Tips ~ the Scholar’s Challenge
Hello!
As you can tell, this little post will be about a few helpful tips you could apply when taking your Scholar's Challenge.
In the 2017 regional round held in my city, I got four honor medals for the Challenge over the subject areas of Arts and Music, Literature, Social Studies, and the Special Area. I also got a medal for All Subjects.
The Scholar's Challenge is one of my favorite team events in WSC, although like most Scholars do, I also find it tricky.
If you haven't participated, or is just about to participate, in a WSC round, here's a quick background on what the Challenge is—
The Challenge is like a regular test you'd find at school. It's a multiple choice test, with choices a to e. The twist is, you can literally make multiple choices. Meaning, you can pick both a and b. Or a, b, and c. Heck, if you're desperate (like most Scholars turn out to be when they have little time left), you can choose answers a, b, c, d AND e. Although, the number of points you get is divided by how many answer choices you choose per question. For example, if you chose both a and d, and one of those is correct, then you will get half a point.
The most questions the Challenge can have is 120 (and the Challenge really does have this number of questions most of the time), and you have only an hour to take the entire thing.
So, here are some of my tips for taking the Scholar's Challenge—
•Study Yes, I know this is kind-of a no-brainer but let me explain... Don't just study names and dates and important events—WSC is certainly more than what usual school tests would offer you. You need to know more than memorization, for WSC. Just knowing dates and facts won't get you far in the Challenge. You need to understand your topics, which means you need to see the connection of your topics to other things found in the curriculum, you need to know how this certain historical breakthrough affected how we are today, etc.
•Manage your time Like I said earlier, most Challenges have 120 questions. However, you'll only have sixty minutes to finish it. That means you have to answer two questions per minute in order to finish the entire Challenge on time. My trick: wear a watch. Check how much time you're left with every now and then and then proceed to think of what to do next. Almost at the end of the Challenge but still have a few minutes to spare? Recheck your answers. Nearly out of time but still have a bunch of other questions to go through? Go and choose everything you think could possibly be a correct answer.
•Skip questions I'm gonna warn you now—the Challenge will most likely NOT be easy for you. Some questions require more time to think on, while others are easy as pie. When you stumble across a question that seems difficult, skip it. I'm not joking when I say this'll help you a lot. This helps you give priority to the questions which you could answer easily and allows you to have enough time to go back and think on the tricky ones. Although, it also would be helpful to leave a small mark like a star or an underline on the numbers you skip on, so you can easily identify which numbers you haven't answered yet when you look back for them. Just remember to erase those marks afterward, as excess marks on the paper may cause complications when the WSC team checks your Challenge.
•Make multiple choices Seriously, don't be afraid to do this. I know a lot of Scholars hesitate when they're about to make more than one choice because of the potential risk this'll have on their overall score since the point you could possibly get will be divided, but I promise—making multiple choices is ALWAYS better than choosing one answer that turns out to be wrong. Unsure of whether choice c or e is correct? Choose them both. One of them could be right, in the end, so why not take a chance? It's certainly better to get half a point or even a third of a point than nothing at all.
•Never leave any question blank in the end Let me say it again: NEVER EVER LEAVE A QUESTION BLANK AS YOUR FINAL ANSWER. Yes, it's completely acceptable to choose all possible answers if a certain question stumps you. It'll still give you a fifth of a point. And that's better than nothing.
•Read the rules You won't regret this. The rules stated at the first page of the Challenge could have something random hidden within it. Despite how boring rules usually are, WSC is never boring. Sometimes the rules would even state a little something about how Scholars MAY ask the proctor to whip and nae nae, film a mannequin challenge, or even imitate Burch.
I hope these tips help, in one way or another. If you have any tips of your own, feel free to send them to me via the "Submissions!" part of this blog.
That's all for now! Any questions, comments, suggestions? Don't hesitate to comment! Let's have a discussion!!
All the pwaas, Aimy