On the floor of the Presentation High School gym recently there were the 24 schools at tables of ten each competing in the Academic Decathlon Super Quiz, the final event of the day. Tension was high. This could be the decider just as it was last year. The questions are read aloud by the moderator, Christa Hansen, Principal of St. Mary s, Gilroy. Each team confers and agrees on one answer.
Scores are close.
On Academic Decathlon Day the morning is spent on individual exams in the fields of Math, Science, Literature, English, Social Science, Religion, and Fine Arts. Each exam has 50 questions. Student scores on these exams, one student per school in each category, are multiplied by a factor of 20 to equal a score out of a possible 1,000 points. That score is reported both as an individual score for a first, second, or third place certificate and added to the total team score. Each exam has a tie breaker built in.