The Arcadia Science Bowl finished 2nd in the Regional Science Bowl Competition at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Jan. 26. Science Bowl Team members this year include Captain junior Bryan Hsu and seniors William Shue, Taesung Hwang, David Zhu, and Matthew Frame.This year’s team’s subject distribution is Bryan and David for Chemistry/Biology, Bryan and Matthew for Chemistry/Earth Science, and Taesung and William for Math/Physics.

Science Bowl Advisor Mrs. Mynster explained how Science Bowl works: “The Science Bowl competition is a 15-minute match of verbally asked questions on the following topics: chemistry, physics, biology, and math (Algebra – Statistics, Energy, and Earth & Space Science). Teams of four students (plus one alternate who can play/alternate at the midway point of the match) have 20 seconds to verbally answer questions.”

Two types of questions were used: toss-up and bonus questions. A toss-up question may be answered by any of the four members of either team who are actively competing. A team that answers a toss-up question correctly will always get a chance to answer a follow-up bonus question that the other team is ineligible to. No communication among team members is allowed on toss-up questions, but communication is permitted on bonus questions. Toss-up questions are worth 4 points, and bonus questions are worth 10 points.

At this year’s competition, University High School from Irvine placed 1st and will be moving on to the National Science Bowl Competition hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. AHS placed 2nd, and Troy High School followed in 3rd.

Besides the fast-paced excitement of the competition, Captain junior Bryan Hsu enjoys Science Bowl for “the friendship. Since Science Bowl is small, I really get to know everyone well… spending a bunch of time with people you enjoy being around is awesome.”

Bryan believes that the strategy to being successful is to study, understand, and remember. “Most of the knowledge you have is already based on stuff you already have read, not through competition experience, so the best way to prepare is really studying by yourself.”

To all people interested in trying out for Science Bowl, these are some helpful tips straight from the captain himself. Written tryouts for next year’s team will be held Friday, Apr. 19. There is no need to be an expert in all subjects. Team members usually know one, maybe two subjects really well and other team members complement each other in their knowledge base. Good luck on tryouts!