Repeat

A repeat is pair of questions, either tossups or bonuses, in the same question set that share an answerline or are substantively similar (or, more rarely, identical). It can also refer to the second question of such a pair to be heard.

Some question providers check for repeats between different sets intended for the same audience, albeit less stringently. For example, NAQT does so within its Middle School Series, within its Invitational Series, within its Introductory Invitational Series, and between its SCT and ICT correspondingly by division.

Gradations

Identical questions are never acceptable if they could be played by the same team twice, or heard by a team and later played by the same team. However, merely repeating an answer line may be fine, depending on the scenario. Repeating clues is usually not considered a best practice, especially if hearing one question would help answer the other. Some of these issues cross over into the idea of feng shui.

• some editorial philosophies are not as stringent about repeats
• low difficulty tournaments have fewer plausible topics, which may force common answer lines to repeat
• two questions which share a sufficiently broad answerline (e.g. France, or the color red) are generally considered okay if they have no clues in common and are in different packets; two questions asking for a specific answer (e.g. The World as Will and Representation) in the same set would generally be disdained
• tossup-tossup repeats are generally considered worse than tossup-bonus repeats and bonus-bonus repeats
• some tournament formats allow repeats to occur because it is not possible for a team to play both questions (e.g. the 2018 HSNCT used a scheme in which each team played either rounds 1–7 or rounds 8–14, so there was a higher tolerance for repeats if one question was in the former group and the other in the latter)