United States Academic Decathlon - Events

Events

Like an athletic decathlon, the Academic Decathlon has ten events: art, economics, essay, interview, language and literature, math, music, science, social science, and speech. Prior to 2013, the Super Quiz replaced one of the seven objective events each year; from 2003-2012, it alternated between replacing science and social science. USAD releases the topics and theme of the following year's competition in early March, giving students time to prepare for a competition season that runs from November to April. The curriculum is developed by a ten-member panel of former USAD coaches known as the USAD Curriculum Advisory Group. The group contracts with "curriculum developers", who must have at least a bachelor's degree in their respective subject, to create the subject area outlines, Resource Guides, and Notebook Dividers. The Super Quiz Resource Guide was formed mostly from articles from peer reviewed journals, but also includes non-peer reviewed articles, which are looked over by a panel of five reviewers and then checked for accuracy by another reviewer. Use of this format was continued for the Science packet in the 2012-2013 season.

The events are split up into two groups: the seven objective tests (art, economics, language and literature, math, music, science and social science) the three subjective events (essay, interview and speech). In addition, there is a SuperQuiz relay event. The former seven are given as half-hour multiple choice tests, whereas the latter three are graded by judges. The multiple choice exams consist of 50 questions each, with the exception of math, which has 35 questions. Beginning in the 2012-2013 season, the SuperQuiz written test was dropped and the oral relay was changed to include questions from six of the objective subjects: art, economics, language and literature, music, science, and social science.

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