National Ocean Sciences Bowl
The National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB), often referred to as "Ocean Science Bowl" or "Ocean Bowl," is a quizbowl-like competition run by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership.
Game Format
The NOSB format is similar to that of Science Bowl, though with several notable exceptions.
- Each round consists of two worksheets ("Team Challenge Questions" or "TCQs") on which team members can cooperate, followed by two timed, quizbowl-style buzzer halves of 6 minutes each. Some regionals may instead administer the worksheets between the two buzzer halves.
- Each worksheet/TCQ is scored out of 20 points. TCQs are typically graded during the first buzzer half, and TCQ scores are revealed at halftime.
- Most of the points in a typical match are scored during the two buzzer halves. A correctly answered tossup is worth 4 points, an incorrectly interrupted tossup (neg) is worth -4 points, and a correctly answered bonus is worth 6 points.
- All tossups are multiple-choice and all bonuses are short-answer. Despite this, moderators will still say "Tossup—Multiple Choice" or "Bonus—Short Answer" before each question.
- Unlike in Science Bowl, multiple-choice answers do not always need to exactly match the wording of the answer choice. Adding an article (e.g. "The Pacific Ocean" for "Pacific Ocean") is acceptable; however, any other modification (e.g. "Octopuses" for "Octopus") is still counted as wrong.
- Verbal recognition is required on tossups; "blurting" will disqualify one's team from answering the question, though there is no point penalty (unlike Science Bowl).
- Unlike Science Bowl or NAQT, NOSB's rules state that the moderator has to stop reading a tossup once the clock runs out. Among other implications, this theoretically makes the Clock-Killing Neg a viable strategy.
- Math computation appears to be absent from tossups and bonuses, appearing only in TCQs.
Full competition rules can be found here.
Question Topics
NOSB questions tend to be themed around—you guessed it—the oceans. Topics include:
- marine biology
- physical oceanography
- seawater chemistry
- technology/instruments used to study the oceans
- ocean geography/bathymetry
- marine law (both U.S. and international)
- ocean history (usually explorers)
- (rarely) ocean-themed literature
Competition Results
| Year | Champion | Second | Third | Fourth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020* | Ladue | Santa Monica | Dougherty Valley | Centerville |
| 2019 | Albany | Santa Monica | Ladue | Centerville |
| 2018 | Montgomery Blair | Santa Monica | Marshfield | Albany |
| 2017 | Santa Monica | Marshfield | NCSSM | Centerville |
| 2016 | Albany | Marshfield | Santa Monica | Liberty Common |
| 2015 | Boise | Dexter | Marshfield | Mission San Jose |
| 2014 | Boise | Arcadia | Juneau-Douglas | Bishop Sullivan Catholic |
| 2013 | Arcadia | Lexington (MA) | Juneau-Douglas | Neah-Kah-Nie |
| 2012 | Marshfield | Raleigh Charter | Eastside (NJ) | Lexington (MA) |
| 2011 | Marshfield | Lexington (MA) | Santa Monica | Mt. Sinai |
* The 2020 competition was held online in a modified format.
Earlier results are available on the NOSB Wikipedia page.