Annual National Inter School Spelling Contest

Possible Rounds for the Contest are:

First round: General Round
Second Round: Meaning Round (Reverse Order)
Third Round: Muse Round
Fourth Round: Jumble Round
Fifth Round: Spellathon Round
Sixth Round: Buzzer Round
Seventh Round: Visual Round

A.. Normal Round:
i) There will be a sitting order arranged by the organizers and the participants will be notified before the match resumes. For these rounds a team member from each team will be seated one after the other. Suppose there are five teams (A, B, C, D, E) then the team A will place a member in the first chair, similarly the team B will place another member in the second chair and so on. After the fifth team another member of the first team will be placed. The team members will not be able to consult each other.
ii) The student of the first team, the speller, will spell the word and the checker of the second team will decide if the speller has given the correct spelling or not. If the speller is incorrect, s/he will give the correct spelling. A double checker will judge both the speller and the checker and will give the correct spelling if the speller and the checker have both given incorrect spellings.
iii) For the next word, the previous checker becomes the speller and the previous double checker will become the checker whereas a new member from another team will be the double checker.
iv) The participants are to remain seated except for the speller, checker and double checker.
v) The speller has to complete his answer within forty-five seconds after the spelling master formally gives the word. The checker and the double checker will get 10 seconds to give their decisions and an extra 25 seconds will be given if they decide to respell the word correctly or otherwise. The timing will not be paused if any of the participants want the definition, part of speech, usage in a sentence and origin of the word.
vi) The participant will open the spelling with a pronounciation followed by the spelling and finally close it with another pronunciation. No changes are permitted once the participants pronounce the word after spelling or once spelling master gives the decision.
vii) The speller may ask for the definition, usage of the word, part of speech, or origin of the word but only once. The definition, usage, part of speech or the origin of the word will only be said once and will not be repeated for the checker or double checker if it has already been asked. The checker or the double checker cannot ask for the spelling by the speller or the checker to be repeated more than once.
viii) If the participant asks for the origin of the word, or usage in a sentence the answer will only be given if the sentence is given in the official dictionary of the Spelling contest.
ix) The checker and the double checker shall give their decisions only after the speller closes the word or when the spelling master tells him/her to do so.

B.. Meaning Round:
x) In the meaning round, the speller has to give the word and spell it. They should start spelling immediately after the spelling master gives the meaning. The time will not be paused for any further queries.
xi) The participants must be loud, clear and distinct while giving the spellings. Any complaints stating what the participant had “actually said” will be discarded and the judge’s decision will be final.
xii) If the participant wants to change the spelling, then he/she say ‘sorry’ and start the spelling again formally opening the word. Any failure to do so will be considered an error.
xiii) If the speaker fumbles while giving the spelling and repeats some of the alphabets unconsciously or otherwise, it will be considered a mistake.
xiv) In places where proper nouns are called in for an answer, the capital letters must be given. The hyphen and apostrophe rules must not be omitted in any answer. Otherwise it is considered an error.
xv) Any wrong decision by the checker or the double checker will be considered an error. If the speller spells a-p-p-l-e for apple and the checker says it was incorrect and spells it a-p-p-l-e, then the double checker has to say that the speller is correct and the checker is incorrect.
xvi) The meaning round will proceed in the opposite direction of the normal round.

C. Muse Round:
xvii) Each participant will be asked to choose a card and will be asked from that particular card.
xviii) Each card will contain five words.
xix) The meaning, usage, part of speech, origin of the word will not be provided.
xx) The words will be related to sports, music, science, wildlife and countries.
xxi) Comic characters are only for juniors. The six letter words will be related with sports, music, science , countries and wildlife only.
xxii) The participants will have to write all words in the board in capital (block) letters.
xxiii) The participants will have to write all the words within the given time i.e. 1 minute.
xxiv) The total point awarded is 5 points. A mark will be awarded for each correct word and deducted for each mistake.

D. Jumble round:
xxv) The seats will be rearranged and the teams will sit together. They can discuss among each other before giving the answer.
xxvi) Each team will be given a word jumbled in random order with the part of speech. The team has to figure out what the word is and then unjumble the word. The words will be from the provided list.
xxvii) The team will begin the round only when the spelling master says so.
xxviii) The answer given by the team-leader will only be considered valid. If any other member answers, the answer will be considered an error.
xxix) The time allotted is 30 seconds.
xxx) It is not a transferable round.
xxxi) One point will be awarded for a correct answer and deducted for a mistake.
xxxii) No joint handwriting will be accepted. All teams are advised to bring their own stationary (i.e. Clipboard, pens). Pencils and erasers will be provided by GAA.

E. Spellathon round (Rapid Fire Round):
xxxiii) The team will be asked five words. Each team will be allotted a time period of three minutes. The words will be asked to a team until the team says a wrong spelling or the team has spelled five words.
xxxiv) The round will be passed to the next team if the team says the wrong spelling or has spelled five words correctly even if the time limit is not over.
xxxv) Different words will be asked to the next team until the team says a wrong spelling or spells five words.
xxxvi) The meanings and the usage will not be provided.
xxxvii) This round carries total of 5 points. A point will be awarded for the correct spelling and deducted for each error by the team.

F. Buzzer Round
xxxviii) Questions can be related to anything .The team that first presses the buzzer gets to answer the question first. Points will be awarded for a correct answer and points will be deducted in case of a wrong answer. The team, which presses the buzzer, must answer within 5 seconds the instant the buzzer is pressed. 10 questions will be asked and they are not transferable.

G. Visual Round:
xxxix) The topics for the visual rounds are:

1. Sports
2. Wild Life
3. Science
4. Geography
5. Music
6. Countries

xl) The pictures will be shown and the participants have to identify the object in the picture, spell it, by opening it, spelling it and closing it.
xli) The sitting arrangement is like the General and meaning round.
xlii) Points will be deducted for every wrong answer given.