Hey guys! I've got one heck of a treat for you today, which has been in the works for a couple months now... A Question & Answer session, with TWO individual first place national placings, and THREE Regional Team first place championships. Mike will end up having one of the most impressive quizzing resumes I've ever seen. But even better than that, he's a super nice, and humble, person as well. So let's jump into this Q&A with Mike Basko, a member of the reigning champs, the Eastern Field! 1) What is one of your favorite ways to study? M: "Because I am such a social person, I struggle a lot to study by myself. So usually I will memorize with my mom. She will read verses to me and I will repeat it until I get the verse down. One other thing I like to do is listen to the audio in the shower. For me, you might as well, because it really is a good time to absorb the materiel because your mind isn’t that occupied. This is what I always tell people that I know are really busy. Everyone can take a few minutes during their shower to listen to the material, especially because the chapters are so easy to listen to this year due to their length." 2) Have you struggled with procrastination? How have habits regarding this affected your quizzing? M: "Not really, to be honest. I have a habit of studying pretty much every day consistently. I also have a personality that I feel guilty if I haven’t studied for a day lol. For me, consistent study is a huge help. Other things that can help is getting a study buddy (a sibling or friend who you enjoy studying with) to keep you accountable in your studying. Another thing to think about is considering where you want to be at the end of the year and using that as a form of motivation." 3) What is one of your favorite quizzing moments? M: "Probably the second national championship we won at Q2018. We had gone 7-7 through the prelims and had our fair share of problems throughout them (including being blown out twice by the same team). However, due to a 5-way tie, we ended up being the second seed by some miracle, worked our way through the playoffs, took down the number one seed and ended up winning it all! It was such a surprise and a super amazing end to the best week of my life. (By the way, if you’re reading this and wondering if you should go to Q this year, you should go. You will not regret it!)" --- Save the link for info on Q2020! Info will be posted by the admin. ---www.nazquizzing.org/blog_posts/485-q2020 4) Who is a quizzer you have looked up to as you have gotten more competitive and why? M: "Calvin and Josiah Reedy. They were seniors in my first year in varsity and really welcomed me into the main quizzing group. They taught me so much and really helped me fall in love with quizzing. I was lucky enough to be on their team for my first nationals and helped them win their first national championship in their senior year. Without them, I would not be the quizzer I am today." 5) What advice would you give to an up-and-coming quizzer, who wants to be more competitive? M: "Set good goals and stick to them. Make sure you know where you want to be by the end of the year. Finding a coach or another quizzer to help you and give you tips (or even to just keep you on track with your quiz goals) can help immensely. Try to go to lots of invitationals so you can compete with some other quizzers. Iron sharpens iron, and quizzing is no exception to that. Getting experience against stronger and more experienced quizzers can really help." 6) How has Teen Bible quizzing positively affected you over the years? M: "I have made so many friends through it, and found that there are great people who will accept you no matter what. It is also super cool how much of the Bible I have learned and memorized, and it helps me to find verses to contribute to discussions or just to think about in my everyday life. In addition, I have been able to travel all over the country and experience all of those places with an amazing group of people. It is the perfect activity for me and my family, and I’m so glad that I have been introduced to it!" 7) What are your favorite things about quizzing? M: "Definitely all the friends I’ve made. All the quizzing people I’ve met have been amazing, nice people who accept you no matter what. There aren’t many environments that are like that and are devoid of stupid cliques. Friends make anything better, and that includes quizzing. I love the atmosphere and people who are in quizzing and they really make quizzing what it is. The competition is cool too, and it is great to get to know a different part of the Scripture every year. It really is the perfect activity in my opinion, and I’m so thankful that God has introduced it to me." Dang, that was awesome.
HUGE, HUGE, HUGE thank you to Mike for taking the time out to write these great answers! I hope this quizzing season for you (somehow) beats all the others you've had, and that the Lord abundantly blesses you for your hard work, and your humble heart. You know, one of the greatest quizzers I looked up to back in 2015, graduated that year. And I remember him thanking God in prayer before the championship round with our team, that "the future of quizzing is in good hands." How cool is that? And the thing I also found cool, when I was in my last round at Nationals this past summer, was that I knew quizzing was in good hands when I stepped out of it, as well. God is so good. Amazing, how that He so passionately pursues each one of us, even to the point of bringing each of us into this blessed thing called Bible quizzing. I can't count how many testimonies I've heard from current and past quizzers, about how Quizzing changed, or straight-up saved their lives. Praise God for His love for us, huh? Guys, I love you, but God loves you way more. I hope you're having a good quiz season so far, and that it just keeps getting better! Remember, you are completely capable of accomplishing any goal that you have, and you have conquering grace. Have an amazing week my friends, and until I see you again, keep quizzing and living VICTORIOUSLY!!!!! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow (decades) quizzer, Mallory
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GUYS GUY GUYS - The official 4-Year TBQJ Anniversary Celebration video!! Literally one of my favorite pieces of content, of all time. It's got EIGHT different quizzing buddies as guests, sharing their favorite quiz moment - you know what, just go ahead and watch it, my boi....enjoy!! I will see you again soon! Love you guys so much, and don't forget to keep quizzing and living victoriously! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory Hey! Here is my brand new YouTube video, I had a fun time filming and editing this one (sorry it took so long...), so I hope you enjoy it too! Here is where you can get FREE access to that printable Resource Library, and sign up for those Newsletters: CLICK ME! Love you guys, and I'll see you again soon! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory Hey guys! How are y'all doing? Corinthians treating you alright so far this year? I don't know about you, but even this early into the season, I'm already impressed and encouraged by all of the progress I'm seeing in the quizzers around me - both in the competition, and in Godly character. Today I've got something pretty awesome for you... a Q&A with a (very) experienced according to quizzer, Nathan Bizeau! After the Q&A, I'm going to come back in and wrap up the post with the three top things that I've learned, in my (much less impressive :P) according to experience. So lets do it! Question #1: Why have you chosen to specialize in According To's in the past? A: "Three reasons: (1) doing them makes me more helpful to my team, (2) they are a tremendous asset to me in high-level competition, and (3) According To's are AWESOME, and great fun to do!" Question #2: Can you describe the most effective review strategy you've found for According To's? A: "After memorizing a chapter, quoting it backwards, verse by verse (beginning with the last verse in a chapter and working back towards the first) is the review method that I most often use. This helps me to be able to identify each verse individually, without depending on the verses preceding it." Question #3: What is a good answering strategy for beginners in According To's? A: "Go through the verse in your head, phrase by phrase, and ask questions so as to cover all the information in the verse. Then go through it again, giving complete answers to your questions. That's the general idea, but you can always experiment with it to find a good answering process that works for you specifically." Question #4: What is the number one thing that has helped you compete well in According To's? A: "Jumping on them... at practices, at quiz meets, basically anywhere I can. That way, when it comes time for the end of the quiz season and the highest levels of competition, I don't have to do much differently than I've been doing all season long." Bonus Question (#5): What is your number one tip for being a captain? A: "Remember that you're not there to make sure the round goes your way; you're there to help keep the round fair (for your team especially)." Woah, guys... that's what a ton of great value looks like! Thank you again, to Nathan, for taking the time to write out all these answers, and for being more than willing to share some of your insight into your question specialty with us! And I know I have no chance at topping the previous section, but since I already promised, here are the three top things that I learned about doing according to's, in my quizzing career:
Memorizing for according to's is a big job - you're memorizing whole books of the Bible, after all - so do your best to stick to your schedule, but remember that it's okay to allow some healthy deviation from the plan. Because, let's be honest, rigidly keeping your schedule isn't the funnest thing ever :P.
Exactly like in an actual round, practicing quoting the verses in a completely random order causes your brain to make the jumps between all the different passages and chapters. I've found that this teaches me how to quickly perform the process of (since I'm a visual person) envisioning the chapter, and finding the page, section, passage, and verse that I'm looking for. When I have practiced like this a good amount before a quiz, I usually always see an improvement in my recall time and accuracy in the actual tournament.
According to's are probably (at least in my opinion) the question type that employs "multiple-ing" the most. Because of that, it's good to know how you can multiple the best. This can include anything from learning how to talk quickly and enunciate well, to having a strategy of how you will cover the entire verse (like Nathan talked about), to remembering the questions you asked so that you can correctly match them with your answers. So there you have it! I hope that you enjoyed this post, and that you feel more confident if you are pursuing a question specialty in according to's. Well, I just got word that my family will be coming to the Olathe invitational next month! I'm looking forward to seeing you all there, and I will be making an effort to speed up my studying between now and then, so that I can compete with all the great quizzers! Next Monday we will be returning to our new series, "Question Specialty", with part two, and I can't wait. Until then, quiz and live victoriously like the royal son/daughter of the King you are. I love you guys! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory Related Posts: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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