Practice makes perfect

Within minutes of getting into the room, the members rearrange tables into three groups. A green buzzer strip plugged into the buzzer box is placed on each group of tables. The buzzer box sits atop the quizmaster table, where the quizmaster or person who reads the questions, sits. Each member grabs a piece of paper and pencil and sits with their group, officially commencing practice.

Every Wednesday and Friday, Knowledge Bowl members meet in Mr. Bute’s room after school to practice a mock round in preparation for their meets. The number of questions at a meet varies from 35 to 60 per round, as well as the content of each question. In order to get a point the group must answer the question correctly and before the other groups. For example, “What European river flows from Germany through Vienna, Austria?” and “The sum of twice a number and 14 is 32 – what is the number?” were two questions asked at this practice.

The questions are diverse and specific, making giving a correct answer challenging. Additionally, buzzing in first is also challenging. To combat this, every member of the group keeps one hand on the buzzer strip and one free for writing at all times. The desire to answer the questions quickly can lead to not hearing enough of the question to answer it correctly though, as seen here:

Senior Isaac Gieseke has been a part of Knowledge Bowl for four years and admits that he still struggles with knowing when to buzz in. “Sometimes, it’s hard to know when the quizmaster is done asking the question,” Gieseke said. Thus, the time spent in practice every Wednesday and Friday is crucial to improve the member’s buzzer skills, timing, and overall knowledge.