| |
|
|
|
 |
SETTING QUESTIONS |
|
By using the Generate Quiz Rounds feature on quiz-zone you can enter criteria (e.g. 20 difficult questions on Geography) and quiz-zone will randomly select questions which meet this criteria from it's database.
If you wish to put more thought into how you go about compiling good quiz questions for challenging and entertaining quizzes then this page will give you some pointers.
Please feel free to discuss these ideas or add ideas of your own in the quiz-zone forum.
Note that if you are planning on using any of the questions in the quiz-zone database, then it is recommended that you check the answer with at least one other source. You can find another source if you click here.
|
|
WHAT SUBJECTS? |
|
For a standard pub quiz, you're likely to have people from a wide age group and with a variety of different interests. In order to keep everyone interested you should make sure that the subject material of your questions is also varied and that it's not just the general knowledge experts who end up answering all the questions. The "Setting The Format" page mentions how you should try to include a number of rounds on different subjects, but also, for each subject area you should also try to vary the questions enough so that it's not just the same person from each team answering them all. For example, music questions should cover a variety of genres and decades and shouldn't just be about pop music in the last few years.
Also, as well as the standard subjects you'd expect to find in a quiz, you might also want to consider compiling a few themed rounds. There are plenty of examples of these on quiz-zone including quizzes on The Olympic Games, Children's Books and Heroes And Villains. Plus, if it's the right time of year, then a Valentines Day, Halloween or Christmas round might prove popular. |
|
HOW DIFFICULT SHOULD THE QUESTIONS BE? |
|
Good quizzes should have questions of varying difficulty. If all the questions are difficult then this may make sure that the best team wins, but it also might prove embarrassing if a team gets next to no questions correct. For this reason it's worth making sure that you include some questions that most teams should be answer, and especially towards the start of a quiz when there's a danger that difficult questions could scare some teams off.
Quiz-zone features thousands of quiz questions on difficulty levels ranging from very easy to very hard. If you use the advanced search option in the menu on the left then this will enable you to make sure you include a good mixture of hard and easy questions.
As well as including some fairly easy questions, you might also want to consider including some very difficult questions where most teams will be guessing completely at the answer. This should mean that most teams have pretty much the same chance of getting this right or wrong and so will help towards ensuring that the scores are closer and for regular quizzes should help ensure that it isn't the same team who wins each week. An example of this type of question might be "Glossophobia is the fear of what - Failure, The Opposite Sex or Public Speaking?"
|
|
WHAT MAKES A GOOD QUESTION? |
|
The quality of your individual quiz questions will go a long way to determining how much people enjoy your quiz so you should try to ensure that you include a some quiz questions which meet most or all of the following criteria.
Challenging
A good quiz question should get people thinking rather than simply saying I know that one and then writing down the answer or giving up and leaving it blank. It doesn't have to be too difficult, but if at least some thought goes into arriving at the answer, then more satisfaction will be gained from hearing it is correct.
Interesting
If the
question and answer were stated as a fact then it should be interesting, so that people who didn't get the answer correct will still be interested to hear what the correct answer is.
Popular subject
A good quiz question should have everyone talking about it and discussing possible answers, so it should be on a fairly general subject that is popular with most people.
Guessable
A good quiz question should not be such that only a few people with knowledge on that subject can put an answer down whether it is right or wrong. Even if you don't know or can't work out an answer, then people could make some kind of guess which has the chance of being right, possibly using some knowledge to narrow the guess down to just a few possible answers.
Some examples of good quiz questions are as follows:
What appeared for the first time in The Times newspaper in September 1860?
In which sport are competitors not allowed to play left handed?
What is the only sign of the zodiac not named after a living creature? |
|
WHERE CAN I FIND INFORMATION TO COMPILE MY OWN QUESTIONS? |
|
As well as the thousands of free quiz questions available on this site, you may want to consider writing your own. If so, then the following resources should prove useful.
The Hutchinson Encyclopedia 2005
Single volume encyclopdeia with information and facts to help you compile quiz questions on any subject.
Chambers Book of Facts
Almost 1,000 pages of facts, figures, diagrams, tables, lists and maps arranged into 14 different subject areas.
Guinness Book Of British Hit Singles And Albums
As well as having chart dates and positions of every single and album that has charted in the UK to help you compile your own questions such as "What was _____'s first number one hit single" or "Who had a top twenty hit with _____?", this book also has a wide variety of facts and trivia on the artists within it.
Guinness Book Of World Records 2005
Plenty of facts to compile your own standard questions like "What is the longest river in the world?" as well as some more unusual world records which could be especially useful in compiling tie break questions.
Top Ten of Everything 2005
Loads of lists to help you compile questions on all subjects.
Halliwell's Film, Video and DVD Guide
Recognised as the biggest and best film guide available and filled with facts and trivia on over 23,000 films to help you come up with questions such as "Who directed the film _____?" or "Which film featured the actor _____ playing a character called _____?".
If you can think of a good question, but are not necessarily sure of the answer, then try this link. |
|
|
|
