Oral test resource

One of the most critical things in this year's Bible Bee, I think, will be the speed at which contestants go in the Oral Test. Many of the contestants will already know their verses word-perfect, since there are only 117 this year. However, speed will definitely count, because we are going to be attempting to quote 80-90 of those verses within 12 minutes or less. Even so, if contestants try to go too fast, the judges may prompt them to go slower or even ask them to say the passage again, both of which take up valuable time.
In my opinion, the speed at which one quotes a passage is even more important than the accuracy. After all, if you make one error in all 20 of the passages, you will get twenty points off; but if you go too slow and miss just three passages altogether, you will get more than double that amount of points off - 45!
If you have finished all of your verses, one of the things that I highly recommend is to do a mock oral test several times before the local competition. However, as preparing and taking the oral test may not be very compatible with your schedule (it really isn't for mine!), here is a resource to help you with getting your verses to the correct speed. I have marked each of my cards with the corresponding number of seconds, and I plan to sometimes ask a parent or sibling to time me quizzing a passage.
What I have done is calculated the number of words in all of the passages (in the KJV), which turned out to be 2,563 words. I multiplied this by 80%, since we will be quoting 80% of the passages in the oral test. I then divided my result by 12 to get the words per minute and got 171. Then, I took the number of words in each passage and found out how many seconds it should take a contestant to quote each passage going at 171 words per minute. Here are my results (rounded down):

2 Timothy 3:16-17 - 12 sec
Titus 1:1-3 - 23 sec
Philippians 3:7-8 - 18 sec
Luke 9:23-26 - 36 sec
Matthew 4:23-25 - 34 sec
Acts 2:25-28 - 29 sec
1 Chronicles 16:8-12 - 25 sec
1 Timothy 1:15-19 - 41 sec
Ephesians 6:10-18 - 62 sec
Colossians 3:22-24 - 20 sec
Philippians 1:27-30 - 39 sec
2 Peter 3:3-9 - 60 sec
Psalm 9:1-4 - 23 sec
Galatians 1:11-17 - 52 sec
Deuteronomy 31:6 - 12 sec
Acts 20:18-24 - 64 sec
Job 6:14-21 - 42 sec
Acts 10:42-43 - 17 sec
Proverbs 24:29-34 - 38 sec
Romans 4:20-25 - 33 sec
Ezekiel 36:23-27 - 55 sec
Ephesians 4:11-13 - 24 sec
Hebrews 4:4-10 - 48 sec
2 Timothy 1:2-7 - 48 sec
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 - 33 sec

These times, I believe, are good goals to be able to quote the verses in. Don't try to get too much faster than these goals, or your tongue may start slipping up. An average selection of 20 passages will give you 10 seconds to spare if you quote all of the passages in these listed amounts of time.

EDIT: The Oral Test has become a little bit easier because of the change of the 10-minute time limit to 12 minutes at Locals. However, it is still very important to make sure you quote a passage at the right speed, because the faster you go, the more likely you are to make mistakes; but the slower you go, the more likely you are to miss a couple passages (especially if you are one who is prone to making mistakes and starting over).

Looks like a really good estimate, Matthew, but I have a question.
You say that you divided your results by 5 to get the words per minute, but I thought we had 10 minutes, not 5. Am I missing something?

Oops. Sorry, I meant 10. :) And I did divide my results by 10, not 5. I don't know what I was thinking.

Ok, thanks!
How did you come up with the 205 number though? Using your numbers I'm getting 173.something.

Man! I am so messed up! :) Actually, the real number of words is 2563, not 2163. I hope you can still trust that I did all of the calculations correctly. :)

Ah! I see. :) Thanks.

Matthew, using the number 2563 I got about 255 wpm. Also, did you subtract time for the judges to read the reference? If not, that could lower the amount of time for each verse by a few seconds. Thanks for all your hard work on the resources this year.

Well, 2563 is all the words, while we will only be saying approximately 80% of them (which makes 20,50.4). I was also wondering whether he had added time for the references, since that is 10-15 more words per passage counting the judge saying the reference once, and the contestant saying the reference twice.

Hey! Thanks for taking the time to do this, Matthew; I appreciate it!

Have you read "The $100,000 Word" by Daniel Staddon? He said that he did something similar to this - by giving him only so much time to quote a passage. If he couldn't do it in the right amount of time, he kept it in the "working on" pile to get it up to speed. I did that a LOT last year, and will start doing it again now that you made up this chart.

Thanks! :)

Actually, I did not make any provision for the references, but I don't think that that would have changed my calculations significantly. At my current calculations, an average selection would yield 11 seconds left; so I think it would be best to try to quote the reference in your however-many seconds that a passage has. I don't think that should be too hard.

@Bethany: Yes, I have read "The $100,000 Word". I do remember Daniel telling about how he did that. Although I wasn't thinking about it at the time, I suppose that might have helped me have this idea.

Yes, plus you have an extra about 5 seconds if you get to the last 15 words of a passage so that you can finish the verse.

Yes, plus you have an extra about 5 seconds if you get to the last 15 words of a passage so that you can finish the verse.

well that is a problem but if it is hard for you and you are going fast a lot of other people will have that problem i will not becuse i talk really fast when i know what i am saying

I did 2 Timothy 3:16-17 in 9 seconds this afternoon.

I saw that post and immediately did it in 5 seconds! Beat that! ;P jk

Could people understand you?

no way………are you sure you timed yourself right?!

You must talk as fast as I do….. :P :)

You're kidding right. I did it in 11 seconds.

I got it in 5 seconds but it was a little messed up. But I was saying the reference too. I don't know if you were.

I guess I wasn't saying the reference… :)

And to answer those who don't believe me, it's just because I've been practicing trying to say the passages fast–though sometimes it is a little difficult to understand. :)

Oh yeah, and I forgot to say that I'm really grateful for this resource, Matthew! Thanks!

I finished the 20 longest passages in 9 minutes and 1 second a couple days ago. I was really surprised when I looked down at the timer. It really is possible!

My family is hosting a weekly Bonfire at our house and we've been doing "20 Passages in 10 Minutes." It truly is possible to recite 20 passages in 10 minutes! I did 19 passages in 9 minutes and 41 seconds.

Okay.
Everything just totally changed.
My mom just told me that she heard on Facebook that they changed the Oral Test time period from 10 minutes to 12 minutes. I do not have time tonight to re-calculate the stuff on this post, but I will try to tomorrow. BUT, this is really good news!

Hey!! I was going to say that,but you beat me to it. but…….my mom told that to me and I was so excited!!

I was just going to say that too!!! :) Super excited!

I updated this post to include the appropriate times for the new time limit.

Thanks Mathew.

That's Matthew, M-a-t-t-h-e-w. You're welcome.

Hey, if Nicolas can be over-touchy about the spelling of his name, so can I! :P

Thank you very much!!!

Ha ha. :P jk, jk

And thanks for updating the post! This is really helpful.

I calculated the approximate speed for this year's oral test and found out that we will need to go at the scant speed of about 118 words per minute, excluding references. Even though that might sound like a lot, that actually means only 2 words per second; so in other words, you can go just about Finals speed in your oral test this year. :) Just don't take 20 seconds to remember each verse! :P

Cool! Thanks for sharing Matthew!

Has anyone timed themselves yet?

I have several times. I've gotten through 20 passages sometimes, but I definitely need more practice. I mostly just need to be sure of myself so I don't pause as much.

Today I did….at our local practice bee….and I finished it in 5 minutes.

Wow, 5 minutes!?? :D

Yeah…I know….I like quoting fast :)

Me too :P But I haven't timed myself yet.

In general I talk fast…. once I get to know you.

I used to talk really fast and really low, but I did a lot of public speaking, so for the most part I don't do that any more…

I usually talk really fast and really quiet…. Because I have not had public speaking…. :)

=D It's really fun!

Uhhhhhhhh….I do NOT like public speaking, in general!!!!!

:) yeah…I guess it's something you have to get used to, but I like it now :) It's not nearly as bad as orals for Bible Bee! :P