Quiz Bowl team places third at novice tournament

The Quiz Bowl team, consisting of sophomore Kevin Chow and seniors Ethan Ngai and Nitya Sampath, placed third out of 27 other schools at the Palo Alto Novice Tournament on Oct. 4.

“I got five hours of sleep before the tournament,” Ngai said, “but we still managed to place fairly well.”

In Quiz Bowl, questions can range from history to science to pop culture. To prepare for the tournament, the team held practice sessions Wednesdays at lunch.

To prepare further, team members also studied individually. Since Quiz Bowl questions are so wide ranging, Ngai prepared by reading “whatever [he wants] in [his] free time.”

“It was a really great way to exercise what you know in an active way,” Ngai said. “It’s different from knowing it at the back of your head.”

Because the Quiz Bowl team consists solely of History Bowl members, they breezed through history questions but had more trouble with pop culture, philosophy, social sciences, literature and art questions.

“Quiz Bowl is actually fun because there are questions about video games and such,” Ngai said. “There were questions about Master Chief from ‘Halo,’ airplanes and In n’ Out.”

Senior captain Bruce Lou, the reigning national History Bowl champion, was unable to participate in the tournament since he reached Quiz Bowl nationals last year and is no longer considered a “novice.” Ngai believes, however, that the experience of competing without Lou was enlightening.

“I didn’t know that we were that good without [Lou,]” Ngai said. “I thought he was carrying the team, and [the rest of us] were just warming the seats. I mean, when he comes back, he will probably still carry the team, but hopefully not as much.”

According to Ngai, competing without Lou also revealed his own improvement.

“I found out that I was better than I thought I was,” Ngai said. “I thought I was horrible at Quiz Bowl, because when I play with [Lou], I get like half a question per game, but without [Lou], I get eight or nine.”

The team will compete in three or four more tournaments this year. Besides aiming to win, the team members hope to extend their knowledge.

“Whenever I go to Quiz Bowl, I learn about new books or scientific terms, or I get to use AP Bio in a constructive way,” Ngai said. “I’m just there to learn stuff and have fun.”