“How did you know that?”
“Why would you know that?”
“Where on earth did you learn that?”
I am sure that if like me, you quiz often with people not as devoted to quizzing as yourself, the above phrases have often come up. Sometimes, like me, you may even wonder to yourself where the answer to a particular question came from but usually it tends to be comments of others.
Indeed, even at times I have spoke to people who have wanted to become better quizzers. Now as a 26 year old with limited quiz experience and knowledge compared to some other quizzers I am in no position whatsoever to give advice to anyone but the odd times people have asked how I go about boosting my knowledge one tip I always give people is to never be fooled twice.
I would assume a lot of quizzers have the same approach as myself. Anytime I get a question wrong, or more importantly cannot even hazard a logical guess, that means its research time. Whether it be a question on a TV show such as The Chase or sitting working through a quiz book I have a “little black book” (no not that) where I jot down notes on things I learn that I do not know. This black book is rather huge at present but it gives me something to work with.
Sometimes the note will be researching a small topic, sometimes it will be huge, sometimes it will be a note to watch a film or a few episodes of a TV series but either way that’s an effective way of learning for me.
Of course I do the “lists” and such like but its important to enjoy learning and this is the way I find to be most enjoyable hence why I give it as a tip to others. Hunting down one interesting fact will always lead to another.
I would love to know other quizzers tactics when they are stumped by a question and want to research further?
The number of times the same question can catch you out ! I have a quiz blind spot about certain questions - for example, it's taken me years to get my head around the fact that Lake Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes. For years and years every time the question was asked I'd say to myself - I know it's Erie or Ontario, bu I alwys get it the wrong way round. So even though I think it's Ontario, I'll go for Erie - and I's get it wrong - again.
ReplyDeleteWhat I do tend to find is that once I've actually asked a question myself in a quiz, then I'm less likely to get it wrong the next time I'm asked it. That's the way I cracked the Erie / Ontario confusion.
When I'm asked that question I usually provide an answer similar to this:
ReplyDeleteHow I know
I agree with David - I've cracked things I have trouble remembering by asking them as questions in one of the quizzes I host.
ReplyDeleteAlso, when someone asks me a question I don't know the answer to in a quiz, I go and research that topic afterward.
Such tactics aren't going to give you the breadth of knowledge that some of the Eggheads have, for instance, but it's going to help you win a lot more pub quizzes.
I should also say, there are somethings that never stick. I can't remember footballers and thier teams, no matter how much I work at it... and nor can I remember soap opera actors and actresses but can list film actors with no problem... so even in an area that's supposed to be your forte (actors and actresses) there can be blind spots.