How Bible Quizzing works

Young people memorize selected scripture passages

Quizzers memorize and study scripture passages from the pre-arranged quizzing material. The start of a quizzing year is usually on or near January 1.
Each quizzer memorizes 1-3 verses per day (usually except Sundays), or 10-15 verses per week, depending on their age, ability and motivation.
The number of verses memorized depends on the division the quizzer is in (see the 2010 material page for verses and verse counts).
Quizzers regularly review material they've already memorized. As their quizzing memorization progresses, the amount of study grows that they must do. Early in the year, a quizzer may complete his/her new memorization and review of past material in 15-30 minutes. But in April/May, a quizzer may spend an 60-90 minutes per day to study new verses and review existing material.

Coaching staff conducts weekly test & practice sessions

The head coach, assistants and quizzers meet for 1-2 hours each week. These sessions enable the coaches to:

set specific study assignments for the coming week
test each quizzer's knowledge & progress
help quizzers with their study methods & techniques
conduct some practice quizzes, simulate some tournament competition
work with quizzers to develop their quizzing techniques for competition
motivate their quizzers through a system of appropriate rewards

The coaching staff typically develops a system of rewards to help motivate their quizzers. It should be neither too generous nor too strict; the goal here is to keep our quizzers positive and focused on studying, and enjoying the study, practice and competition sessions. Quizzing practice should be enjoyable and rewarding, but should also challenge them to study and excel.

Coaches need to be involved in setting specific goals and requirements for each quizzer. Weekly sessions should be designed to assess, reward and motivate each individual quizzer. A coach should be able to detect the progress each quizzer is making toward their goals. A quizzer should not "float along" week after week with no significant study or progress.

Certainly our ultimate goal is to get the Word of God into their hearts. Their involvement in quizzing should neither be too easy or too hard. Typically, the older, more established quizzers develop motivation on their own. Motivating newer, younger quizzers often takes more time, attention & creativity until their own desire to study & succeed catches fire.

Coaches set up quizzing teams for tournaments

The coach decides how their teams will be set up for an upcoming tournament. Teams competing at a tournament must have at least two and at most five quizzers. If a coach brings five or less quizzers to a tournament, he/she may choose to place them all on a single team. However, if a coach brings four or more quizzers to a tournament, the coach may elect to break them up into two or more teams. A church's first team is subject to the standard $30 fee, and each subsequent team pays $10. For example, if a church brings three teams to a tournament, they should be prepared to pay $50 in team fees for that tournament.

When a team is at the board, at most three quizzers may quiz at the same time. The benefit of dividing their quizzers into groups of two or three is that each quizzer gets more time at the quizzing board, more tournament practice.

Teams attend tournaments

Tournaments typically involve teams from around the home district, although occasionally a team may choose to compete in a neighboring district's tournaments.

District tournaments typically occur once per month from January to June; the June tournament is also the state finals tournament. These events are hosted by a local church, which may or may not field a quizzing team. Senior division tournaments usually happen separately from the Junior tournaments. On occasion, there may be a joint Senior/Junior tournament. At a joint tournament, each team still quizzes within their own division; it's an opportunity to combine the events.

Regional tournaments are also scheduled each spring, the Senior Regional and the Junior Extravaganza. The Senior Regionals tournament is operated by the national UPC Youth Division; the Junior Extravaganza is operated by the UPC General Sunday School Division. They usually involve travel; they occur as far north as Portland OR, and as far south as San Diego CA. Any team is eligible to attend the regional tournament for their division.

National championship tournaments are scheduled for the summer. The Junior national tournament occurs the third week of July 2010, in St. Louis, MO. The Senior national tournament occurs in July/August, in varying locations. Usually the Senior nationals coincides with the Youth Congress, which occurs every other year.

Tournaments are a great source of enjoyment, reward and motivation to the quizzers and the coaches. Quizzers develop friendships with young people from other teams; they have the opportunity to compete against other quizzers; there is often at least a little travel involved; the teams obtain excellent opportunity to develop their quizzing and coaching skills. The coaches may find that tournaments provide great motivation to excel in their continued studies.

Oregon has produced some excellent Senior Quizzing teams, placing in the top ten three times in the last five years. Oregon's Intermediate Quizzing team placed second at the 2008 Nationals tournament; Andrew Huffman of Oregon City was top-scoring individual overall, gaining national Quizzer of the Year honors that year.