WELCOME TO THE ACADEMIC OCTATHLON WEBSITE!
Academic Octathlon is an academic competition for ninth and tenth graders. It is an intermediary event between Pentathlon at the junior high level and Decathlon in senior high. Its goals are similar to the other competitions in promoting broad knowledge to supplement existing courses and better prepare students for college. Participating students gain valuable preparation for Decathlon.
Eligibility: Any ninth or tenth grade high school student meeting UIL eligibility standards can participate in Octathlon. Ninth and tenth graders may also participate in Decathlon, but they cannot do both.
Qualifying for the Octathlon Team: The composite scores from a Katy ISD district test determine the selection of the nine team members. Students with lower scores who fail to make the team may still serve as alternates to the regional competition.
Competition Divisions: Each team has an honors, scholastic and varsity division of three students each, based on their school grade point averages. Students will only compete against other students within their same division.
Octathlon Events: The Octathlon subject areas are art, music, science, social studies, math, language and literature and economics. Students will also write an essay concerning either the language and literature or science topics. The Super Quiz is an oral relay of multiple-choice questions from all of the subject areas.
2013-2014 Theme: The theme for the next academic year is World War I. Students will focus on European and American art of the period, the economic history of World War I, the musical responses to the war, the science of genetics and World War I literature. The math subject area will cover algebra and trigonometry. The novel in the literature section is The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway.
Resources: A general study guide provides an outline of the various subject areas. Resource guides for art, music, economics, language and literature, science and social studies give specific subject information. Basic guides for math, economics, and music as well as other supplementary materials are available to students who need a stronger general background.
Time Commitment: Octathlon participants may begin picking up and studying the materials in May, 2013. They can also attend practice sessions with the Decathlon participants in the fall. Specific octathlon practice sessions will commence in January. We meet once a week or more to review practice questions. The regional test is all-day on a Saturday in April. The regional events will probably be at Seven Lakes High School.
Awards: Teams compete for first, second and third place based on overall scores. They may also compete for SuperQuiz team awards. Individual students may win first, second or third place medals in individual subject areas or for composite scores by competition division.
2013 Award Recipients
Third Place SuperQuiz Team Plaque: Sophia Carrico, Emily Harris and Tyler Green
Second Place Varsity Art Medal: Tyler Green
Third Place Varsity Music Medal: Tyler Green
Scholastic Team Medal: Sophia Carrico
Varsity Team Medal: Tyler Green
Further Information: E-mail Mr. Herzberg or call (281) 237-3538. E-mail Mr. Northcutt or call (281) 237-3588.