​This is the first in a series that is specifically intended for DQDs – District Quiz Directors.  For readers who are not DQDs… maybe these can help you understand your director and their job a little better, or maybe you’ll become a DQD yourself someday.
 
DISCLAIMER:  Nothing here is intended to make the reader critique their own DQD who operates differently.  We have many, many districts that participate in Bible Quizzing, and each has their director.  Each situation is different, and each director is different.  What works for one person in one place, may not work for someone else who is somewhere else.  The following can be taken as an approach that worked for me, at different times and in different places – and maybe other directors can glean something from it, even without strictly following it.  I fully support other DQDs in what they decide to do on their districts.

Sometimes it seems unfair that Memory Verses are only worth 20 points. After all, those quizzers who decide to invest their time memorizing 130-or-so Bible verses are competing for only 3 questions a game. Because of so few opportunities each game, fast pre-jumping at higher levels of competition results in a bit of guesswork, further suppressing a quizzer's individual points potential. At that level of quizzing, risk is simply part of the game. Additionally, if Memory Verses were worth more than 20 points more students would be incentivized to memorize God's Word!
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To help reduce (but not eliminate!) the guesswork involved in pre-jumping of Memory Verses this season, the following deep dive into the 92 Memory Verses of Romans and James revealed a few words of caution: Do, For, Let, and Therefore.

Our district kicked off this season with a virtual Teen Bible Quiz tournament due to our state's pandemic response mandates in addition to ongoing impacts from Hurricane Laura. Fortunately, we have been preparing to have a virtual quiz since early July when it was obvious that an in-person event would not be likely. 

And we were not the only district to do so. I received reports from other districts that were able to pull off a successful virtual Youth Bible Quiz meet thanks to the inexpensive, yet reliable technology currently available.
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For those of you who have yet to have their virtual Teen Bible Quiz meet – or are considering whether or not to do so – following is what we did and what we plan to do differently in October. Learn from us to make your first attempt successful:

​In Nazarene-style Teen Bible Quizzing, a quiz match is composed of five different question types, randomly distributed over twenty questions.  The number and type of questions differ slightly between a single- and multiple-book Bible Quiz season:

​As you can see, the General questions make up the majority of the game.  However, it is unlikely that every quizzer will memorize the entire scripture in order for the team to answer all 11 of these questions.
 
In most sports, having players on a team with different talents is essential in order to not be weak in any one aspect of the game.  Babe Ruth may hit 4 home runs in a game, but the Yankees will still lose if their defense gives up 5 runs.  Similarly, if none of your quizzers commit to learning the memory verses, you are only participating in 85% of each match.  In 1 Corinthians 12:12-20, Paul says:

Effective August 2020, the Nazarene Youth Quizzing Rules & Guidelines were revised per the direction of the Quizzing Advisory Council (QAC). As with prior revisions, many of these changes merely clarify or reinforce the intended spirit of the rule. This is usually necessary as some Districts or even Fields interpret a rule differently, which then causes confusion or distress at national quiz meets.
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When compared to the 2017 edition of the Rules & Guidelines, here are all of the changes as noted in bold italics:

If you are considering quizzing or practicing from remote locations due to a pandemic, inclement weather, or supervolcano, I am pleased to report that technology exists to make it at least possible. Of course it is not as easy, accurate, or satisfying as an in-person quiz meet. But if you want to maintain continuity or momentum of your quiz ministry, I recommend giving this a try.

​In my previous post I highlighted a method of using the video conference software Zoom to quiz pioneered by a group of Youth Bible Quiz leaders to complete their 2020-21 season. Using that as a template, I looked for other methods of "buzzing in" remotely that were much more consistent and reliable to ensure the legitimacy of the results. If the quizzers don't trust the system, they will soon lose interest and their competitive mindset. What I found was an extremely simple system called BuzzIn.Live. Here is how it works and compares to the other method of using the Zoom chat to "buzz in":

​As we anticipate the 2020-21 Teen Bible Quiz season for Matthew, we have many questions due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic:

• Will we be able to meet and function normally by September?
• How can we protect quizzers who will be within 6 feet of others quizzers for 20 minutes at a time?
• Even if we find ways to follow CDC Guidelines at a quiz meet, would people feel comfortable traveling together and gathering in classrooms?
• Would students return to quizzing if we decide to skip this season? We really don't want to lose this powerful discipleship tool in our ministry arsenal and the momentum we’ve built over the past several years.

 
As a leader for an essential business that has stayed open during this pandemic, I have been challenged to find ways to eliminate close-contact situations for my employees when possible and to protect them when it is not. And the truth is some answers change from one day to the next. Similarly, in order to keep Teen Quizzing going we have to be ready for anything.

Some of the most important decisions coaches make during competition include deciding which quizzer starts the game on the bench and when to put them in the game. Sure, at times their teammates help make that decision by erring- or quizzing-out. But what if you are trying to get that 3rd- or 4th-quizzer bonus? What if your Memory Verse quizzer has 2 errors with 10 questions and 1 more memory verse question to go? Do you take them out now or wait until the next memory verse question is asked?

Being able to predict the next few question types – or knowing how much longer until the next Memory Verse question will be asked – allows you to make strategic choices to put your team in the best possible position for success.
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Impossible, you say? What if I told you there are patterns inherit in the algorithm that generates competition questions? For certain conditions, it is not the totally random selection process as I had believed.

​Given the positive responses from fellow math aficionados regarding my last post which introduced the Advanced Quizzer Rating, I decided to push my luck with one more technical article. Plus, many who have downloaded the revised Naz Quiz Scoresheet have asked “what do all these new numbers mean?” So, consider this post your instruction manual as we navigate through each tab and explain the changes.

Before you read any further, I want to warn you that this blog post contains a significant amount of algebraic equations applied to Teen Bible Quizzing explained in excruciating detail. Well, it may be excruciating to you but not to me. I’m actually pretty excited with the result. So, if you are brave – or just curious – please read on.

Though we all use a Quizzer’s average points per game to determine individual placement at the conclusion of a quiz meet, it does not tell the whole story. Say, for example, that Diane and Bruce both finish a 10-game tournament tied for 10th place with a 40 average. Bruce averaged 1 Error per game while Diane had 2 Errors per game. So, Bruce gets the medal for 10th place. However, what we do not consider is that Bruce missed all 10 of his Bonus opportunities while Diane answered all 10 of hers. Also, Bruce’s 1 Error each game happened after Question 15, costing his team 10 points each time. Also, every error turned into 10 points for the opposing team when they correctly answered the Bonus. Diane was more careful and did not error after question 15 in any game. Only one of Diane’s two errors each game resulted in Bonus points for the opposing team. Looking at the net points contributed to their respective teams, Bruce averaged 20 points per game while Diane averaged 40.
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Though the details of this scenario are fictional, something similar does happen at every quiz meet. So it seems odd to me that the only statistics that we really track are team wins, individual averages, and individual errors. While I understand why we do not include points from Bonuses as part of an individual’s average, there are so many more events that happen during each match that contribute to the final score: cumulative team errors, error-outs, perfect game bonuses, and errors after question 15 to name just a few. It would be as if the NFL only tracked each team’s wins, total yards per game for each offensive player, and turnovers.