The Local Bible Bee 2011 and its aftermath

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, it is very hard to get this done when I am studying for BB.

The Local Bible Bee took place on August 27. I will tell you more in detail about that. We left at 7:40 AM and drove into town, getting to the place where it was held by 8:10. We saw many friends that we had seen from previous years. At 9:00 testing began. First of all, there was the Written Test. It consisted of 200 multiple-choice questions, 50 of them from the 500 verses we had memorized and the other 150 from the book we had studied, 1 Peter. The questions had to be finished in an hour. Each question if answered correctly was worth 3 points, with a perfect Written score of 600. I finished all the questions and got a score of 540, having answered incorrectly 20 questions. Courtney’s score was 555. Afterwards we had a short break, followed by the Oral Test. We had to recite up to 25 passages (some of them were as short as one verse) selected and given us to memorize earlier this year in 10 minutes. Each passage, if recited perfectly, was worth 12 points, with one point being dropped off for any mistakes or one-word prompts requested by the contestant. A perfect Oral score would be 300. I got a score of 297 because I requested two prompts and made one mistake besides. Courtney’s score was 292. My total score was 837, and Courtney’s was 847.

After the competition, there was a lunch break, followed by the Local Final Challenge Round. The top 5 scoring contestants from each age group were called up to compete against each other in a single elimination round. Both Courtney and I qualified for this, and ended up placing 1^st and 2^nd in our age division, respectively. We were asked to quote a Bible memory verse or passage from the 500 that we knew, and if we did not recite it perfectly we were disqualified.

The Wednesday after the competition, (Aug. 31) we found out that both Courtney and I made it into the top 100 contestants, and therefore to the National Competition! Courtney placed 20^th and I placed 26^th in our age division, ages 11-14. As National Qualifiers, we are expected to memorize 200 extra verses and study another book, which is 2 Peter. We will be traveling to Nashville, TN where the Nationals are held this year on November 16. The National Competition will have much the same format as the Locals did, with a Written and Oral Test with the same format as Locals. The day after all 100 are tested, the top 15 scoring contestants (more in the event of a tie) will be announced and moved up to the Semi-Final Challenge Round. This will be much the same as the Local Finals, so I won’t take up too much space with it here. Suffice it to say that it is another single elimination round in front of an audience. The top 5 contestants from this round will be moved up to the Final Challenge Round, which is a single elimination round in front of an audience and broadcast on the Internet and the radio. The top 3 contestants from each age division will receive prizes of up to $100,000 and totaling over $260,000. We are so excited about this! Whether or not we go up to the Semi-Finals or farther, we are so happy that we made it! We give God the glory and know that if it is His will, He will take us higher.

I will post about my new baby sister soon, but I have to go now!

Matthew