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 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 Hey guys! How's it going? We've got some time of awesome preparation on our hands! Whether you're in prep for nationals, or cramming for regionals in a couple weeks, God is with you and He is enabling you to do your very best - no matter what. :) Today I'm gonna touch specifically on the subject of doing multiples! Giving multiple question/answer combinations is a basic necessity once you start pre-jumping earlier, and it gives you way better chances at getting it right. The guidelines for doing multiples are on page 12 of the official rule book, and those are great to read over, in order to get a feel for how they're supposed to go. Here are the main points:
But obviously, there are a lot of differences in how you can do multiples because of the different question types, and there are specific rules for them as well. Lets go over those real quick... Generals & Situation: All of the questions have to come from the same passage I have a few posts about generals, but I think the one that mainly discusses pre-jumping and multiple-ing is my 7 Secrets to Rocking Generals - Part 1, and Part 2. Also, the categories on "Questions" and "Technical Quizzing" will have some great related posts as well! According To's: All of the questions have to come from the same verse I haven't done according to's for very long, and I haven't really ever made it my specialty, but I've learned a little about them anyway. The main thing in my opinion, is to try to get all the main areas of the verse, and to not bother saying the inverses of the questions you already asked - it'll just take up time. Book & Chapters: All of the questions have to come from the same chapter These questions (and Contexts) pair nicely with general question quizzers, I think, because both types give only a few words for the quizzer to go off, and the quizzer has to pin-point where the phrase originates, and then complete it. These usually start at the beginning of a verse, but sometimes at the beginning of a statement which could be in the middle of one - just try to become familiar with the passages inside and out :P Contexts: Question multiples may come from anywhere - different verses, chapters, and books You really have to be a good reflex jumper in order to specialize in these, because they're kind of unpredictable, but they're also a lot of fun, and easy to multiple on! Memory Verses: CANNOT be answered with multiples Doing multiples on according to's is probably the most common at higher-level tournaments. The quizzer typically jumps on the reference and then gives all of the possibilities they can from that verse, and that takes a lot of work to be able to do! I whole-heartedly commend anyone who has made according to's their question specialty! :P For all the other types (except memory of course) multiple-ing is slightly less frequent, but nonetheless necessary. The pre-jump information narrows down the search most of the time, but that is often only enough to figure out which passage the question is coming from, and not enough to figure out what exact question it is, so it's a good idea to ask a few different variations, once you think you know where it's heading. So there we go!
If you'd like more information on the guidelines for multiples, there's a button on the right hand side of my page that says "Official Rules" and that will take you directly to the online booklet. Also, I believe that the app for Teen Bible Quizzing includes the rule book as well, so that's an awesome and convenient way to get familiar with it too. :) Man, isn't this an awesome ministry we get to be part of? It's giving us the tools and motivation to dig into God's Word, and opportunity to play games with it along side other youths who are seeking the Lord as well. I'm SO excited about next season, with 1-2 Corinthians, and I've got some plans and ideas for the blog that I'm really looking forward to - I'll try to give y'all a sneak peak here in a few weeks! :P Anyways, God loves you sooooooo much! He calls you beautiful, perfect, holy, anointed, gifted, and blessed to be a blessing! We are all made on purpose with a purpose - don't let the devil deceive you into thinking that you don't have anything significant to give, because he's just terrified about what will happen when you begin to flow in the gifting and calling that God has placed specifically inside of you! Have a wonderful day and week my friends! And as always... Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory Hey guys! Today I thought I would talk to you a little about "next level quizzing". This can be both from the perspective of rising to your next level and improving yourself, or from the perspective of rising to the level of the best. Where are you in your goals right now? Where do you want to go? How hard are you willing to work? Also, you may want to check out my post about different levels of quizzing which has correlating, color coated, printable study guides! To me, there are three main areas in which we can focus on becoming better: studying, jumping, and answering questions. Studying - Time, Quality, and making a Schedule Time is essential; you may get a lot from the material from focusing well over short periods of time, but soaking in it is a good idea - especially for captains/co-captains (so that we get a deeper understanding of what's going on). We need to make sure that the time we are spending studying is actually having an effect - that we not only have quantity, but also quality. If we're not paying attention, we might not get much (if anything) out of the session. A sacrifice of time, together with our full attention, can have some awesome results! Making a schedule is also a good idea if you're having trouble getting into it. Knowing what to study and fun ways to do so is very helpful when you're struggling to find motivation. If you don't make a schedule regularly, my post "Composing a Simplistic Study Outline" would be a great place to start! Jumping - Pre-jumping, Team Strategy, and Reflex/Timed Styles Pre-jumping is a basic necessity for taking quizzing to the next level. It can seem a little daunting, since you have to finish the question and answer it, but after some practice it becomes a piece of cake! You have to get out of your comfort zone to pre-jump sometimes, and you have to assume that you know all the answers, so that you don't have to analyze it before you jump - as my old coach used to say, "Think on your feet, and not on your seat". In tournaments, its a good idea to have a team strategy. For example, someone to jump on memory verses, someone to jump on according to's, generals, etc. so that everyone knows what to focus on in the quiz round. Also, team strategy through splitting up the questions helps the individual quizzers know what to practice/study, and helps the team to support each other and share the load against a good opponent. The way I see it, there's two pre-jumping styles: reflex and timed. The timed-style is usually what the memory and according to quizzers use. They practice jumping on their question specialty, so that they jump right as the necessary information is revealed (i.e. just as the first syllable of the verse, or verse reference, is said) which is pretty consistent for these types. The reflex-style, on the other hand, requires the quizzers who specialize in pretty much all other types of questions, to hear what the quiz master is saying, and then anticipate when the unique information will be given. For general questions, it can be anywhere from two to five syllables, for situation it can be as little as the first sound, and contexts are kind of unpredictable. Question specialty - Why, How, and Studying Accordingly Pretty much all of the top quizzers choose and focus on a specific question type, and we call that their question specialty. When you have one type of question to focus on, it makes practices more intense, study time more beneficial, and tournaments simpler. Also, you're better able to help your team, by giving them some near-guaranteed points per round, as the fruit of your work. Most people find their question specialty either their first or second season, and that just by figuring out what they enjoy the most and what they're best at - and then they usually sick with and build on that for the remainder of their quizzing career. You can switch your question specialty later on (I'm focusing on according to's right now for my team, even though my original specialty was generals), but it can be difficult. Of course, each question type requires slightly different skills, and many different ways to study and practice them. In my post about Behind the Scenes of Top Ten Quizzers, I asked five different people what their number one tip would be for their question type - two according to quizzers, two general question quizzers, and one memory quizzer. And since I specialized in generals, I wrote a Part 1 and Part 2 about how to rock those! Taking yourself to that next level is definitely a challenge, but it's nothing you can't handle! I would encourage you, that while you're improving yourself, to not lose focus of why we're doing this.
In the end, the person who places thirtieth at a tournament could be getting more from the material, and growing more in their walk with the Lord through quizzing, than the person who gets first. Ask Him why He said what He did, and what those weird parables mean, why the drops of His blood and sweat had your name written on them. When we do well in quizzing, as we're learning to do, we have to make sure that it's actually accomplishing some eternal good - or else it means nothing. But the awesome news is, that once Jesus is the foundation and center of our motivation, quizzing becomes so much easier! It destroys any performance-related stress, gives the sport real purpose, and enables you to grow closer to God while participating in an awesome and fun ministry! I hope that these things help you along on your quizzing journey, and motivate you to keep chugging along in your walk with the Lord! Thanks for reading! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory Hi everyone! As promised, this is going to be the second part to my previous post, "7 Secrets To Rocking Generals" in which I cover the first three secrets, which are essential. Here I will discuss the next three (equally important) secrets I've learned. The fifth tip I have for you, is to be very, very, persistent in going over questions in the passage your studying. Here are three reasons to add it to your study list;
Now, imagining might sound a little childish, but adults use their imaginations on a daily basis as well, even if they might not recognize it as their imagination. For example, giving someone directions, you don't have a passage memorized of words that you rattle off to people - you just see the streets, turns, and stop lights in your head, and that's imagination, because it is being able to form a picture of something that isn't real, or present. It's not just for fantasy and playing dress up :P And the final tip I have for you that I've learned about generals, is that it's important to take advice from other question specialists, because techniques they use than be applied (maybe not exactly the same way) to studying for generals as well. According to's, for example, spend a ton of time and effort memorizing huge passages of scripture, and for general specialists, it's a good idea to invest some time focusing on important sections, and especially lists (which are very, very important in the gospels and for generals). Another thing that according to specialists are quite skilled at is laying out multiples at every possible opportunity. For generals, especially at a high level of pre-jumping, it's profitable to learn to multiple effectively, with good organization, speed, and accuracy. And also, if you know any memory specialists, then don't be afraid to ask them to teach you about lip reading. Especially when you get to a fast pre-jumping quiz, lip reading becomes really important to be able to get that last little syllable. I hope that these little tips help you, and that it proves easy to remember the real reason we quiz. Keeping this in our minds makes quizzing a whole lot less stressful, and immediately shoots the fun factor way up! :P Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! And as always, signing off as your fellow quizzer, Mallory |
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