<p>Because there wasn't a thread for this before, and because I'm putting off studying for the upcoming regional competition.</p>
<p>How are you guys holding up with Latin America?</p>
<p>This is my first year on the team, and I was wondering if any of you would like to share past experiences. Such as, how hard are the tests compared to DemiDec's leveled exams (cough, this may or may not determine how much I study)? How does Super Quiz work?</p>
<p>And any other stories you want to share would be fun, too. :)</p>
<p>My regionals already happened :)</p>
<p>My team placed 9th in our region - good considering we've existed for two years.</p>
<p>I won the Social Science category at Regionals, so bow to the Goddess of Latin American History!! ;)</p>
<p>I have no idea how hard the tests are compared to DemiDec's. Just study anyway, and rake in the ribbons at Regionals!</p>
<p>I'm almost glad to never have to read Bless Me Ultima again...</p>
<p>How would you guys go about starting an Acadeca in your school? It seems like a very interesting competition, but in my area, there only seems to be a few schools that have the club. Since it's a national competition, are there certain requirements/materials that you need in order to organize the club? And also, how often do you guys meet and what do you during meetings? It seems like a fun activity and I'm always looking for new ways to compete. Thanks for any help.</p>
<p>Congrats on your SocSci victory, book_worm! :D</p>
<p>I'm not sure exactly how to set up an AD team, but here's what I do know:</p>
<ul>
<li>It takes a good deal of money. To travel to/from competitions, to buy USAD guides and DemiDec study materials... Though you could get along without DemiDec, their practice tests/quizzes are pretty useful.</li>
<li>The official website Academic</a> Decathlon® : The Premier Scholastic Competition for High School Students should probably have more info on requirements and starting your own team.</li>
<li>My school's team roster is decided on in spring. We do some homework during summer and start regular meetings in fall. They're two hours weekly until December, when it becomes three hours weekly. Then in January, it's two three-hour meetings.</li>
<li>During meetings, we summarize guides, take practice tests, use flashcards, critique speeches, teach each other the material we're best at... It sounds kinda dry, but the team is pretty much loling the whole time because our coach & teammates are hilarious. We're serious when it counts, but we joke around a LOT. :)</li>
</ul>
<p>meh, how many points did you guys get last year? right now for my schools team were estimating well get about 35000, which isnt nearly enough to get to state D:.</p>
<p>What's the score out of? 60 000?</p>
<p>The team scores are out of 60k, yeah.</p>
<p>We have regionals next week, and this is my first year as well. I keep averaging 5500/7000 on scrimmage and practice objectives, so I'm getting my hopes up. Got a gold in Lit, Art, and SQ at my first scrimmage, with a bronze in history, math, and history.</p>
<p>We have regionals? I'm not sure which competition it is...the one right before state, on Saturday.</p>
<p>It's not too bad. I rock out on the speech events. THat's what got me involved. Uhg. I haven't hardly studied or read the book. This is going to be another long Saturday.</p>
<p>^ For me, speech=death. It was that bad :(</p>
<p>Ha. I love the speech section the most. If it wasn't for that I would have quit a long time ago.</p>
<p>Thought i'd bump this up. AH, competition is this Saturday for us. and our team is AWFUL-our coach is horrendous. we barely know anything. sigh. good luck to those of you competing this saturday though.</p>
<p>We had ours yesterday.
Second in speech again. </p>
<p>I'm so sick of watching the same people get awards again and again. I might actually study this time.</p>
<p>Thanks, wheatbread. Good luck to you, too! I'm sorry to hear that you feel your team is unprepared. :(</p>
<p>And congrats, musicallylatin!!! :D I'm not very good at speech (fairly certain the other two in my category are going to be the ones who count :p), so it's interesting to hear from someone whose favorite section is speech!</p>
<p>I'm pretty nervous about this--somewhat concerned about getting lost. Must remember to stick to the teammates in my category like glue. @_@</p>
<p>Does it tend to be a nerve-wracking experience, or is it somehow just... serene/zen on competition day?</p>
<p>I should start studying...</p>
<p>^ LOL, wait, when is your competition date?</p>
<p>
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Does it tend to be a nerve-wracking experience, or is it somehow just... serene/zen on competition day?
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>eh, it was pretty serene for us last year. but on the first competition date (speech/interview/essay) after we were done, we saw other teams cramming like crazy. lol. and we just chilled. i remember during super quiz (they raised the picket signs to show how much a team got correct) most people administering it raised it for like 10 seconds or so while a coach who was from a rival high school barely raised ours. annoying.</p>
<p>Interview, speech, essay are this saturday, the rest are the next Saturday</p>
<p>ooh you guys do interview/speech/essay and tests separately? :0 That's quite a novelty for me, we do them on the same day. lol I am so not ready to take all these tests, so I wish I only had interview/speech/essay this Saturday...</p>
<p>^ We do them on the same day also, well except for our regional competition we had essays on a school day and were released for first period to write them.</p>