Question Content
Brain Bowl questions are taken from academic curriculum, current events and common life experience. Question content is not grouped by subject. Teams should expect a wide variety of topics in every oral round and on the written test. Question difficulty ranges from easy to challenging.
Oral Round Questions
Oral round questions are most often presented in direct answer form, however, there may a be an occasional multiple-choice question. As a general rule, true/false or yes/no questions are avoided. Each oral round consists of 30 questions. Oral round questions are the same for every team competing during a particular round. For instance, all teams scheduled for oral competition during Round One will receive the same questions regardless of competition level. Teams scheduled for the written round during Round One will not encounter Round One oral questions at any time during the competition. Teams are provided scratch paper for calculations. Team members should bring pencils to the competition table and no other items or materials.
Written Round Questions
The same written test is given to every team competing regardless of competition level. The written round consists of 50 questions that are presented in multiple-choice format. Although teams are scheduled to take the written exam throughout the preliminary rounds, all teams from one school are scheduled to take the exam at the same time. Each team receives only one test and one answer sheet. Team members should bring pencils but may not bring any other materials to the test tables. Test sheets are not reused and for this reason, teams may pull the sheets apart and/or use their test sheets as scratch paper if needed for calculations. All test pages must be turned in with the signed answer sheet at the end of the written round.