Imperial College Union and Quiz Soc are proud to announce the official University Challenge tryouts that will determine the College’s team for the show. The first round will be held in Huxley LT 311 at 6.30 on 10 November and again in Skempton LT 201 at 6.30 on 13 November. You only need to attend one of these two sessions.
The first tryout will consist of 60 questions on disparate topics straight from the makers of the show, and the top sixteen scorers in this quiz will be asked to come again at a second selection in Pippard LT, Sherfield Building at 6.30 on 21 November.
This second selection will pit these hopefuls against each other in teams of four quizzing in true University Challenge style, with the full array of starters, bonuses, buzzers and the rest. This performance will be judged by expert quizzers and Union officers to select a winning mix of trivia experts. They will not be judging solely on raw knowledge, but also on the speed of the buzzer-pressing finger, the ability to work in a team and any peculiar expertise that might give us the edge. From these sixteen, four players and a reserve will be chosen, and these five will be Imperial’s official candidates for the show. QuizSoc will also help them train and sort all the bureaucratic forms needed to compete.
Absolutely everyone is encouraged to try out, with the only requirement being that you have to be a full-time student at Imperial during filming, which will take place during three weekends in spring. So regardless of your subject or specialism, whatever your interests, and whether you’re an Undergraduate or Postgraduate, we want you to try out! Imperial has not been on TV for two consecutive years, so we are keen to choose a good team to represent us again.
If you think you’ve got what it takes, give it a go, and start brushing up your trivia!
In the meantime, here are some questions from last year’s tryouts to get you started.
1) Which book of the Bible is attributed to Moses and is named after a priestly caste? It is concerned with religious and ceremonial law and is the third book of the Old Testament.
2) In nuclear physics, which strongly interacting subatomic particles of the meson family were discovered from 1946, and have three possible charges, plus one, minus one and zero? When charged, they decay to muons and neutrinos, and when neutral the decay to gamma rays.
3) “(His) art is the most sensational self-portrayal and self-critique of German nature that it is possible to conceive.” These words by Thomas Mann describe the work of which composer, born in 1813 and chiefly noted for his operas?
4) The delicately-flavoured ‘Criollo’, the more robust and hardy ‘Forastero’ and the hybrid ‘Trinitario’, are the chief varieties of what tropical agricultural product?
5) What five-letter word can mean all of the following: A position in a hierarchy, a flat tract of land, to aim a weapon, to demolish a structure, a surveying instrument, or to be frank or honest with someone?
Answers: 1) Leviticus 2) Pions or pi-mesons 3) Richard Wagner 4) Chocolate 5) Level
