Freshman Method

The Freshman Method is a buzzing strategy involving buzzing when you recognize any word or clue, then saying something related to that word or clue, even if other clues or the phrasing of the tossup make your answer ridiculous. For example, buzzing on "this empress" and guessing "Catherine the Great" even if the question previously mentioned the person being Chinese or living in the eleventh century BC. The Freshman Method is a result of the acclimation time needed to understand pyramidal tossup structure, and is aggravated by playing Chip Beall or other bad formats in high school which involve poorly worded questions that do not clearly specify what they are looking for.

The Freshman Method is perhaps the only way to succeed at NAQT high school questions, and often turns experienced high schoolers into bad recruits as they enter college and try to apply it to more substantive material.