Quiztronomy 2017 Report

Date: 12-03- 2017

Quiz: Quiztronomy
Venue: COEP
Organized by/Fest: COEP Astronomy Club
QM: Vinod Ganesh 

Result: (Out of 300 Points (30Q*10 Points)) 

1st: 205 Points, Prachetas Nayse (Open, Lone Wolf) 

2nd: 175 Points, Rohit Dhanorkar (Open, Lone Wolf) 

3rd: 135 Points, Parshuram and Yogesh (FC+Open) 

4th: 120 Points, Omkar and Pranav (Open) 

5th: 70 Points Anirudh and Hrithvik (AFMC) 

6th: 25 Points Shomik and Rahul (IISER) 

Report:

The quiz was scheduled to start at 9:30 but started around 10:15 (standard delay). The venue was Seminar Hall 2, and I was apprehensive due to the abysmal projector performance during Chakravyuh last year. However the projector did not give any problems. The laptop did. Some VGA port problem and the laptop that was chosen had a version of ppt which would crash after every question. Luckily they got a replacement by the 7th/8th question of the 25 Q prelims. The prelims was a standard written format with scattered stars about. Overall, the prelims was not bad. I would it rate it higher than the finals. This is because well, it was shorter and hence it had less scope to ask hardcore Astronomy questions ("which any astronomy enthusiast would definitely know", which I was clearly not). These include things like V808 Monoclitoris and Arcturus and stuff which was KID (Know-It- or-Die). However other questions which were derivable were well-framed and there were plenty of oblique hints in the framing. 

The prelims results were the exact same as the final results. Cut-off was 13. Prachetas got 22/25, Pranav and I qualified fourth with 15 (to give you an idea of the spread). 

Because it was Sunday, the canteens were closed. Hence we had to walk a considerable distance for wada-pav. Perhaps next time they could increase the registration to 100 and provide us snacks? In the finals, we were made to seat according to our prelims position; which surprisingly, nobody argued about. The QM was a first-timer and so was his team. This was clear from their inexperience. There were at least three score-keepers. The fifteen seconds for the pounce was timed. The pounce-checkers often consulted each-other and the QM. Many-a- times the answer expected on the ppt was much more in details than what people showed while pouncing. 

The finals had 30 Qs was divided into five 'rounds' of six questions each. The rounds were not different but just sets of six questions. Except the last which were Google Doodles. In between there seemed an abandoned slide of a proposed Astronomy in Pop-Culture Round but that was just one question. Moreover it was a not in IR format but Direct style. Which meant that Q1 was for team 1 and Q30 for team 6, irrespective of any team answering it on pass. Points were +10 for direct, +10/-10 for pounce and +5 for passing. Which also meant that after a question was debarred due to a person answering before pounce closed, they had to use the tie-breaker to substitute it. This would not have been a problem if it was just a normal IR. 

The positions of the teams did not change throughout the quiz except when Team 3 crossed Team 4 sometime in the fourth set after the latter took a negative. A majority of the questions were names of scientists, specific and scientific names of phenomena or stellar bodies. There is always the justification that after all it IS an astronomy quiz, but I disagree to the extent at which it should only be for astronomy enthusiasts. Or even if it is, fundae can be found around them or what they did. There were some which were derivable, and were nicely framed and not 100% astronomy, but they were too far and too few. Many questions were too long and latter parts contained information which would only confirm your answer if you already knew it from the first part. 

The questions were ok. The ones we did not get did not rouse curiosity. Except sungrazers. Team 1 and 2 however liked the quiz, and I felt not only because they won it, but also because they were astronomy enthusiasts. Personally, I have attended better Quiztronomies. 

One thing that was later brought to notice was the complete lack of any India question especially post the ISRO awesomeness. The take-away of the day was the Russian tradition of urinating on the wheel of the truck before lifting off got us the astronaut Yurine Gagarin. 

Report by: Omkar Dhakephalkar

1 st Edition of Invictus – The Sports Quiz

Results 

1 st – Snehashis Panda and Rishwin Jackson
2 nd – Ankit Choudhury and Arnabh Sengupta
3 rd – Shantanou Gangakhedkarr and Saahil
4 th – Rahul Kulkarni and Francy
5 th – Mayank Pawar and Nakul Ramakumar
6 th - Akshay Parale and Kaushik Koley

Report (Written by Snehashish Panda)


There couldn’t be a more fitting clash – An Open sports quiz, on a day when the flagbearers of men’s tennis ensure a flood of nostalgia. As the Raging Bull and Fedex geared up for yet another titanic clash, Rishwin Jackson and I made our away across the expressway for the inaugural edition of Invictus, COEP’s open sports quiz. Making the most of a trip that had us attempting Magister, KQA’s lone wolf quiz for college students, in the morning as well, we made our way to the auditorium just as the first question flashed on screen. 

A well-set collection of 30 questions followed, with a fair share of TCQs and nice fundae. The only qualm would be a little too much focus on the Rio Olympics, in particular, but we can give that to the QMs. 4 college teams and 2 open teams made the finals, out of a pool of 20 odd teams, with Rishwin and yours truly, leading the pack. The open regulars were missed, QFiesta and the Nadal-Federer match playing their part. 

The finals followed immediately and a long extended set lay before us, 24 +24 questions on IR. Overall, almost every major sport had it’s fair share of representation and there were a couple of gems. A couple of questions had us going “TIL”, but on the whole, it was a great effort by Omkar and Co. The finalists were bunched together at the start, but Rishwin and yours truly got hold of the lead and never let go of it. Ankit and Arnabh made a last gasp finish to finish second right ahead of Shantanu and Saahil. 

The added bonus of getting live updates from the Nadal- Federer match courtesy the organising team was pretty nice of them. Here’s to another edition. Cheers!

TRAVEL, LIVING AND CULTURE QUIZ at ARMED FORCES MEDICAL COLLEGE, PUNE.

TRAVEL, LIVING AND CULTURE QUIZ at ARMED FORCES MEDICAL COLLEGE, PUNE.

Set and Conducted by: Anmol Dhawan
Report written by : Pranav Joshi

Final Results:

1st - Arnold D'Souza and Pranav Pawar
2nd - Kaushik Chatterjee and Suchishree Chatterjee 
3rd - Charles Mathew and Pranav Joshi
4th - Rishwin Jackson and Aneesh
5th - Prateek Vijayavargia and Parantap Singh
6th - Shantanou Gangakhedkar and Partner


The quiz started with a 25 question preliminary round where the top 6 teams qualified into the finals. The dynamic duo of Surg Capt. Kaushik Chatterjee and his better half Suchishree Chatterjee cruised through the prelims with a 14 point header while two college teams comprising of Prateek + Parantap and Charles + Pranav followed closely behind. The cut-off for the prelims was 8 points. The prelims was a set of well framed questions albeit a bit on the tougher side. The first question started off with all teams taking the most obvious guess which turned out to be biggest Alan Davies moment. The prelims, pretty much like the entire quiz, hardly had any Peters. Overall a good start to the quiz. 

Kaushik and Suchishree Chatterjee continued their form from the prelims with a lot of early pounces in the finals. Arnold and PP upped their game for the finals, often clashing and going ahead of Kaushik and Suchishree in terms of points only to be overtaken by them again. The four other college teams on stage struggled to find their openings to attack. The short finals consisted of only 3 rounds. 2 Rounds on infinite bounce and 1 written round in between. The IR rounds had some really brilliant questions, pretty evident from the resounding applause they got from the people on and off the stage. The written round was interesting for it had 10 photos showing aerial views of different places and cities. The lack of open teams on stage meant that the QM Anmol Dhawan had to give out quite a few hints for the questions. The only thing one could complain about was the shortness of the quiz. 

The final was quite one-sided (two-sided if you're being pedantic) with the first two spots being sealed between the two Open teams right from the start. However Arnold and Pranav Pawar managed to recover from their comparatively low score in the prelims and clinch the winner's title. The third position was a hard fought battle between three college teams with Charles and Pranav pulling ahead with 5 points on the penultimate question and coming third.