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Who's in ACADEMIC DECATHLON?

By Lame (Lame) on Thursday, July 17, 2003 - 03:21 am: Edit

ME!

By Mythspinner (Mythspinner) on Thursday, July 17, 2003 - 04:04 pm: Edit

right here

By Purgeofdoors (Purgeofdoors) on Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 12:41 am: Edit

yup.

I medaled at nationals last year, but it doesn't keep me from thinking that the CA and TX teams study way too much.

Am I wrong, or does devoting 12 hours/day for 10 months to one booklet defeat the purpose of the competition?

By Rowan (Rowan) on Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 01:11 am: Edit

Yes, people in CA do. Not all, though. Just the team that makes it to nationals. ;)

We had a girl on our rather lazy team that came from one of the groups that spends all year studying. She said it was insanely competitive to even be on the team -- that certain excellent students failed classes ON PURPOSE just to make up their deficit on varisty students. It is their summer school, it is their after-school, and it IS their "extracurricular activity."

Insane.

By Quack (Quack) on Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 03:09 am: Edit

Yep. That's basically me this summer. I've been studying acadec for 4-6 hours every day... trying to cram every little bit of information from those damn resource guides I can. It's pretty intense ;x Could someone fill me in on the math part of acadec? I have the outlines but how is the test layed out? Mostly content based, or, like the SAT, logic and reason based?

By Serene (Serene) on Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 03:20 am: Edit

Quack: 25 questions, each 40 points. Content based as far as I know.

By Lame (Lame) on Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 07:32 am: Edit

You guys think YOU have it rough, my school is in the same county as Moorpark (who won nationals). Those kids are insane. They eat together at eachother's houses and the coach's house as well as study for hours before and after school and on weekends. My county (Ventura) is allegedly the most competitive county in CA...and being that Moorpark won nationals this year and came in second last year, and my school's team won 3 years ago, I don't doubt that.

By Hahaha (Hahaha) on Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 01:22 pm: Edit

Sane here, Lame. Moorpark is crazy! we could never win with moorpark in our countly. But, on a brighter note, the head coach just retired and all the top seniors, including the guy who got an total of 8800, left. so maybe there's a chance for others!

By Purgeofdoors (Purgeofdoors) on Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 03:19 pm: Edit

I haven't even looked at the guides yet and probably won't until December or something.

I repeat my question: Doesn't devoting such insane amounts of time (and I mean almost all of you, not just Moorpark) to one booklet defeat the purpose of the competition?

By Lame (Lame) on Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 05:26 pm: Edit

That with the 8800 guy = Nate = Coach's Son = Genius = going to Harvard. Are you in Ventura county, Hahaha?

By Thepiskickass (Thepiskickass) on Monday, July 21, 2003 - 02:39 am: Edit

I'm in AD. I can't believe you guys have guides and AREN'T STUDYING! Dudes, my school is so lame. I wont get the guides until September! I already of a disadvantage. I'm so pissed. I wish I could be preparing. Maybe my team would be worth something. Argh. Sorry. I shouldn't rant here. But oh well.

By Serene (Serene) on Monday, July 21, 2003 - 02:48 am: Edit

Purgeofdoors: I completely agree. I in fact HATE Acadeca. I think it's ridiculous to ask students questions like "what's the temperature of sea water near equator"!!! First it's of no use to our lives second thanks to today's technology we can find the answer in computers and books. Human brains should be used to think, not to store useless information.

By Purgeofdoors (Purgeofdoors) on Monday, July 21, 2003 - 10:34 pm: Edit

I have a *strange* memory, so I can keep stuff like that in without much studying. But I can't begin to imagine spending hundreds of hours on those things - I get very bored once i've read through them a few times.

Serene, you're very right. Our brains were intended to be used to reason, deduce, and only remember certain things. IMHO, the human memory is one of the most misused objects in education today. Acadeca tends to emphasize the "what" over the "how" and "why" - which is doing the decathletes a great disservice.

Bah, you've got me started.

By Quack (Quack) on Thursday, July 24, 2003 - 10:47 pm: Edit

(Purgeofdoors)

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Quote:

Am I wrong, or does devoting 12 hours/day for 10 months to one booklet defeat the purpose of the competition?

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Quote:

I in fact HATE Acadeca. I think it's ridiculous to ask students questions like "what's the temperature of sea water near equator"!!! First it's of no use to our lives second thanks to today's technology we can find the answer in computers and books. Human brains should be used to think, not to store useless information.

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By Serene (Serene) on Thursday, July 24, 2003 - 11:39 pm: Edit

The tests that are mainly memory work:
Art
Music
Lang. and Lit.
Social studies
Economics
and Science (sometimes)

That's more than half the test.

By Purgeofdoors (Purgeofdoors) on Thursday, July 24, 2003 - 11:49 pm: Edit

Well rounded, sure. I know what Acadec is about; just because I don't spend a ton of time studying doesn't mean I don't know what the subjects are.

Hard work and grit is what farm labor is about, but that doesn't mean it will enlighten my life. I'm not arguing against Acadec, I'm arguing against the way some people treat it.

IMHO, they should release the guides 2 weeks before competition. You'll get your hard work and grit, but the competition won't be dominated by the mentally unhealthy.

By Lame (Lame) on Friday, July 25, 2003 - 03:57 am: Edit

Purgeofdoors, I'm right with you there ;) Although, it does seem to favor those of us who have fantastic memories ... which is fine by me (although seeing your stats I am no guage of intelligence)

By Quack (Quack) on Friday, July 25, 2003 - 04:17 am: Edit

whoa.. nk7? a leet 3 char! :o. Wow a hax0r chick on College Confidential. I used to "collect" screennames.. then someone stole them all. I even had the screenname "Texas." (suspended now)

By Lame (Lame) on Friday, July 25, 2003 - 06:27 am: Edit

aohackers <3

By Gianscolere (Gianscolere) on Friday, July 25, 2003 - 07:04 pm: Edit

Does anyone know how intense the competition is in Massachusetts?

By Lame (Lame) on Friday, July 25, 2003 - 08:04 pm: Edit

It all depends on what county you are in--in CA, some counties only have two or three teams, so they dont work very hard and get to go to state. Other counties, like mine (Ventura) and Los Angeles are extremely competitive.
Just remember, even if you don't win your county (if it's really competitive), there's always wildcards

qu4ck 12 120x012

By Purgeofdoors (Purgeofdoors) on Friday, July 25, 2003 - 10:23 pm: Edit

Haha, wildcards? County competitions?

In Louisiana, every team that enters goes to state. There's usually about 8 teams vying for the chance to go to nationals. The top team goes.

Of course, any school scoring over a 35000 is almost guaranteed to go to nationals. Our team has gone for 21 years in a row.

By Lame (Lame) on Friday, July 25, 2003 - 11:06 pm: Edit

My school scored 39,362 points and didn't even go to state.

By Shyarra (Shyarra) on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 08:27 pm: Edit

My school was the laziest ever. We had so much fun, but we barely studied...prolly cuz we hated our coach. Not to mention we never even got the guides until October.