WSC/The Scholar's Cup Explained

A team for the World Scholar's Cup is composed of three students typically from the same school. These three-member teams (some teams do compete as duos but with a scoring disadvantage) compete against one another in regional competitions. The highest scoring teams at each regional round are invited to compete at a summer global meet, to compete with the best teams of all other participating countries.

There are three components to the World Scholar's Cup: testing, debate, and essay. The debate and essay are both based upon the materials which students have studied for the testing events. Team scores are determined by adding all team member's individual scores together, thus allowing a limited amount of specialization.

Testing

Competitors are tested in six subjects, which vary from year to year, and are given an online outline of the information to be tested. There are two types of multiple-choice tests, a scholar's challenge which typically consists of 15 or 20 questions in each of the six subject areas, and a team scholar's bowl which consists of six rounds of questions that team members collaborate on before answering. The Scholar's Challenge has six tests that are worth a maximum of 500 points each for a total of 3,000 points. The Scholar's Bowl is weighted to have a maximum score of 10,000 points per team.

Debate

In the debate event, teams are pitted directly against one another in a debate similar to a modified version of parliamentary debate. Teams are given a resolution and sides (Affirmative or Negative), and have 15 minutes to prepare for the debate. The debate proceeds as follows:

• Affirmative 1 (3-4 minutes): Constructs the affirmative case
• Negative 1 (3-4 minutes): Constructs the negative case; refutes affirmative points
• Affirmative 2 (3-4 minutes): Reinforces affirmative arguments, refutes negative points
• Negative 2 (3-4 minutes): Reinforces negative points, further refutes affirmative arguments
• Affirmative 3 (3-4 minutes): Tells judge why affirmative has won the round
• Negative 3 (3-4 minutes): Tells judge why negative has won the round

Speakers are rated based on their fluency, on their organization of time, and on their use of information from the study guides. The highest rated individuals compete before an audience in an event known as the Debate Showcase. Each student is rated on a scale of a possible 900 points, and each member of the winning team receives 100 points for their victory, making the event worth 1,000 possible points.

Essay

The World Scholar's Cup's essay event will allow team members to collaborate on a series of prompts in each of the six subject areas. Team members must select different prompts and are allowed to use electronic devices to research the prompts before writing. They can then read their teammates essays in one final collaborative session before turning in their essays. The essay event is also worth 3,000 points per individual and 10,000 points per team.