A couple of weeks ago I overheard Matt West bragging about how great he thought his FQA scoresheet was. As I was more familiar with the other scoresheet that is used commonly, I decided to investigate.
After much thought, I came to the conclusion that there are five categories that determine the effectiveness of a scoresheet.
One more note before we get started. All of my information in this article on the FQA scoresheet came straight from Matt West. My source for information on the other scoresheet (henceforth NYC scoresheet) came from Jack Bamford.
Learning Curve
One of the most important things about any scoresheet is its ease of use by scorekeepers. Because many scorekeepers are inexperienced, this is of particular importance. On this point, I give the nod to the FQA scoresheet. Keeping up with number of questions right for each quizzer is a little easier with the tick marks, but where it really moves ahead is that you can keep up with the running score right in the teams boxes rather than having to at the top of the scoresheet.
After 1 question:
FQA scoresheet: 20
NYC scoresheet: 0
Frequency of Use
According to my two sources, the NYC scoresheet dominates the FQA scoresheet in overall usage. Of course, the FQA scoresheet is used in all FQA events and the NYC scoresheet is used at NYC. However, the deciding vote on this goes to all the other tournaments which evens the score in our scoresheet quiz.
After 2 questions:
FQA scoresheet: 20
NYC scoresheet: 20
Stat Compilation
Although most of us never get to see the inside of the stat room, director Brant Callaway tells me that he has been \”stat boy\” for Matt West many times and it\’s a lot of work. Althought Mr. Bamford contested Mr. West\’s numbers, West told me that he could compile stats for 7 FQA scoresheets in one minute while only 2.5 NYC scoresheets in the same amount of time. Although the difference might not be so great, I still give the edge to the FQA scoresheet.
After 3 questions:
FQA scoresheet: 40
NYC scoresheet: 20
Traceability
Huh? Traceability? Now I know what you\’re thinking – Zyhaus, you\’ve finally gone too far. Maybe it\’s a stretch, but for those of us who try to write articles about a day of quizzing in which there are 6 or 7 rooms going and 1 or 2 of us covering the tournament, the ability to look back at a scoresheet and be able to tell what went on in the quiz is very important. As all of you know, there are some 170 – 160 quizzes that are very close and others that end up that way because one of the teams was sitting for the last four questions. The NYC scoresheet dominates the competition here. With the FQA scoresheet, all you get is the final score, but with the NYC scoresheet, you can follow the whole quiz, question by question.
After 4 questions:
FQA scoresheet: 40
NYC scoresheet: 40
Longevity
The final question of the quiz, and it all comes down to this – which scoresheet has the characteristics to keep it effective as Bible Quiz continues to advance. Finally, I got both Bamford and West to agree on something…. Neither, they said. According to those two, all scoresheets we probably be phased out in the next 5 to 10 years in favor of Excel spreadsheets.
Sorry for the disappointment fans, but it looks like we just ended in a tie.