Samer's questions are worthy of thought. And I could probably waste a lot of time analyzing past packets and pondering how much coverage the 20th century should get. But since I don't have that time, here's how I'd encourage future posters to think about it: Consider, for both history and literature, a graph which shows quantity of "askable" material plotted against time. In both cases, the graph would be some upward-sloping curve as time approaches the present. In literature's case, the curve would be relatively steep, not withstanding a slight peak during Greco-Roman times. In history's case, it would be much more gentle. Then, one could integrate and calculate percentages of questions which should be asked within various time spans. Of course, this would not be smooth curve and would be very subjective. For example, one might be inclined to tweak the history curve in favor of more recent history since quizbowlers are bound to know much more about 19th-century American than 5th-century Chinese. (Not to mention that man knows much more "period" about the former than the latter.) And for literature, some grouchy lad/lass might feel that 20th-century (do I hear "Hemingway" or "Paz"?) literature isn't worth nearly as much as people think. (I do not necessarily espouse either of those viewpoints.) Ultimately, it is a POV thing, and many packets which would strike me as being particularly well or badly "integrated" over time might strike you the other way. i.e. there's no accounting for tastes. For what it's worth, my gut feeling is that somewhere between 25% and 33% of literature questions should cover 20th-century lit and from 15% to 23% should treat 20th-century history. I'm not sure how close that is to your typical NAQT (or ACF) packet. Ben, who is, in spite of the graph thing, a music major > To follow up on Eric's post, here are two simple questions: > > Considering ~only~ time period, at a tournament such as Penn Bowl or NAQT > (i.e., not ACF, not CBI), what percentage of history (including all countries) > should cover the 20th century? > > And, considering ~only~ time period, what percentage of literature Qs should > cover the 20th century? > > I have a reason for asking this question, but I'll wait until I hear a few > replies before posting it. > STI
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