Difference between revisions of "Andy Watkins"

From QBWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
m (fixes)
Line 7: Line 7:
 
| }}
 
| }}
  
−
"Crazy" '''Andy Watkins''' played quizbowl for [[Harvard]]. He is known as a prolific question writer and poster on [[hsquizbowl.org]], and for writing really hard science questions. He was the leading scorer on the Harvard B/D2 team at both the [[2008 ICT|NAQT ICT]] and [[2008 ACF Nationals|ACF Nationals]] in his freshman year. He was a member of [[PACE]] and chief editor of the [[2011 NSC]], and resigned from PACE alongside [[Trygve Meade]] following the logistical failures of that event.
+
"Crazy" '''Andy Watkins''' played quizbowl for [[Harvard]]. He was known as a prolific question writer and poster on [[hsquizbowl.org]], and for writing really hard science questions. He was the leading scorer on the Harvard B/D2 team at both the [[2008 ICT|NAQT ICT]] and [[2008 ACF Nationals|ACF Nationals]] in his freshman year. He was a member of [[PACE]] and chief editor of the [[2011 NSC]], and resigned from PACE alongside [[Trygve Meade]] following the logistical failures of that event. Andy was implicated in one of the largest quizbowl cheating scandals ever, and as a result all three of Harvard's championship titles hew won were revoked.
  
 
Andy is married to [[Hannah Kirsch]].
 
Andy is married to [[Hannah Kirsch]].
Line 30: Line 30:
 
:''Main Article: [[Andy Watkins Cheating Scandal]]''
 
:''Main Article: [[Andy Watkins Cheating Scandal]]''
  
−
In March 2013, NAQT announced that a routine inspection of its activity logs showed that several NAQT question writers that abused their access privileges to preview questions that they would later play on, among those individuals named was Andy Watkins. It had been speculated previous to the revelation that cheating had occured, however Andy's play was nonetheless still held in good faith. Casting doubt on this however was the large discrepancy between his performance at [[ACF Nationals]] compared to at [[ICT]] and that he had made numerous early buzzes on subjects he was not known to be proficient in. After the NAQT announcement, Andy initially maintained his innocence, publishing a defense on the hsquizbowl forums. However he was later forced to abandon his position and has since not participated in any quizbowl events.
+
In March 2013, NAQT announced that a routine inspection of its activity logs had shown that several NAQT question writers had abused their access privileges to preview questions that they would later play on. NAQT also revealed that this was because of a loophole that caused the first 40 characters of a question to be displayed and that the problem had since been fixed. Among the individuals implicated was Andy Watkins. Previously it had been widely speculated that Andy had cheated at numerous ICTs, but nonetheless at the time Andy's play was still held in good faith. For example, there was a large discrepancy between his performance at [[ACF Nationals]] compared to at [[ICT]] and there were numerous instances in which he had made early buzzes on subjects he was not known to be proficient in. After the NAQT revelation, Andy initially maintained his innocence, publishing a defense on the hsquizbowl forums. However he was later forced to abandon his position and issued an official public apology. Andy has since not participated in any quizbowl events, NAQT or otherwise.
  
 
== Notable Tournaments ==
 
== Notable Tournaments ==
Line 43: Line 43:
 
*[[EFT|EFT4]] - 2nd place (with [[Bruce Arthur]])
 
*[[EFT|EFT4]] - 2nd place (with [[Bruce Arthur]])
 
*[[EFT|EFT3]] - 1st place (with [[Bruce Arthur]] and [[Julia Schlozman]])
 
*[[EFT|EFT3]] - 1st place (with [[Bruce Arthur]] and [[Julia Schlozman]])
 +
 +
== External links ==
 +
* [http://www.naqt.com/articles/security-review-update.html NAQT security review update]
 +
  
  

Revision as of 11:30, 15 January 2014

Andy Watkins
Watkins.png
Noted subjects Science
Current college NYU (inactive)
Past colleges Harvard (2008-2011)
High school Shady Side (2003-2007)
Stats HDWhite • NAQT

"Crazy" Andy Watkins played quizbowl for Harvard. He was known as a prolific question writer and poster on hsquizbowl.org, and for writing really hard science questions. He was the leading scorer on the Harvard B/D2 team at both the NAQT ICT and ACF Nationals in his freshman year. He was a member of PACE and chief editor of the 2011 NSC, and resigned from PACE alongside Trygve Meade following the logistical failures of that event. Andy was implicated in one of the largest quizbowl cheating scandals ever, and as a result all three of Harvard's championship titles hew won were revoked.

Andy is married to Hannah Kirsch.

High School Career

Andy was on a Shady Side team that impressed many for its ambition when it attended the 2006 ECSO; this was before the time when elite high school players became regular attendees at college-level events.

Editing Career

Andy was a member of the editorial staff for the following tournaments:

In addition, Andy helped finish the chemistry for Lederberg (based on already-selected answers) and 2011 ACF Regionals.

Andy's science questions were known for being consistently too difficult for their intended audiences, despite a "philosophy of quizbowl" which would preclude overly-difficult questions.

Cheating scandal

Main Article: Andy Watkins Cheating Scandal

In March 2013, NAQT announced that a routine inspection of its activity logs had shown that several NAQT question writers had abused their access privileges to preview questions that they would later play on. NAQT also revealed that this was because of a loophole that caused the first 40 characters of a question to be displayed and that the problem had since been fixed. Among the individuals implicated was Andy Watkins. Previously it had been widely speculated that Andy had cheated at numerous ICTs, but nonetheless at the time Andy's play was still held in good faith. For example, there was a large discrepancy between his performance at ACF Nationals compared to at ICT and there were numerous instances in which he had made early buzzes on subjects he was not known to be proficient in. After the NAQT revelation, Andy initially maintained his innocence, publishing a defense on the hsquizbowl forums. However he was later forced to abandon his position and issued an official public apology. Andy has since not participated in any quizbowl events, NAQT or otherwise.

Notable Tournaments

External links

Retrieved from "https://www.qbwiki.com/w/index.php?title=Andy_Watkins&oldid=19203"