Procedures for Advancing in Individual Competition

Individual Seeding: In Round 1 of Individuals, quizzers are placed in rooms based on their National Ranking and the averages given by their coaches. The rooms are balanced so that each room has approximately the same combined average. To maintain the calculated balance, it is important that quizzers registered for Individuals honor their commitment by participating in the round. Rounds 1 through 3 will have only 15 questions.

Second Round Advancing: In each division (other than STR) 24 quizzers will advance to four rooms for the second round of individual competition. The winner in each first round room will advance to the second round along with the top scorers among the non-winners. In case of ties, there will be no overtime questions in the first round.

Tie Breaking in Round One: When there is a tie for the final spot(s), the tie will be broken by adding the numbers of the questions answered by each quizzer. The one with the lowest sum will advance. This formula is based on the principle that competition in the early part of an individual round is more challenging. As the round progresses, quizzers miss pre-jumps and are more hesitant in their jumping, the better quizzer(s) may have quizzed out, and points may be easier to score. In the unusual circumstance where this method fails, the tournament directors will take other factors into consideration in making the final decision.

Advancing to Final Round: The winner of each second round room (4 rooms per division) will advance directly to the final round. The next 12 quizzers (2nd and 3rd place finishers in each second round room plus 4 wild cards) will advance into two semi-final round 3 rooms, balanced by quizzers' performance in previous rounds. The winner of the 2 semi-final rooms will join the previous 4 winners for the 20 question final round. If needed to determine the winner, a 3-question overtime will be used in rounds 2 and 3. Overtime scores will be disregarded when calculating wildcards. (Please see the diagram above.)

Senior Teen Rookie: Because there are currently six or fewer registered to participate; each of these quizzers will advance to the final round and there will be only a single, 20-question, final round. Were more individuals to register, the winners of each second round room would advance to the finals along with the appropriate number of wild cards, and there would only be second and final rounds of individual competition.