In addition to all the general contest rules stated by North South Foundation, the following rules are applicable for the 2007 Vocabulary Bee Competition.

1. There are 3 levels of competition for Vocabulary Bee:
   
   
   • JVB (Junior Vocabulary Bee): Grades 1, 2 and 3
   • IVB (Intermediate Vocabulary Bee): Grades 4, 5, 6 and 7
   • SVB (Senior Vocabulary Bee): Grades 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12
   
   
2. A 1st rank winner at the National Finals of the North South Foundation Senior Vocabulary contest is not eligible for competing in this and future vocabulary contests conducted by the Foundation (National winners of junior vocabulary bee can participate in the intermediate or senior vocabulary bee. Similarly national winners of intermediate vocabulary bee can participate in the senior vocabulary bee.) A contestant who participated in a higher level bee cannot participate in a lower level bee in subsequent years.
   
   
3. Vocabulary bees (JVB, IVB and SVB) 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):

4. Phase I is a written test with 20 words and the contestant has to find the most appropriate meaning of the word. Ten words will be selected from the published list (this is the list of 1,000 words provided to the contestants; Please note that only 500 words are supplied to Junior Vocabulary where as 1000 words are provided to both Intermediate and Senior vocabulary), and the remaining ten words will be from external sources. All the contestants will get the same 20 words.
   
   
5. During this phase, contestants will be a given sheet with 20 words along with multiple choices for each word. For each word, the contestant has to circle the most appropriate meaning from the list of multiple choices. To aid the contestant, the pronouncer will pronounce the word and read the multiple choices for each of the 20 words.
   
   
6. Unclear and illegible writing might be open for misinterpretation. So, contestants are expected to write clearly and legibly. The decision of the judges is final.
   
   
7. 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.
   
   
8. 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):

9. Phase II contains 8 oral rounds. All the words in Phase II are used from the published list of 1,000 words.
   
   
10. During this phase, the pronouncer pronounces a word (hands over an index card with the word along with its multiple choice of meanings or displays the same information on a screen) along with the corresponding multiple choices to the contestant. The contestant will pronounce the word along with his/her selected answer from the multiple choices. In addition to making a choice, the contestant is strongly encouraged to read the meaning of the word, but this does not affect the scoring.
    
    
11. During each of the eight rounds, each contestant gets a new word from the list. If a contestant gives an incorrect answer, the judges provide the correct answer. The next contestant will be given a new word from the list.
    
    
12. 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.
    
    
13. The contestant will be awarded one point for the correct answer and zero for an incorrect answer.
    
    

Winners and Ranks:

14. Based on the combined scores of Phase I & II, the judges will determine the winners. The 1st place winner shall be ahead by at least one point to be declared as the champion. In announcing the ranks 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, the judges will follow these rules:
    
    
    • Announce Ranks 1, 2 and 3, if and only if there are at least 10 contestants;
    • Announce Ranks 1 and 2 ONLY, if there are 8 or 9 contestants;
    • Announce Rank 1 ONLY, if there are 5-7 contestants;
    • DO NOT announce any ranks if there are less than 5 contestants.

Tiebreaker Rules:

15. The tiebreaker rules for ranks apply ONLY if there are at least 5 or more contestants participating in a given center.
    
    
16. Any tie among the first three ranks ONLY shall be resolved first by the Grade. Lowest grade contestant will get the highest rank. If all the tied contestants are in the same grade, then it is resolved by a tiebreaker round with 5 written words. If there is still a tie after the first tiebreaker, a second tiebreaker round with a new set of 5 written words is administered. If necessary, this process is repeated up to a maximum of 4 tiebreaker rounds. All words in the tiebreaker rounds are from outside the published list.
    
    
17. If the tie is still not broken after 4 tiebreaker rounds, joint winners are announced. When announcing joint winners, the judges will follow these rules:
    
    
    • If two are tied for the 1st place, skip rank 2 and announce rank 3 for the third contestant.
    • If two or more are tied for the 2nd place, skip rank 3.
    • If three or more are tied for the 1st place, skip ranks 2 and 3.

Invitation to National Finals:

18. Invitation to National Finals is based on the relative scores (Phase I and Phase II only) of all the contestants nationally and is not based on a direct correlation of ranks achieved by a contestant in a regional contest. 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.