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Academic Competition in Education Rules Guidelines General Information
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| SUGGESTIONS, TIPS & GENERAL INFORMATION
GIVING ANSWERS ON STAGE Speak LOUDLY and DISTINCLY INTO THE MICRPHONES. If the quizmaster doesn’t hear an answer, it will have to be repeated and valuable answer time will be lost. Also, remember that the microphones are ON all of the time. Chances are very good that whatever is said on stage may be heard by the entire audience, even if it’s just meant for a teammate!ANSWER JUST WHAT IS REQUIRED Don’t volunteer additional information if it’s not required. If additional incorrect information is given, the entire answer will be wrong. For example, a question asks for a person’s last name. If the correct last name is given but the incorrect first name, the answer will be incorrect. LISTEN TO THE SPECIFIC QUESTION If the question asks for the answer in feet, and it is given in inches, it is wrong. If the question requires the respondent to be specific an answer of flower will not be accepted if the specific answer is rose. OPENING ENVELOPES ON STAGE Never, ever! Open an envelope until the quizmaster specifically instructs it to be opened. Only Standard Mathematics, vocabulary, and Team Choice Toss-Up Questions will have envelopes with copies of the question. Parenthetical directions may be included in the questions that are in the envelopes. These directions may show how to read symbols or equations or pronounce a word. This additional information is for the quizmaster’s benefit – just ignore it. IF QUIZMASTER ASKS FOR AN ANSWER TO BE REPEATED This does not mean that the answer is wrong. It means that the answer was not loud enough or distinct enough. The clock is not stopped, so answer time is wasted by having to repeat it. Also, an answer must be repeated exactly as previously stated - - NO CHANGES. MATHEMATICS AND VOCABULARY These are the only categories in which copies of the questions are distributed to the contestants. The copies have been made from the Quizmaster’s original question card – it may have phonetic pronunciations or parenthetical directions on how to read symbols or equations. Anything that begins with a parenthesis followed by "read;" is solely for the quizmaster’s benefit. In Vocabulary, where the question is relatively simple and there is a choice, the vocabulary envelope will contain two copies of the question, to be shared with teammates. In both the Standard Math and the Team Choice Toss-Up Question envelopes, there will be four copies, on for each team member. ART HISTORY Questions in this category reflect a broad base of knowledge. The reference work from which these questions were drawn includes information on music, general history, theory, literature and the history of various forms of art, in addition to the information on specific works of art. In Art History, there will be some flexibility as to whether the required answer is a first name, last name, or a full name. Frequently, the question will just ask for the name of the artist or sculptor or whomever. This is because many of the artists, like Michelangelo and Raphael, are well known by their first names. WORLD HISTORY SPORTS Several of the questions in this category may cover the history and origin of change the sport. WHENEVER NEAR THE STAGING EQUIPMENT – PLEASE BE CAREFUL Wires and cords are all over the place. The primary concern is to avoid injury. Pulling on the wires could disconnect or damage them, and create unnecessary problems or delays. PREPARATION In Current Events, Shakespeare, Art History, and Literature, you have a very good chance of scoring points if you do the research beforehand! HOW DO YOU WANT AN AUDIENCE TO REMEMBER YOU? Will the audience have a good impression of you and your school from the way you act as a team and as individuals? Will they think you’re really trying to answer (or will they think you’ve given up? Do they think you’re good sports? Do you applaud the other teams when they are introduced? Do you applaud the winner – especially if it wasn’t your team? TO PREVENT ANY MISUNDERSTANDINGS: When seated in the audience, no gestures should be made to teammates on stage during any question or answer period. When a contestant on stage, look anywhere BUT at team member or team advisor in the audience during any question and answer period. Look at the quizmaster, look at the clock, look at your ACE Coordinator, look at anyone or anything on the stage, including each other…just don’t stare intently into the audience when a question is being asked or answered. HOW DO YOU WANT OTHER CONTESTANTS TO REMEMBER YOU? After the contest, either on stage or at the reception, do you make an effort to say something nice to the other two teams – congratulate the winning team or acknowledge that some of their questions were tough, etc? When your school and team hosts a competition, do you make sure that the other students feel welcome – both before and after the contest. If you’re a visiting team, do you thank the host team for the reception? After the contest, if you register a challenge – do you give the impression that you’re trying to take points away from someone else? Have you presented your challenge in a way that shows you’re simply exercising your right by trying to correct a wrong answer or an improper procedure or gain points for a correct answer. Try not to be so intent on winning or so unhappy in not winning that you forget the other students’ feelings. To keep this in perspective, think of how you would feel and react if you were on the receiving end of your actions and words. Hopefully you will enjoy the excitement and challenge that ACE provides while making new friends through your participation. After the contests are played and the season is over, we hope you will have many good memories of the people you have met and the ACE program!
GENERAL INFORMATION ACE (Academic Competition in Education) is an academic quiz competition for high school students. Questions are drawn from fifteen subjects and based primarily on the content of standard high school courses and general scholastic knowledge that students can be expected to have acquired at school or elsewhere. Guidelines for study and specific reference material are provided when the category is not usually a standard high school course. Each school’s team is composed of a maximum of ten students. There are three rounds of contests during the regular ACE season that begins in med January. Each team competes once in each round, and three teams appear on stage in each contest. At the end of this series of fifteen contests, standings are determined by the total points earned by each team in the three contests. The top scoring team automatically becomes a participant in the championship match. The second through seventh place teams compete in the championship match. For the semifinals in mid-March, the Semi-Final One match is composed of teams that finished second, sixth, and seventh. The Semi-Final Two contest matches teams that finished third, fourth, and fifth in regular season play. The winners of these Semi-Final contests and the winner of the regular season participate in the Championship match. All teams start from zero in the semi-finals and the championship match. Scores earned in the regular season are not carried over.
AWARDS In the championship match, first, second, and third place teams win cash awards for their schools of $2,000, $1,500, and $1,000 respectively. A trophy is presented to the season champion after the final match. Individually engraved plaques are awarded to each non-finalist school. Individually engraved plaques are awarded to all finalists, their faculty advisors, and their schools. Certificates are presented to all members of the fifteen competing teams.
PROGRAM CONTENT Questions will be taken from the following subjects: STANDARD TEAM CHOICE TOSS-UP American Government American History Art History Biology Chemistry Current Events Geography Literature Mathematics Physics Shakespeare Sports Vocabulary World History
GUIDELINES FOR QUESTION WRITERS The following items are the criteria established by the ACE faculty advisors to be used by the question writers. RULES
1. NUMBER OF CONTESTANTS Each school team consists of a maximum of ten students. Among these members any combination of four may be used for any contest. These team members will represent their school throughout the entire season. From the time a team plays its’ first contest, regardless of whether the student in question has played in the contest, no replacement of team members will be permitted. On stage, each team should include four students. However, unless there are exceptional circumstances, a school will be represented by the number of students present (up to four) at the scheduled starting time. 2. LATE PENALTY The visiting teams must personally notify the Coordinator of their arrival at least 15 minutes prior to the announced starting time. If any team fails to appear before this 15 minute deadline – without notification by telephone to the host school’s principal or faculty advisor – that team will be penalized ten points. If a four-person team is not present at the scheduled start time, the contest will begin at the scheduled time with those team members who are present (one to four). Late-arriving team members must wait until the mid-point break in the contest to take their place on stage. 3. POSTPONING AND RESCHEDULING A CONTEST On the day of the scheduled contest, a program will be rescheduled in the event of an unforeseen school situation (hazardous road conditions, transportation difficulty, unscheduled school closings, etc.) with no penalty, only if notification is made by principal or designated representative to the Coordinator at least two hours prior to the scheduled starting time. Any team or school violating this rule will incur a ten-point penalty. In the event of a major emergency, no penalty will be given. If it is necessary to postpone a contest, the rescheduled contest will be held as close as possible to the original date – but within the next two weeks – at the availability of the ACE Coordinator, the Quizmaster, and the host school. It is the responsibility of the two visiting teams to comply with the new date. 4. FORFEITING A CONTEST The standards for determining an "inadvertent" no-show versus a "deliberate" no-show will be solely the judgment of the Coordinator. If the Coordinator decides that the team’s absence was "inadvertent", that team will receive a 10-point penalty and the contest will be rescheduled. The remaining two teams will compete in a mock contest. The host school will have the opportunity to host the rescheduled contest at its school. If the host school cannot or does not want to do this, the no-show school is responsible for hosting the rescheduled competition. If a school deliberately fails to appear for a contest, a fine of $400 will be paid before the schools’ next competition or within one month if the contest was the last on the schedule. The money will be distributed as follows: $50.00 to each of the two schools who appeared to compete for the contest $300 to the NWA Academic Association for expenses of the contest Failure to pay will result in automatic expulsion from NWAAA. In the event of a second deliberate no-show, that team will lose its membership in the NWAAA, If the "deliberate" no-show match cannot be rescheduled, the forfeiting team will receive zero points in addition to the $400 fine. The two remaining teams will continue with the contest using the following guidelines: 5. STUDENT ELIGIBLITY Any student enrolled in a participating school in the ninth through twelfth grade may participate. Advanced placement students and others who may be attending another facility for advanced study are eligible as long as they are considered members of their high school and attend it for at least one-half of the school year. Students who are chosen to be ACE contestants do so with the agreement and knowledge that they must fulfill all responsibilities as ACE representatives for their school throughout all of the contests for which their school is eligible. 6. RESOLVING PLACEMENT OF FINAL TEAMS In the event of a tie between two final teams the following procedure will be followed to determine placement for the final seven teams. 6A. TIE GAME In the event of a tie for seventh place, at the conclusion of the regular season of fifteen contests, a playoff contest will be held as soon as possible at the discretion of the Coordinator. Each team will be asked the same set of questions (not necessarily questions from every regular season category). If there is a tie for first place in the Semi-final contest, a play-off competition will be held immediately. A series of five questions (not necessarily questions from every regular season category) will be given. The Quizmaster will read off the questions. The students will be given 20 seconds to write the response on the self-copying sheet provided by the coordinator. At the end of the 20 seconds, the Quizmaster will collect the top copy from each team and give it to the Coordinator. This is repeated for each of the five questions. There is only one answer and no bonus points. The five questions will be given from the following categories: American Government, American History, Geography, Literature, and Physics.
When all questions have been asked, the Quizmaster will read the first question again. A student from each team will announce the team’s answer in the following order: host team, team two, team three) followed by the Quizmaster announcing the correct answer. After each question, the score will be adjusted appropriately – four points for a correct answer, zero points for the wrong answer. This will be repeated for each of the five questions. In the Semi-finals, if the teams are still tied after the second tie-breaker, the tie will be broken by a toss-up sudden death question-category chosen by the Coordinator. (World History) If there is a tie for any position at the end of the championship contest, a play-off will be held immediately. The same tie-breaker rules apply as for the Semi-finals. 7. HOME TEAM Teams will draw for table position in the following order: Host team, Team 2, Team 3. Each host team will draw first and select team choice first as determined by the placement listing in the schedule. Table position is determined by this blind draw. 8. QUESTION SELECTION
9. VALID ANSWERS A valid answer is a response from one student. If another student responds, whether to add to or change the first response, it is considered an additional answer. The only exception to this is Rule 14: "When spelling is required, the Coordinator will stop the clock. Anyone on the team may spell the answer; however, no consultation or additional time will be allowed – the spelling must be given immediately upon the Quizmaster’s direction." 10. ANSWERING OUT OF TURN If a question is correctly answered out of turn by another team, and if the Quizmaster has acknowledged the answer as correct, the team to which the question was originally directed will receive the total points remaining for that question.
11. PROPER NAMES When proper names are part of the answer, the question will ask for a specific name first, last, first and last, or full name. If the full name is requested – first, middle, and last names must be given – no initials. If a student volunteers any additional correct names, nicknames, or initials other than those required, the answer will be accepted. If a student volunteers information that is incorrect, then the answer will be ruled incorrect. 12. ONE ANSWER Only one answer will be accepted for each question. If a team has correctly answered a question first, whether it is recognized on stage or through the challenge process, no other team will receive points for having answered the same question. 13. ANSWER PERIOD In a bonus or toss-up situation, the recognized team must give its answer immediately. The timing will be solely the judgment of the Coordinator. If the Coordinator indicates that a team has not answered quickly enough, that team will lose the opportunity to answer the question. 14. ACCURACY OF ANSWERS If the accuracy of answers is questioned, the Coordinator will consult a third party with expertise in that field (when available, the question writer) who will be the final authority. A panel of three judges will be selected at the Pre-season (Fall) meeting to act as a final appeal court for challenges for the regular season. Judges during the Semi-Final One match will be the lead Faculty Advisor of the teams finishing 15, 14, and 13 respectively during the regular season, Semi-Final Two judges will be the Lead Faculty Advisors representing the teams finishing 12, 11, and 10 during the regular season, and the judges for the Final will be the Lead Faculty Advisors representing the teams finishing 9 and 8 during the regular season plus a third judge selected by the Coordinator. 15. SUBSTITUTE QUESTIONS At the discretion of the Coordinator, substitute questions may be asked during or immediately following a contest or at a later date if: a. a procedural error may have occurred during the contest, b. equipment malfunctions, c. a question is believed to be inaccurate in content or phrasing. If any of these problems are judged valid, the scoring gained on the substitute question will stand and any points awarded originally will be disallowed. In semi-final and championship contests, the winning score must be the result of having answered a question correctly, not due to poor question writing. If a challenge is issued at a semi-final or championship contest, an alternate question will be asked at the end of the match, but before the teams have dispersed. This will act as the substitute question in the event that the challenge is ruled valid because of poor wording or some related reason. The challenge will still be decided by the question writer (Check rule 14). The writer will also help determine whether the question was well or poorly written. 16. PRONUNCIATION/SPELLING If clarification is required and spelling is requested, it will be the responsibility of the student to spell the answer with enough accuracy to be understood. When spelling is required, the Coordinator will stop the clock. Anyone on the team may spell the answer. The spelling must be given immediately upon the Quizmaster’s direction. Final judgment ton acceptance of pronunciation and spelling will be made by the Coordinator and Quizmaster. 17. REPEATING AN ANSWER If asked to repeat an answer, a student must give the exact wording as previously given. If it varies in any way, the Quizmaster will remind the student that no changes are permitted in a requested repetition. In a regular category, if the student persists in the changed answer, the Quizmaster will rule that as an additional answer. In categories where only one answer is permitted (toss-up, team choice, bonus), if an answer is not repeated exactly, both the original and repeated answer will be disallowed and no additional answers will be accepted from that team. The clock will not be stopped during this process.
18. TOSS-UP QUESTIONS If one team has answered and a second team is in the process of answering a toss-up question when the time buzzer sounds, the third team will be permitted to give an answer (immediately, when recognized by the Quizmaster). If time runs out during the repeating of an answer to a toss-up question where other teams were not allotted sufficient time to buzz in, they may buzz in as soon as the Quizmaster declares the repeating team’s answer incorrect – not before. 19. CHALLENGES The challenge process was instituted at the request of faculty advisors and contestants. Its purpose is to correct a mistake or give the contestants an opportunity to voice their concerns. The faculty advisor or any member of any one of the three competing teams in a contest has the right to challenge. A question does not have to have been directed to the challenging team, nor an answer given. The challenge sheet must be signed by the Faculty Advisor. Using the challenge procedure does not reflect on a team’s good sportsmanship. However, the manner in which a challenge is discussed and presented in a direct reflection on a team, its faculty advisor and its school. Students and faculty advisors are responsible for discussing and registering challenges in a sportsmanlike manner. The Coordinator has the authority to make challenges or correct procedural errors. Other than the official team members and their faculty advisor, no other person will be permitted to enter a challenge or participate in the decision to make a challenge. a. Any challenge concerning a contest on stage (procedure, question, 20. SUBSTITUTION There will be a break midway through in the contest to allow teams to make "strategic changes". Team members not competing must take positions near the staging area to initiate smooth and timely substitution exchanges. The order for going on stage depends on the staging setup at each school and should be determined before the contest begins. If a consultation between the faculty advisor and team members is necessary during the mid-point break, it should take place in a designated area away from the tables. 21. MISCELLANEOUS Team members will be provided with pencils and paper. All student pads must be blank. No other written sheets will be permitted to remain on the contestant tables at the start of the contest. No mechanical or electronic devices are permitted on the stage. Exception: Calculators that only add, subtract, multiply, divide, and provide square root will be provided by the Coordinator at each match. Additionally, trigonometry calculators will be provided at the Semi-final and Final matches. These will provide sine, cosine, tangent, and cotangent functions only.
SCORING STANDARD CATEGORIES With-in the fifteen-second time period, a team may give up to four answers. A maximum of four points is possible if a team’s first answer is correct. Points will decrease by one with each incorrect answer. If a team fails to answer correctly in four tries, the clock will continue to run the full fifteen seconds. The buzzer at the end of the fifteen seconds will be the signal for the remaining teams to answer. The first team to press its’ buzzer answers first. One answer will be allowed per team on a bonus try, worth one point. If one of the two remaining teams presses the buzzer before the fifteen second buzzer has sounded, the remaining team automatically receives first chance to answer. If that team answers incorrectly, the other team may try for the bonus point by pressing the buzzer. If two teams press their buzzers simultaneously, resulting in both lights being activated, each team will write the answer on paper and each will be awarded appropriate points. In Standard Mathematics, the time limit is 60 seconds. STARTING THE CLOCK ON A MATH QUESTION: The clock begins when the quizmaster instructs the teams to open their envelopes. TEAM CHOICE The categories are American History, Literature, Current Events, and Shakespeare. The host team will choose first. The middle team will choose from the remaining three areas. The third team will choose a question from the remaining two categories. The Coordinator should be notified of each team’s choice prior to the start of the program. Originally, the question will be worth four points … one answer per team. If the original team answers incorrectly, the question will then be worth two points. If the original team’s answer is declared incorrect, the remaining two teams my buzz in anytime during the remainder of the answer period, or at the sound of the buzzer. TOSS-UP CATEGORIES
VOCABULARY The Quizmaster will read multiple choice answers before the fifteen second answer period begins. Only one answer per team. No bonus points given.
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