Geography Bee Rules

In addition to all the general contest rules stated by North South Foundation, the following rules are applicable for the 2005 Geography Bee Competition:

Specific Rules for Geography Bee - 2006 Regionals

1. There are 2 levels of competition in Geography Bee:
   
• JGB (Junior Geography Bee): Grades 1, 2 and 3
  
• SGB (Senior Geography Bee): Grades 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8
  
2. A 1 st rank winner at the National Finals of the North South Foundation Senior Geography contest is not eligible for competing in this and future Geography contests conducted by the Foundation (National winners of junior geography bee can participate in the senior geography bee.) A contestant who participated in a higher level bee cannot participate in a lower level bee in subsequent years.
   
3. Geography bees (JGB and SGB) are held in two phases: Phase I (written) and Phase II (oral). Parents are not allowed in Phase I. They may be allowed in Phase II at the discretion of the judges, if the space permits.

Phase I (written):

• Phase I is a written test with 30 questions.  All contestants will get the same 30 questions. They will have 30 minutes to answer them.

• Unclear and illegible writing is subject to misinterpretation. Therefore, contestants are requested to write legibly. The decision of the judges is final.

• There will NOT be any partial credits. There will be NO negative points for any incorrect answer . The contestant will be awarded one point for the correct answer and zero for an incorrect answer.

• All Phase I sheets should be returned at the end of the contest. All contestants will advance to Phase II (oral round.)

Phase II (oral):

• Phase II contains 5 oral rounds.
  
• Each contestant will be asked one question in each round.
  
• During this phase, the pronouncer announces the question. The contestant is not allowed to ask the judges any information on the question. The contestant is allowed 30 seconds to provide his/her choice of the answer. The judges may award zero points to any contestant who ignores a request to start giving an answer.
  
• During each of the five rounds, each contestant gets a new question from the list. If a contestant gives an incorrect answer, the presiding judge provides the correct answer. The next contestant will be given a new question from the list.
  
• The contestant will be awarded one point for the correct answer and zero for an incorrect answer.

Winners and Ranks:

• Based on the combined scores of Phase I & II, the judges will determine the winners. The 1 st place winner shall be ahead by at least one point to be declared as the champion. In announcing the ranks 1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd, the judges will follow these rules:
  
• Ranks 1, 2 and 3 will be announced if and only if there are at least 10 contestants.
  
• Ranks 1 and 2 will be announced ONLY, if there are 8 or 9 contestants.
  
• Rank 1 will be announced ONLY, if there are 5-7 contestants.
  
• If there are less than 5 contestants, NO ranks will be announced.

Tiebreaker Rules:

• The tie-breaker rules apply ONLY if there are at least 5 or more contestants participating in a given center.

• Any tie among the first three ranks ONLY shall be resolved by a written tiebreaker with 3 questions. If there is still a tie after the first tiebreaker, a second tiebreaker is administered. If necessary, this process is repeated up to a maximum of 5 tiebreakers.

• If the tie is still not broken after 5 tiebreakers, joint winners will be announced. When announcing joint winners, the judges will follow these rules:
  
  • If two are tied for the 1 st place, skip rank 2 and announce rank 3 for the third contestant.
  • If two or more are tied for the 2 nd place, skip rank 3.
  • If three or more are tied for the 1 st place, skip ranks 2 and 3.

Invitation to National Finals:

• Invitation to National finals (Senior Geography Bee ONLY) is based on the relative scores (Phase I and Phase II only) of all the contestants nationally. Thus, the combined Phase I & II score of each contestant relative to all such scores around the country will determine whether the contestant will be invited to the National Finals. The regional tiebreakers are only helpful in determining the winners for a particular center, but have no bearing on the Finals invitation.