<p>come on. All you dorks call roll. jk :-P </p>
<p>Hey can someone offer me any advice on how I should study for htis years topic? I've never done academic decathalon before. I don't knwo music, I SO want to learn, don't know economics, or the social studies section whatsoever. I got the packets and am wondering how I should study for this monster of a test , or should I say tests?</p>
<p>any help = my loving devotion to you. well not quite.</p>
<p>bump bumpity bump</p>
<p>Yeah, I'm in AD. I'm pretty much just studying astronomy because I like it, but if I feel good then I'll study the social studies too. I think it's Roam Empire or something........</p>
<p>Roman* Whoops.... lol</p>
<p>Go by the study guide, it tells u the composition of the test</p>
<p>Academic "Decathlon" participant here.</p>
<p>The scope of the music material isn't too wide...to do well just make sure you know the provided materials well. No need to buy a music theory textbook, though it would help...though the "opportunity cost," in my "normative" opinion, is too high.</p>
<p>i know the composition. the teacher bought us the guides. but I don't think all I need to do is memorize those guides. People wouldn't be stressing about the competition so much if all I needed to do is regurgitate some facts. I sorta want to know the direction I need to take my study plan in and the depth of knowledge I need</p>
<p>In Academic Decathlon, how much you study or how you study depends on your goals.</p>
<p>If you're aiming for a medal at state, you either have to be a genius in a subject, or you need to buy those study guides. If you just wanna be decent, you can live w/ the resource guide themselves.</p>
<p>If you have any questions just ask them. I'm a two year veteran</p>
<p>memorizing usad is a difficult task in itself....definately over 700 pages of information when you count basic guides. Demidec is helpful for the independent study topics like in music the lifes of the three main composers!</p>
<p>I wish my school had it. My old school did, but not my new school. Off-topic, but do you think I could get one started? As for how much time I have, I'm already going to be staying after school Monday through Thursday until 4.</p>
<p>Zoogies-Go to the academic decathlon website and contact your state's rep.</p>
<p>I was thinking about starting up a team this year (my school already has a quiz bowl type team, so it wouldn't be a hard thing to do), but I've just been too busy. Also, I'm not sure we could get the money, as the fees are pretty steep. I'm not really sure how beneficial AcaDeth is anyway... it just seems like a lot of memorization.</p>
<p>It'd be useful for me, though...even though I am pretty busy if I'm staying after M thru Th and some weekends too for ECs. It's hard to fit in my schedule...but then, academic clubs in my school are less common than student mothers. Seriously. There's mock trial, which really isn't an academic club, more like a competitive team that doesn't have much to do with academia...or the curriculum, at least...and the as-of-yet-unformed latin club. That's it.</p>
<p>I think it's too late though. The deadline said 9/26...or that was some sort of meeting..</p>
<p>Yeah, that's my question too. How "prestigious" is Decathlon to adcoms at the elite schools?</p>
<p>I think academic decathlon is quite prestigious, taking into account the wide range of subjects it covers and the different skills it demands. I'm from Orange County here. I think this year's subjects are interesting, but just so much to cover (especially in astronomy and social science). I feel so behind! all the top schools started studying in June already. good luck everyone.</p>
<p>no i won't be because my school doesn't have a team,and no teachers want to sponsor it, which I would need to start any extracurricular</p>
<p>I'm into Greek mythology and ancient history, so I'm hoping to have an edge there. I've also done astronomy at space camp for a few years. I'm in AP Economics, so maybe I'll understand that better this year. My advice is, don't try to cover EVERYTHING because you'll just end up going nuts. I think it'd be better to focus on the three or four subjects that you're REALLY good at (speech, Super Quiz, literature, economics and music in my case), and maybe just brush up on those that you're only so-so at. That way, you'll enjoy the studying more, and have a better chance at medaling. Our state competition isn't that bad, but I'm the only one on my team that really cares. It usually ends up that I get three or four medals, and there are maybe two or three spread out amongst the other eight members. I'm always out of town when we have our regionals (journalism conferences), but I go to state anyway. Good luck everyone!</p>
<p>I would focus on the subjects I like and brush up on the others, but I really want my team to go to state this year. Everyone needs to be good at everything. The competition is really harsh in CA. LA County is even more difficult, but Orange County actually has the most teams (roughtly 80) competing at regionals. Our rival school in our high school district won the last 3 years to advance to state. We really need to excel to reach our goal. We probably need at least 46-47,000 points. I'm happy I don't live in LA, where they always get like 50,000 points. haha.</p>
<p>I live in Texas, which probably has the second best teams after California. So yeah the competition is very tough even for going to state. Our region has 36 teams, and only four or five end up going to state.</p>
<p>But AcDec is very prestigious among adcoms, and I've personally asked three or four of them. I'd venture to say it's regarded in the same breath as Speech and Debate, and higher than Quiz Bowl.</p>
<p>i signed up for the class, and then later dropped out, and convinced 2 of my friends to drop out, too. we had no team after that (but that's cuz we had no C students). the acadeca teacher got mad. we apparently let down the school. why did i drop out? well, because the stuff was ****ing boring and i now only have 5 classes, meaning i get out at 1 instead of 3. </p>
<p>And i never returned my material, either =)</p>
<p>vtran31-- it <em>does</em> require a bit of memorization, because they can't test you on anything that isn't in the study guides, and most of the stuff in the study guides is covered. music is a good thing to concentrate on b/c the stuff in the basic guide stays almost the same every year, so you only have to learn it once.</p>
<p>on our team, everyone picks an area to concentrate on (like music) and then we study for super quiz together. super quiz is pretty important because it's the most public event. how to study? basically the same way you would study for anything: make sure you at least read through the materials for details, and then take plenty of review tests if they're available. demidec has good resources for that, as well as study guides.</p>
<p>i dunno... i guess some people consider the stuff boring, but i love it. (i'm just a nerd like that anyway ;-) ). and nothing builds team spirit like a bit of adversity, lol.</p>