University Challenge

[Ein Heldenleben]

The ones in which I always fail utterly (quite apart from all the hardcore maths, physics & other science subjects ) - I think you’re right about them specifically preparing for those. Oh and planetary moons

I just watched it again . I reckon I got about 15 right on the night . If it hadn’t been for a late flurry of literature questions at the end and a handy reference to the Pearl Fishers it wouldn’t have even been that . All the usual tactics mostly failed - having the subtitles on and pretending that the correct answer I’d overheard during conferring was my real answer - didn’t work . My blunt tactic of always answering Tang or Ming to Chinese dynasty questions did pay off - that and repeating Third Republic until it eventually came up. Good to see the Bonzo Dog Dooh-Dah band finally receive their due. Incidentally do you think Balliol were subtly undermined by the captain’s florid dungarees?

[gurnemanz]

. I almost wonder whether the prepare by poring over atlases, flags of countries and the periodic table as these questions crop up virtually every week .

It helps to be young. I could pore over the periodic table for several hours and would have forgotten it five minutes later.

[Ein Heldenleben]

It helps to be young. I could pore over the periodic table for several hours and would have forgotten it five minutes later.

Their knowledge of obscure renamed ExCommunist towns and cities was incredible...almost beyond memorising..

[mikealdren]

It helps to be young. I could pore over the periodic table for several hours and would have forgotten it five minutes later.

It was a smaller table when I was a student!

[Dave2002]

Their knowledge of obscure renamed ExCommunist towns and cities was incredible...almost beyond memorising..

Does anyone really care? I kept answering "Perm" - but it didn't fit any of the answers! As for flags - I suppose there are flag afficionados, but I'm not one of them - really don't care at all. I had a lucky guess of 4 for the particle question. Wayback there was only spin, mass and charge, so I figured there might be one more now.

I am surprised that quite often though the answer is embedded in the wording of the question, and sometimes teams take a long while to spot that - if they ever do.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Does anyone really care? I kept answering "Perm" - but it didn't fit any of the answers! As for flags - I suppose there are flag afficionados, but I'm not one of them - really don't care at all. I had a lucky guess of 4 for the particle question. Wayback there was only spin, mass and charge, so I figured there might be one more now.

I am surprised that quite often though the answer is embedded in the wording of the question, and sometimes teams take a long while to spot that - if they ever do.

Interesting question - a lot of the knowledge is pretty pointless isn’t it ? I knew a couple of the medical questions (chloroform and Parkinson’s) because of having a doctor dad. You’d think vast medical knowledge absolutely vital for a doctor - not a bit of it . He thought most of what he learnt at medical school was only useful for passing exams, answering questions on quizzes , and watching American medical series and trying to guess the diagnosis before the actors. In the future he reckoned all that would matter would be virology ( prophetic! ) , dna and cell biology. All that memorising of Grays - a waste of time.
PS I did not understand one word of the DNA question last night....

[gurnemanz]

Does anyone really care? I kept answering "Perm" - but it didn't fit any of the answers! As for flags - I suppose there are flag afficionados, but I'm not one of them - really don't care at all. I had a lucky guess of 4 for the particle question. Wayback there was only spin, mass and charge, so I figured there might be one more now.

I am surprised that quite often though the answer is embedded in the wording of the question, and sometimes teams take a long while to spot that - if they ever do.

I was once in a local charity quiz which we ended up winning largely because one of our team members was such an aficionado (his job included working out the timetables for the local bus company). He got 100% on the flags of the nations round (Guatemala - no problem) and most other teams scored poorly.

... which reminds me of another time at that same event. There was a "where are these bones of the human body round". On a team sitting next to us was a well-known local GP - unfair, we thought. There was general amusement when he got one wrong.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I was once in a local charity quiz which we ended up winning largely because one of our team members was such an aficionado (his job included working out the timetables for the local bus company). He got 100% on the flags of the nations round (Guatemala - no problem) and most other teams scored poorly.

... which reminds me of another time at that same event. There was a "where are these bones of the human body round". On a team sitting next to us was a well-known local GP - unfair, we thought. There was general amusement when he got one wrong.

You’ve supported my dad’s point : a comprehensive encyclopaedic knowledge of the bones of the human body is not essential to being a good GP - trouble is all the patients think it is. ( I hope the answer wasn’t tibia or femur though )

[LMcD]

I just watched it again . I reckon I got about 15 right on the night . If it hadn’t been for a late flurry of literature questions at the end and a handy reference to the Pearl Fishers it wouldn’t have even been that . All the usual tactics mostly failed - having the subtitles on and pretending that the correct answer I’d overheard during conferring was my real answer - didn’t work . My blunt tactic of always answering Tang or Ming to Chinese dynasty questions did pay off - that and repeating Third Republic until it eventually came up. Good to see the Bonzo Dog Dooh-Dah band finally receive their due. Incidentally do you think Balliol were subtly undermined by the captain’s florid dungarees?

I reckon I got about 1.5!

[ardcarp]

Their knowledge of obscure renamed ExCommunist towns and cities was incredible...almost beyond memorising..

The questions in general were the hardest I remember. Three of us were watching: result? Mrs A (2) me (1) and MsA (1)
The pre- and post-Communist city names are an example of the two-pronged questions which I feel are a bit unfair anyway. Having to get two bits of information right for a 5-point team question seems to be on the increase.

[Ein Heldenleben]

The questions in general were the hardest I remember. Three of us were watching: result? Mrs A (2) me (1) and MsA (1)
The pre- and post-Communist city names are an example of the two-pronged questions which I feel are a bit unfair anyway. Having to get two bits of information right for a 5-point team question seems to be on the increase.

I had a fifteen minute drought during a succession of maths, science and geography questions that I am pretty sure I have never known the answer to. I did Shakespeare at Uni - read all the plays worth reading but the bleeding Taming of the Shrew - that’s just cruel...

[cloughie]

I just watched it again . I reckon I got about 15 right on the night . If it hadn’t been for a late flurry of literature questions at the end and a handy reference to the Pearl Fishers it wouldn’t have even been that . All the usual tactics mostly failed - having the subtitles on and pretending that the correct answer I’d overheard during conferring was my real answer - didn’t work . My blunt tactic of always answering Tang or Ming to Chinese dynasty questions did pay off - that and repeating Third Republic until it eventually came up. Good to see the Bonzo Dog Dooh-Dah band finally receive their due. Incidentally do you think Balliol were subtly undermined by the captain’s florid dungarees?

15 - OK you’ve got Forum bragging rites - next the Final!

[LMcD]

15 - OK you’ve got Forum bragging rites - next the Final!

I shall regard a personal score of minus 5 or better as a satisfactory outcome.

[vinteuil]

I had a fifteen minute drought during a succession of maths, science and geography questions that I am pretty sure I have never known the answer to...

... I cope with the questions I won't be able to answer (maths, most science, pop music) by loudly shouting "nominate mrs v!". I think she's beginning to resent this

.

[Ein Heldenleben]

15 - OK you’ve got Forum bragging rites - next the Final!

I regard 15 as humiliatingly low and I am on the point of writing to the producers re the lack of literature and classical music questions . It is nothing to brag about - I just have a retentive memory and spent my youth reading the Guinness book of records and the Book of Lists and have spent virtually the entire lockdown reading Unfortunately under competition the pressure gets to me . My only pub quiz triumph was when Mike the Irish Poly lecturer went on holiday after beating me week after week. I got to a tie break with another regular . When the question started “ What opera by Wagner ....”” I knew the gods were smiling .