Hosted by PBS studios in Arlington, VA on Dec. 14, Mclean Quiz Bowl dominated their first round of competition in the televised It’s Academic tournament against two high schools for the National Capital Region. The It’s Academic tournament is known to be the oldest running high school quiz show that is unique for the ways in which it deviates from typical Virginia High School League (VHSL) standards of play.
“The main [difference] is the timing, these [questions] are a lot shorter and a lot easier, but you have to be quick about it,” senior co-captain Ryan McKenzie said. “For normal quiz bowl, you know what they’re asking for, and you just have to think about it. But for It’s Academic, [competition] is so fast that you don’t always know what they’re asking for.”
One example of this change in competition style is the adoption of more visually-dependent prompts, rather than trivia questions that are read aloud to team members.
“If you see a picture of Machu Picchu, then you can buzz in, but you have to think, are they going to ask about the Andes [mountains]?Are they going to ask about Peru? You have to think about all of that within half a second,” McKenzie said.
With It’s Academic following an entirely different competition format from typical scholastic competitions, preparation for this tournament looked different for the team as well.
“It was harder to prepare for because we [could only] watch videos online of [the competition],” McKenzie said. “You can’t just get the questions, and you compete against two other teams, so you really can’t simulate that.”
Despite the new style of competing, McLean Quiz Bowl rose to the challenge with a significant victory over its opponents, with a final score of 695 points.
“We beat them by a lot,” junior Sam Cohen said. “Winning by an overwhelming margin was really fun.”
Due to their success in the first round, McLean will continue to compete in succeeding rounds of It’s Academic, with each round getting progressively more competitive as they go. Although it had no impact on their VHSL standings, McLean’s win in this round of It’s Academic provided them with a boost of confidence going into a new year and higher levels of competition.
“The first round was fun,” McKenzie said. “[But I most enjoyed] having that different experience with going onto a set and having it feel very good.”
It’s Academic was not the Highlanders’ only scholastic victory this quarter, however. On Jan. 21 McLean Quiz Bowl went head to head against Marshall at Madison High School at the Regional round of the VHSL tournament and took home another narrow victory.
“We’ve made it to states every single year,” junior team member Eddie Lin said before the match. “We [were] a little worried about Marshall, but I think we can beat them. We won by five points at districts, [so] I think we’ll win against them again.”
Despite some nerves going into the tournament, the team generally felt well prepared due to their highly specific and lengthy preparation focused around niche topics and reaction time. Their successful performance in the It’s Academic tournament also helped condition the team to react quickly during the VHSL tournament. Following their victory in Regionals, and using the skills picked up from practice tournaments such as It’s Academic, McLean Quiz Bowl will continue to train throughout the spring for the State tournament, where they will return after a championship win last year.
“Reaction time is a big thing. It’s Academic does help, especially since [almost] every single member of the It’s Academic team is on [our] team for VHSL,” Lin said. “Obviously there’s a lot of differences but generally the skills that [we] pick up at [It’s Academic] will help us [for the future].”