DPSVK Quiz Club Online Intra 2006 – Results

I closed off the DPSVK Quiz Club Online Intra 2006 from further entries today, since I think it’s about time we got MOVING on the actual thing, and to get members prepared for upcoming quiz contests. I’d have liked to do this earlier, not bang in the middle of the quizzing season (when many of them are already over), but well, I was given my post late.

The response was er, I’m embarrassed to call 60 entries ‘overwhelming’ (as a quiz-crazy chap anything short of 3000 is not ‘overwhelming’), but yes, it was encouraging. There were more entries too, but some hadn’t given their names, or had submitted blank forms. One of the top-scorers submitted the paper under the name ‘fkfhksdhf’ or something of that sort. But yes, I was happy to see the number of entries pouring in. Mostly from class 11, since I am in constant touch with these guys.

I knew from Day 1 of opening the quiz that there would be lots of cheating going on, in the sense that they’d be looking it up from Google Search (or, maybe my choice, Yahoo! Search), but the point of the exercise was to identify students who were willing to spend even that 15-minute time searching for answers for a quiz. Basically, identify the interested ones, because I’d decided in the beginning that I’d conduct an offline test to follow it up. Scores really don’t make much sense in such a scenario, and I was very lenient in choosing the selected ones because I know many people attempted the test honestly and I did not want them to lose out due to that fact.

In the end, 40 students from the senior category, and 6 students from the junior category were shortlisted. They’ll have their offline test tomorrow. Believe me, it’s going to be really TOUGH. About 40 questions, no choices (ha, go figure!), all to be done within 20 minutes. Which is nothing, because I’ve qualified in quizzes with 60 questions, no choices in 15 minutes. The paper itself has a considerable section on music, something that is asked a lot in quizzes these days; and also because of the fact that we couldn’t bring out the audio equipment so had to put in extra questions to test their in-depth knowledge in the field. It also has a section on movies, sports, a mind-boggling cryptic section, along with the usual general trivia.

Some questions come with hints, but the point is, in most cases the questions are hints themselves. If you think clearly and logically, then you have a bright chance on striking the answer. This is one place where going wrong may also be beneficial – I’ll be looking if a person came close to the actual answer; so leaving an answer unattempted WILL give a bad impression to me. I WANT people who can think and figure out, and personally, I try to attempt as many questions as possible in a quiz.

I conducted a ‘seminar’ today for those selected, and some other interested ones; I took them along even though they hadn’t attempted the test because due to a communication error the whole online event was publicized a second time yesterday. Well, actually we just discussed the answers of the online intra in that, and a bit of general discussion on quizzing. Not much possible with a croaking me, I’ve got a nasty cold that’s done some pretty funny things to my voice. The students seemed to be either very bright, or very good at Google Search (the latter being the correct option probably).

Let me see tomorrow. And if you’re among the selected ones, then best of luck.

| List of selected candidates | Junior Online Intra 2006 Q & A | Senior Online Intra 2006 Q & A |