Octathlon
The Octathlon competition is comprised of eight events. There are six multiple-choice exams one in each of the following subject areas: economics, language/literature, mathematics, social science (or science, depending on the Super Quiz topic), art and music. The Super Quiz event is an oral relay over a (social) science topic which changes each year. Students will also take an essay exam based on the assigned literature readings or the Super Quiz topic. This competition is for ninth and tenth-grade students. If a student competes in the Octathlon competition, he/she CANNOT also compete in Decathlon.
The multiple-choice exams in art, economics, language/literature, music and (social) science each have 50 questions. The math exam has 35 questions. The Super Quiz oral relay has five questions per student answered before a large audience.
The Art Reproductions Booklet contains reproductions of the 18 artworks that are included in the art outline.
USAD permits students to use calculators for the math exam only. Coaches can view the current USAD calculator policy under the Decathlon section.
The subject area outlines contained in USAD study guides will indicate specifically which topics in each subject area will require some independent research beyond the USAD Study/Resource guides.
The language/literature test items will largely be derived from the selected works of literature, though some test items may also be based on information provided in the language/literature resource guide.
All of the Super Quiz test items will be derived from the Super Quiz Resource/Study Guides. No outside research is necessary in the Super Quiz exam.
USAD offers Resource Guides in art, economics, language/literature, music, social science and Super Quiz (Science). Whereas the Super Quiz Resource Guide is a compendium of previously published articles, the other Resource Guides are written by individual writers under contract with USAD. The resource guides will assist students in their study of the topics listed in the subject area outlines.
USAD offers basic guides in art, economics, language/literature, math and music. Whereas the resource guides focus on the specific topics listed each year. Basic guides offer a reference that can be used by teams year after year. The basic guides provide an enduring resource for fundamental subject matter, information and concepts that generally do not change from year to year.
The content of the art basic guide, the economics basic guide, the math basic guide, the language/literature basic guide, and the music basic guide is the same as it was for the previous year. Therefore, if you or your students retained your copies of these guides, you do NOT need to purchase these guides again for the next season.
The math basic guide can be downloaded at no cost from the USAD web site, www.usad.org.
Test writers have been instructed to construct tests such that at least ten to twenty percent of the questions on each test require the use of higher-order thinking skills.
Students will be given 30 minutes to complete each of the written multiple-choice exams. Students will have 50 minutes to complete the essay exam.
While the art resource guide includes information relevant to the 18 selected artworks, this guide contains text only and does NOT include images of the artworks.
In each of the subject areas except for Super Quiz, some of the test items will require students to do some independent research beyond the USAD resource guides. Octathlon competitors will only be required to perform a small amount of outside research to prepare for competition.
