Difference between revisions of "Andy Watkins"

From QBWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
 
(24 intermediate revisions by 12 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
 
{{Infobox|Name = Andy Watkins
 
{{Infobox|Name = Andy Watkins
 
|Image = Watkins.png
 
|Image = Watkins.png
−
|Subjects = Science
+
|Subjects = Science, Cheating
−
|schoolcur = [[Harvard]] (2008-)
+
|schoolpast = [[Harvard]] (2008-2011)
−
|schoolpast = None
 
 
|highschool = [[Shady Side]] (2003-2007)
 
|highschool = [[Shady Side]] (2003-2007)
−
| }}
+
|forums=[https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1418 MechanicalBeasts]<br/>CrazyAndyWatkins
 +
}}
 +
:'''''[https://web.archive.org/web/20170327232435/https://www.naqt.com/articles/security-review-update.html Cheats at quizbowl.]''' For more information, see [[2013 NAQT Cheating Scandal]]''
  
−
"Crazy" '''Andy Watkins''' is a quizbowl player for [[Harvard]]. He is much beloved by quizbowl for writing seventy million questions over the past twelve months. He also has a reputation for posting, occasionally incomprehensibly, a lot on [[hsquizbowl.org]], and for writing really hard science questions. He was the leading scorer on the Harvard B/D2 team at both the [[2008 ICT|NAQT ICT]] and [[2008 ACF Nationals|ACF Nationals]] in his freshman year, and lead his team to a victories at the [[2010 ICT]] and the 2011 ICT.
+
"Crazy" '''Andy Watkins''' played quizbowl for [[Harvard]]. He was known as a prolific question writer and poster on [[hsquizbowl.org]], and for writing really hard science questions. He was the leading scorer on the Harvard B/DII team at both the [[2008 ICT|NAQT ICT]] and [[2008 ACF Nationals|ACF Nationals]] in his freshman year. He was a member of [[PACE]] and chief editor of the [[2011 NSC]], and resigned from PACE alongside [[Trygve Meade]] following the logistical failures of that event.
 +
 
 +
Andy is married to [[Hannah Kirsch]].
  
 
==High School Career==
 
==High School Career==
Line 19: Line 22:
 
* [[VETO]]
 
* [[VETO]]
 
* [[FIST]]
 
* [[FIST]]
 +
* [[PACE NSC]] 2010 (science) and 2011 (chief editor)
  
−
In addition, Andy helped finish the chemistry for [[Lederberg Memorial Science|Lederberg]] based on answers already selected (thus saving the tournament).
+
In addition, Andy helped finish the chemistry for [[Lederberg Memorial Science|Lederberg]] (based on already-selected answers) and [[2011 ACF Regionals]].
−
 
 
−
==Controversial philosophy==
 
−
Andy has been accused of platonic idealism for reasons unclear.
 
−
 
 
−
Andy's philosophy on studying for quizbowl is that you need to study really obscure things to beat good players to good questions. Therefore, much of his knowledge base is actually stuff that rarely comes up. This has also led to Andy's reputation as among the worst judges of difficulty appropriateness among active writers of good questions.
 
−
 
 
−
(The above is better put forth as "you need to spend a lot of time learning early clues, even at the expense of spending as much time learning late clues," which sounds a lot less silly and better resembles his original exposition of this principle.)
 
−
 
 
−
(Andy does, however, believe that having written too-hard high school questions, reasonable regular difficulty questions, and too-hard nationals-level questions has given him better canon sense and despite his bizarre and mostly ineffective studying strategies, he'll be able to write good questions for future tournaments: see for example his difficulty-appropriate material for HAVOC.)
 
  
 +
Andy's science questions were known for being consistently too difficult for their intended audiences, despite a "philosophy of quizbowl" which would preclude overly-difficult questions.
  
 
== Notable Tournaments ==
 
== Notable Tournaments ==
−
*[[2010 ICT]] - 1st place (with [[Dallas Simons]], [[Bruce Arthur]], and [[Dennis Sun]])
+
*[[2011 ICT]] - Cheated; all victories revoked (with [[Dallas Simons]], [[Stephen Liu]], and [[Ted Gioia]])
 +
*[[2011 ACF Nationals]] - 8th place (with [[Dallas Simons]], [[Ted Gioia]], and [[Stephen Liu]])
 +
*[[2010 ICT]] - Cheated; all victories revoked (with [[Dallas Simons]], [[Bruce Arthur]], and [[Dennis Sun]])
 
*[[2010 ACF Nationals]] - Top bracket (with [[Dallas Simons]])
 
*[[2010 ACF Nationals]] - Top bracket (with [[Dallas Simons]])
 
*[[2010 Penn Bowl]] - 1st place (with [[Dallas Simons]], [[Ted Gioia]], and [[Bruce Arthur]])
 
*[[2010 Penn Bowl]] - 1st place (with [[Dallas Simons]], [[Ted Gioia]], and [[Bruce Arthur]])
 +
*[[2009 ICT]] - Cheated; all victories revoked (with [[Dallas Simons]], [[Ted Gioia]], and [[Kyle Haddad-Fonda]])
 
*[[2009 ACF Regionals]] - 1st place (with [[Dallas Simons]], [[Ted Gioia]], and [[Bruce Arthur]])
 
*[[2009 ACF Regionals]] - 1st place (with [[Dallas Simons]], [[Ted Gioia]], and [[Bruce Arthur]])
 
*[[2008 ACF Fall]] - 2nd place (with [[Dallas Simons]] and [[Dennis Sun]])
 
*[[2008 ACF Fall]] - 2nd place (with [[Dallas Simons]] and [[Dennis Sun]])
Line 41: Line 40:
 
*[[EFT|EFT3]] - 1st place (with [[Bruce Arthur]] and [[Julia Schlozman]])
 
*[[EFT|EFT3]] - 1st place (with [[Bruce Arthur]] and [[Julia Schlozman]])
  
−
 
+
[[Category: People]]
−
[[Category: People]] [[Category: Harvard]]  
+
[[Category: Harvard]]  
 
[[Category:Players active in 2008]]
 
[[Category:Players active in 2008]]
 
[[Category:Players active in 2009]]
 
[[Category:Players active in 2009]]
 
[[Category: Players active in 2010]]
 
[[Category: Players active in 2010]]
 +
[[Category: Players active in 2011]]
 
[[Category:High school players active in 2007]]
 
[[Category:High school players active in 2007]]
 
[[Category:High school players active in 2006]]
 
[[Category:High school players active in 2006]]
 
[[Category:High school players active in 2005]]
 
[[Category:High school players active in 2005]]
 
[[Category:High school players active in 2004]]
 
[[Category:High school players active in 2004]]
−
[[Category:HSQB Moderators]]
 
 
[[Category:Original QBWiki Page]]
 
[[Category:Original QBWiki Page]]
 +
[[Category:Cheaters]]
 +
[[Category:Question writers]]
 +
[[Category: Jeopardy contestants]]

Latest revision as of 09:48, 20 April 2021

Andy Watkins
Watkins.png
Noted subjects Science, Cheating
Past colleges Harvard (2008-2011)
High school Shady Side (2003-2007)
HSQB profile MechanicalBeasts
CrazyAndyWatkins
Stats HDWhite • NAQT
Cheats at quizbowl. For more information, see 2013 NAQT Cheating Scandal

"Crazy" Andy Watkins played quizbowl for Harvard. He was known as a prolific question writer and poster on hsquizbowl.org, and for writing really hard science questions. He was the leading scorer on the Harvard B/DII team at both the NAQT ICT and ACF Nationals in his freshman year. He was a member of PACE and chief editor of the 2011 NSC, and resigned from PACE alongside Trygve Meade following the logistical failures of that event.

Andy is married to Hannah Kirsch.

High School Career

Andy was on a Shady Side team that impressed many for its ambition when it attended the 2006 ECSO; this was before the time when elite high school players became regular attendees at college-level events.

Editing Career

Andy was a member of the editorial staff for the following tournaments:

In addition, Andy helped finish the chemistry for Lederberg (based on already-selected answers) and 2011 ACF Regionals.

Andy's science questions were known for being consistently too difficult for their intended audiences, despite a "philosophy of quizbowl" which would preclude overly-difficult questions.

Notable Tournaments

Retrieved from "https://www.qbwiki.com/w/index.php?title=Andy_Watkins&oldid=48218"