Essential Information for Coaches 
2010–2011

  • The Academic Decathlon® competition is comprised of ten events. There are seven multiple-choice exams—one in each of the following subject areas: Art, Economics, Language and Literature, Mathematics, Music, Social Science, and Super Quiz™ (Science). The Super Quiz™ event includes an oral relay portion in addition to the written exam. Both the Super Quiz™ written exam and the Super Quiz™ oral relay are in multiple-choice format. Students will also take an Essay exam and will be judged in a Speech event as well as an Interview event.
  • The multiple-choice exams in Art, Economics, Language and Literature, Music, and Social Science each have 50 questions. The Mathematics exam has 35 questions. The written Super Quiz™ exam has 40 questions, and the Super Quiz™ oral relay has either 5 or 10 questions per student. (Coaches can contact their State Director to find out whether the 5- or 10-question format will be used for the Super Quiz™ oral relay.)
  • USAD® permits students to use calculators for the Mathematics exam only. USAD® permits students to use graphing calculators, provided they have none of the features listed in Section III of the USAD® Calculator Policy. Coaches can view USAD®’s calculator policy or contact USAD® to receive a copy of the calculator policy.
  • The Language and Literature test items will be derived from the selected works of literature and from the information provided in the Language and Literature Resource Guide. Furthermore, Language and Literature tests will include a critical reading passage with accompanying test items. The Language and Literature test will also expect students to be able to analyze the selected works of literature as well as the critical reading passage and will expect students to be familiar with literary terms and devices.
  • The USAD® competition tests will be written in accordance with the topics and percentages noted in the subject area outlines that are published in the USAD® Study Guide.
  • All of the Super Quiz™ test items—both oral and written—will be derived from the Super Quiz™ Resource Guide. The student’s oral Super Quiz™ score accounts for 40 percent of his/her overall Super Quiz™ score. The student’s written Super Quiz™ score accounts for 60 percent of his/her overall Super Quiz™ score.
  • USAD® offers Resource Guides and Student Exercise Books in Art, Economics, Language and Literature, Mathematics, Music, Social Science, and Super Quiz™ (Science). Whereas the Super Quiz™ Resource Guide is a compendium of previously published articles, the other Resource Guides and the Student Exercise Books are written by individual writers under contract with USAD®. The Resource Guides and Student Exercise Books will assist students in their study of the topics listed in the subject area outlines. All USAD® competition test items will be derived from the information and concepts presented in the Resource Guides, as well as the selected literature, artworks, and musical works.
  • Test writers have been instructed to construct tests such that at least 10–20% 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.
  • The Art Reproductions Booklet contains reproductions of the 18 artworks that are included in this year’s art outline. However, please be aware that no text beyond the title, artist, date, etc., accompanies these reprints.