Bible Bee Practice Tests

Posted on November 07, 2011 Alex Watt 69 comments

Matthew Minica kindly developed practice tests for Bible Bee National Qualifiers and asked us to post them on Memverse for him. Here are the tests along with a note from Matthew:

Last Saturday, we went to visit our friends, the Smithes, who have a son Joshua going to the National Bible Bee as a Senior. We had a couple of their friends come over and held a mock Bible Bee with the three of us going to Nationals: Joshua, Courtney, and I. My dad suggested that we should make a practice test for each other, and I caught onto it right away. A couple days later, I had an idea: Why not share about this on Memverse!? So here is that practice test, all finished and ready to be administered.

There are a few things I would like to note: First, if you are a Primary who would like to take this test, I apologize for not making a Primary version of the test. The reason I did not is that I could not see any Primaries who were currently active on Memverse.

Second, the only difference between the Junior and Senior versions is 16 questions about some Level 3 passages; otherwise, the Junior and Senior tests are exactly the same.

Also, to take the test you will need the bubble sheet available here on the Bible Bee website.

I hope you enjoy this practice test and that it will really help and encourage you in your studying!

Matthew Minica
Romans 1:16

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Update 11/11/11: Anna and Grace Mieczkowski (Senior National qualifier) have also created two awesome practice tests to share; one is for Primaries and the other is for Seniors. Juniors are advised to take the Primary test.

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Thanks again, Matthew, Anna, and Grace, for working on these tests and sharing them. Blessings to all studying for Nationals!

Preparing for Bible Bee quiz

Posted on July 14, 2011 Alex Watt 164 comments

The Friday, July 15, Bible Bee quiz will be at 4:00 PM EDT on a new part of the site for live quizzes. We are still working on this but wanted to have something to try out for the first time publicly. If you can join us, that would be great! Questions will be from Week 6 (with one exception) and will be about 2/3 Primary verses. We hope the quiz will go faster with the automated system. As you prepare for the quiz, please take a few minutes now to upgrade your browser. This is very important as we are using newer technologies that are not compatible with some older browsers.

If you're not sure how to upgrade to the most recent version of your browser, please visit your Browser's Help Resources. There, you should find the most up-to-date instructions on how to upgrade to the most recent version:

• Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Internet Explorer
• Opera
• Safari

Also, please make sure that the Bible version you have set in your Account Profile is the Bible Bee version you want to use for the quiz. While you're there, you may want to take your version out of your display name as this will no longer be necessary.

If you have any questions, please let us know. To enter the quiz room, please click here. There is not much to see until we start. At 4:00 PM EDT we will start the quiz, but please make sure you arrive early so you can participate. It seems that the software does not handle late arrivals very well... If you cannot make the beginning of the quiz, you should at least have the page open on your computer so that you can jump in when you are available. Hope you can attend! Thanks.

Upcoming Bible Bee quizzes

Posted on July 05, 2011 Alex Watt 624 comments

The concept of Bible Bee quizzes on Memverse seems to be quite popular. :) Please mark your calendars and spread the word about upcoming quizzes: Friday, July 8, at 4:00 PM EDT; Friday, July 15, at 4:00 PM EDT; and Friday, July 22, at 4:00 PM EDT. I plan to lead the first quiz on this blog post (materials will be from Week 5, mainly Primary verses with a few Junior as well); the later two quizzes will each probably have a separate blog post to run on and other volunteers will probably run them. Update: Bethany will be running the July 22nd quiz and we are still looking for anyone who would like to run the quiz on the 15th. :) Thanks.

We expect each quiz to last about an hour and there will be fifteen questions. For ten of the questions (the first five and the last five), I will post a comment with the text of a Bible Bee verse passage in all five Bible Bee approved versions (NIV, ESV, KJV, NKJV, and NASB) and you will have a minute to post the reference. For five of the questions (they will be in the middle of the quiz), I will post a reference and you will have several minutes to respond with the reference at the beginning, the verse text in the middle, and the reference again at the end. Please also include your version to make it easier for scoring. For example, if I comment with Genesis 1:1, the correct response would be something like this:

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 NIV

If you do not include your version in each comment, it makes it more difficult for the volunteers helping to score. Omitting a reference or your version will cost you a point for each occurrence.

You can receive a maximum of 12 points for each type of question. For details on the scoring for "recitations", please see below. For the questions where you post a reference for the verse text given, you will receive four points for the correct book, four points for the correct chapter, and four points for the correct verse number. For example, if you posted 2 John 1:9 instead of 1 John 1:9, you would receive 8 points.

Over half of the questions will be Primary verses and several may be drawn from the Junior verses.

If you would like to help score, please let me know after we finish the quiz by posting a comment with the text "helpscore" in it. Otherwise, it is difficult to keep track of who is helping. If you indicate that you would like to help score, I will have information about how to score and will assign you to a few people. You can then look for their answers on the page (CTRL + F in many browsers allows you to search and find their name and comments) and tabulate them on your computer. When you have a final score for a person, you will please post it in a comment with their name. When all scores are returned, this post will be updated with that information.

If you plan to be participating in the first quiz or have any questions, please indicate that in a comment below (unless you have already done so on the other blog post). I also welcome any suggestions. Hope to see you there! Thanks.

How we score recitations: The maximum score for a recitation is 12 points. Like the Bible Bee, leaving off a reference at the beginning or end of a "recitation" is a 1-point deduction, as is any one word error (one word omission, insertion, or change - like swapping "created" for "made"). You see above the correct response for reciting Genesis 1:1. Here is a 6-point recitation in NIV:

In the beginning He created the earth and heavens. Genesis 1:1

We start with 12 points, then evaluate the recitation: one point is subtracted for forgetting the reference at the beginning, another point is subtracted for using "He" in place of "God", two points are subtracted for switching "heavens" and "earth" (it was two one-word changes) and another point for leaving out "the" (second-to-last word). Additionally, we subtract a point because the response did not include the version. Please note that you cannot count more than 12 errors - i.e., no one ends up with a negative score on a passage. If you want to help score but have questions on how this works, please ask us for clarification.

Update: Thanks to Zachary Baas, Sarah, Phil Walker, AmyV, Hannah Cupcake, Simeon, Christian Alexander, and Rachel Crosswhite for helping with scoring. Below are the point totals. We even had a three-way tie (see the 88 pointers)! You all did great. I was impressed that we had contestants from Primary Timothy Track to Senior National Track and I think almost everywhere in between. I recognize that not all of you had to study some of these verses, but you all did fantastic! Congratualations! May every word that comes from the mouth of God truly be our bread. I want to highlight a quote from C.S. Lewis that was also part of our Sword Study recently:

[T]he Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose.

Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. New York: HarperOne, 1980. Print.

May our study of Scripture be diligent and may it lead others to Jesus. If we are keeping it to ourselves, it is tragically a waste of time. But if we are doing it for God and letting the Truth influence every area of our lives so that others are being drawn to Him, it is because He has begun a work in us that He will continue to use for His glory (Phil 1:6), and that is no waste! Keep it up, all!

Josiah - 20 points
Simeon - 28 points
Simeon's sister - 28 points
Lauren Watt - 28 points
Olivia - 36 points
Clara K. - 36 points
BrookeNicole - 60 points
Ranch4Christ - 72 points
Rachel - 74 points
Emma - 88 points
Jamie - 88 points
BibleBeeJunior11 - 88 points
Hannah Cupcake - 89 points
Angela - 96 points
Phil Walker - 102 points
Rachel Crosswhite - 108 points
Sarah - 108 points
ChampionBuilders - 120 points
SavedByGrace - 132 points
Abigail Grace - 139 points
AmyV - 148 points
Christian Alexander - 150 points
Zachary Baas - 156 points

Thanks to Christian Alexander for catching a scoring mistake I made: I was giving 15 points maximum for references. This should be fixed now. If anyone else notices any errors, please let us know and we will work to rectify it as quickly as possible. Thanks.

July 1 Bible Bee quiz

Posted on July 01, 2011 Alex Watt 640 comments

Ben Watt is hosting the July 1st Bible Bee practice quiz at 4:00 PM EDT (8:00 PM GMT). We will use this blog post for the first one. We expect the quiz to last a little over half of an hour and there will be fifteen questions. For ten of the questions (the first five and the last five), I will post a comment with the text of a Bible Bee verse passage in all five Bible Bee approved versions (NIV, ESV, KJV, NKJV, and NASB) and you will have a minute to post the reference. For five of the questions (they will be in the middle of the quiz), he will post a reference and you will have several minutes to respond with the reference at the beginning, the verse text in the middle, and the reference again at the end. Please also include your version to make it easier for scoring. For example, if he comments with Genesis 1:1, the correct response would be something like this:

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 NIV

If you do not include your version in each comment, it makes it more difficult for the volunteers helping to score. Omitting a reference or your version will cost you a point for each occurrence.

You can receive a maximum of 12 points for each type of question. For details on the scoring for "recitations", please see below. For the questions where you post a reference for the verse text given, you will receive four points for the correct book, four points for the correct chapter, and four points for the correct verse number. For example, if you posted 2 John 1:9 instead of 1 John 1:9, you would receive 8 points.

Over half of the questions will be Primary verses and several may be drawn from the Junior verses.

If you would like to help score, please let me know after we finish the quiz by posting a comment with the text "helpscore" in it. Otherwise, it is difficult to keep track of who is helping. If you indicate that you would like to help score, I will have information about how to score and will assign you to a few people. You can then look for their answers on the page (CTRL + F in many browsers allows you to search and find their name and comments) and tabulate them on your computer. When you have a final score for a person, you will please post it in a comment with their name. When all scores are returned, this post will be updated with that information.

If you plan to be participating in the quiz or have any questions, please indicate that in a comment below (unless you have already done so on the other blog post). I also welcome any suggestions. Hope to see you there! Thanks.

How we score recitations: The maximum score for a recitation is 12 points. Like the Bible Bee, leaving off a reference at the beginning or end of a "recitation" is a 1-point deduction, as is any one word error (one word omission, insertion, or change - like swapping "created" for "made"). You see above the correct response for reciting Genesis 1:1. Here is a 6-point recitation in NIV:

In the beginning He created the earth and heavens. Genesis 1:1

We start with 12 points, then evaluate the recitation: one point is subtracted for forgetting the reference at the beginning, another point is subtracted for using "He" in place of "God", two points are subtracted for switching "heavens" and "earth" (it was two one-word changes) and another point for leaving out "the" (second-to-last word). Additionally, we subtract a point because the response did not include the version. Please note that you cannot count more than 12 errors - i.e., no one ends up with a negative score on a passage. If you want to help score but have questions on how this works, please ask us for clarification.

We are working on a new Memverse live quiz feature with automatic scoring for use in the next few weeks.

Thanks Ben for running this quiz!

Comment guidelines: Please stay on topic as this helps everyone who scores your answers. Let's see how many people we can have participating with as few comments as possible. :) Thank you for your cooperation!

Please note: As Andy mentioned in the comments, please make sure you have 8 verses in your account (Learning or Memorized) so that your comments do not have to be approved.

Update: Thanks everyone for participating! We had a great quiz. Thank you to Ben for running the quiz, and to BibleBeeJunior11, Nina, Carissa, Bethany, and David Stelzl for all their help scoring. Below are the scores. (If you think we made a mistake while scoring you, please let us know and we will do our best to rectify the situation.)

Matthew Sinclair - 16 points
Audrey - 20 points
Elisabeth - 20 points
Andrew - 28 points
Simeon - 44 points
Jamie - 56 points
David Stelzl - 56 points
BibleBeeJunior11 - 76 points
Rachel - 82 points
Zachary McMahan - 94 points
Rachel Crosswhite - 95 points
Nina - 96 points
Sarah Stelzl - 105 points
Joshua Harrell - 119 points
Bethany - 124 points
Grace Mieczkowski - 131 points
Alex Watt - 132 points
SavedByGrace - 141 points
Christian Alexander - 168 points
Carissa - 171 points

Congratulations everyone! We hope you enjoyed the quiz. May God bless each of you as you hide His Word in your hearts through the Bible Bee - something far more important than your score in the quiz. We'll let you know soon about future quizzes. Thanks.