AcaDeca - Part I - Arrival
Feb. 6th, 2002 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
occultatioThe Academic Decathlon - Saturday, February 2nd
The day started out rather badly. I woke up with. . . intestinal difficulties, shall we say. In addition, one of our Scholastic players would be competing with a fever. Finally, the parent of our strongest Varsity phoned us at 6:15 to tell us that she had an awful migraine and could not get out of bed, much less compete.
Odds: 10:1 against
We get to the competition, clad in our "We Like Shiny Things" shirts, and claim our tables. Testing this year is no longer in one big gym, but instead in multiple, smaller classrooms. I get to be in the planetarium. First is Art. Art is impossible. I know maybe 5 out of the 50 questions, and guess on the rest. My favorite question: "[some guy] is famous in art history for B) Killing Leonardo DaVinci"
Odds: 15:1 against
After Art comes Econ. Total bomb. I suck, and I can tell immediately. Way too many buzzwords. One hilarious question: "An increase in the federal money supply causes D) Higher fertility rates"
Next is Language and Literature. It's easier; I'm better prepared. The coolest part was when one of the questions was to identify the speaker of a quote. . . a quote whose author I had been trying to identify for weeks!
After these first three tests, we return to the cafeteria, where we are served free Krispy Kreme doughnuts and the World's Worst Orange Juice. I also notice the scores.
AcaDeca consists of ten events, each graded out of 1000 points. The scores for interview and essay are already posted, and I go over to look.
It happens that we are already so far ahead of every other team (about 21) that I go dancing back to the tables. On our A team alone, 5 out of our 9 competitors have a 900 or better on interview, and eight people are above 800. On the essay, 7 people are above 800. This is very, very good, and I am having trouble containing my enthusiasm. After all, we still have 8 events to get through, and we’re now down a player.
They post Art scores.
Average score for all teams, roughly 450.
Average score for Miramonte, roughly 550.
Eddie, the brilliant sophomore, scored 700, earning himself the gold medal.
Odds: 5:1 against.
The day started out rather badly. I woke up with. . . intestinal difficulties, shall we say. In addition, one of our Scholastic players would be competing with a fever. Finally, the parent of our strongest Varsity phoned us at 6:15 to tell us that she had an awful migraine and could not get out of bed, much less compete.
Odds: 10:1 against
We get to the competition, clad in our "We Like Shiny Things" shirts, and claim our tables. Testing this year is no longer in one big gym, but instead in multiple, smaller classrooms. I get to be in the planetarium. First is Art. Art is impossible. I know maybe 5 out of the 50 questions, and guess on the rest. My favorite question: "[some guy] is famous in art history for B) Killing Leonardo DaVinci"
Odds: 15:1 against
After Art comes Econ. Total bomb. I suck, and I can tell immediately. Way too many buzzwords. One hilarious question: "An increase in the federal money supply causes D) Higher fertility rates"
Next is Language and Literature. It's easier; I'm better prepared. The coolest part was when one of the questions was to identify the speaker of a quote. . . a quote whose author I had been trying to identify for weeks!
After these first three tests, we return to the cafeteria, where we are served free Krispy Kreme doughnuts and the World's Worst Orange Juice. I also notice the scores.
AcaDeca consists of ten events, each graded out of 1000 points. The scores for interview and essay are already posted, and I go over to look.
It happens that we are already so far ahead of every other team (about 21) that I go dancing back to the tables. On our A team alone, 5 out of our 9 competitors have a 900 or better on interview, and eight people are above 800. On the essay, 7 people are above 800. This is very, very good, and I am having trouble containing my enthusiasm. After all, we still have 8 events to get through, and we’re now down a player.
They post Art scores.
Average score for all teams, roughly 450.
Average score for Miramonte, roughly 550.
Eddie, the brilliant sophomore, scored 700, earning himself the gold medal.
Odds: 5:1 against.
