mostly into how to give convincing challenges! I had mentioned in the previous part of this series that we were going to go over challenges, rebuttals and appeals in this one, but as I was writing it I quickly realized that challenges were by far the most common, important, and difficult. So I decided to spend a little more time on this one, and really dig into how to do them in the best ways! (I'm going to be saying "challenges/rebuttals/appeals" several times in this post, so for readability reasons, I'm going to abbreviate it into "C/R/A)". So lets get into it! First off, these are the main rules of challenging (you can check out the section on challenges in the rule book, beginning on page 15, by clicking the "Official Rules" button link on the side bar of this page):
And that's pretty much the gist of it. But there's a lot more to challenging than meets the eye. There's a lot of sportsmanship to be displayed when giving C/R/As, and part of that is knowing when to stand, and when to sit. When to stand:
When to sit:
On another note, in order to make the best arguments possible, define the points of view from which you could be standing, and which one(s) will best set you up for success. So far, I've identified two main points of view for C/R/A: Technologically and Theologically. And here's what I mean by those labels: Technologically C/R/A is coming from a standpoint on the rule book, which (in the event of a challenge) can include how multiples are given and where their multiples came from in the material, important grammar mistakes when giving a multiple or finishing a question, pronunciation issues (very rare), etc.. It's really important, as mentioned in the previous part of this post, to know the rule book in order to technologically C/R/A in a clean manner, and with effective results. Theologically C/R/A is what quizzers usually employ. Challenging from this POV is what happens when a quizzer leaves out a piece of the answer, and the challenger is arguing why that piece of information is important (if you're challenging negatively) or unimportant (if you're challenging positively). Whether it is important/unimportant to...
Both of these can be given in a very respectful, sportsmanlike manner, but I personally try to argue from the theological POV when possible, and technological when I have to. I feel like this reflects what I believe the main purpose of quizzing to be, but it's a personal choice that I would encourage any captain (or quizzer, in general) to consider. But of course, both of these POVs, in any given challenge, can really just depend on the quiz master. Although there is probably more deviation within the theological category, because the rules are just the rules, and pretty much everyone has a slightly different interpretation and understanding of the Word :P When you give your challenge, try to find one or two (preferably two) strong points and focus on those, trying to keep yourself short and to the point, with articulate and persuasive language (including inflection, volume, emphasis, vocabulary, organization of ideas, and presentation of the heart of your opinion). But, all of that being said, the best challenges come from an area of conviction (admittedly found more often in theologically-based arguments rather than technologically-based ones :P). Believe in what you're arguing, and have a heart planted deeply into the Word that we're playing these fun games with, with understanding through revelation from the Spirit inside you. I hope this helped you guys today! I know there was a lot of information, but I hope a few of the points stuck, so they can give you a little boost over the hurdles along our quizzing journeys :P
In the next part of this series, we'll be going over rebuttals, appeals, and how to deal with C/R/A-related disagreements, inside and outside the quiz areas! I pray that you are all having a fantastic week, and summer break, and that it continues to be blessed! Love you guys! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory |
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