Studying
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Dürer’s Saint Jerome in His Study
Concepts
Guides
Studying is the process of learning information which appears in quiz bowl questions (the canon), allowing a player to improve by various metrics (converting more bonuses, powering more tossups, etc.). It is usually understood to indicate active, dedicated work akin to the studying done for academic coursework, rather than the passive accumulation of knowledge from playing the game or simply existing in society.
Studying is an answer to the question "how do I get good at quiz bowl?", along with things like "attending tournaments" and "going to practice."
Guides
- See also: How to study
- Written by Max Schindler in 2013, this guide remains an evergreen analysis of what to do, what not to do, and what it takes to be good at the game. This post is full of useful and actionable advice on how to consistently improve, as well as insightful sections on how to improve one's mindset and get the most out of the game. A must-read.
- Part of PACE's "Quizbowl 101" series, this article describes the fundamentals of improving on both the individual and team level. An excellent starting point.
- The text of Raj Bahn's guide on improving at quiz bowl, preserved on the Wiki. Eclipsed by later guides but still useful.
- Some general advice on improving, as well as an extensive list of resources for studying science.
Methods
At their core, all study methods rely on obtaining and retaining information for the purposes of answering quiz bowl questions. Most "study methods" are specific approaches to these tasks and not standalone processes - as such, it is typically the case that a player will employ many of these methods at the same time while studying.
This section is incomplete.
Osmosis
- Main page: osmosis
Osmosis is a term for the gradual improvement that a player experiences from playing more, even in the absence of intentional studying. As they hear clues multiple times, a player learns that they correspond to specific answers without consciously intending to gain that information due to mere exposure.
Packet studying
- Main page: packet study
Packet study is a quizbowl study method that involves reading packets to learn the canon of quizbowl as well as specific clues for various answerlines. Since many topics and answerlines recur from tournament to tournament (even though the questions in "good quizbowl" events are always new at each tournament), reading old packets is an excellent way to learn clues and be alerted to topics that might come up at future tournaments.
The key resource involved is the packet archive, which retains all non-NAQT sets written since the late 90's, but also useful are the numerous question databases which allow for search and filtering functionality. The growth of online packet archives has contributed to the popularity of this study method.
Flashcarding
- Main page: flashcarding
Flashcards are used by some quizbowl players for studying. A flashcard is an index card with one piece of information on the front side (e.g. a clue pointing towards a potential answer, a title) and a related piece on the other (i.e. the answer corresponding to said clue, the author of that title). The use of flashcards for study, or the writing of information on such devices, is sometimes referred to as flashcarding or carding.
Though flashcarding is often described as a study technique, this is not strictly correct - instead, it is a method of improving retention. Flashcarding is associated with rote and mechanical forms of studying like list studying and with fake knowledge, but can be used in conjunction with any method to improve results.