Nkabom's Basic 6 team beat two Junior High teams to take the inter-house quiz trophy on Friday afternoon, and they did it on a tie-breaker about Ghana's rivers that they answered in about four seconds.
The format
Four houses, two teams each — one from Upper Primary and one from Junior High — with scores combined. Three rounds: general knowledge, a Ghana round covering geography, history and government, and a rapid-fire round on mathematics and integrated science.
The combined scoring is what makes it interesting. A strong Upper Primary team can carry a house, which is exactly what happened.
How it went
Adehye's JHS team led after the general knowledge round, largely on the strength of two questions about the solar system that nobody else attempted.
The Ghana round was where it turned. Nkabom's Basic 6 team — three pupils who, by their own account, had spent two weeks working through an atlas at break time — took nine of the ten questions, including a question about the Volta's tributaries that silenced the hall.
Rapid-fire brought Adehye back to level, and the two houses finished on 47 points each.
The tie-breaker
Name, in order from west to east, the three largest rivers that empty into the sea along Ghana's coast.
Nkabom's Basic 6 captain had the buzzer down before the question was finished.
Final standings
| Position | House | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nkabom | 47 (won tie-breaker) |
| 2 | Adehye | 47 |
| 3 | Ankobea | 41 |
| 4 | Nyansa | 38 |
Worth saying
Two of the three Basic 6 pupils on that team were on the reading catch-up programme in Basic 2. It is worth saying out loud, because parents of children who are behind at seven sometimes think the matter is settled. It is not.
Next year's quiz is on Friday 13 November. The atlas is in the library.
