General Format
The National Ocean Sciences Bowl consists of a round-robin/elimination format. The format involves a timed competition of multiple-choice or short-answer questions within the broad category of the oceans. Questions are drawn from the scientific and technical disciplines used in studying the oceans (physics, chemistry, geology, atmospheric science, biology, etc.) as well as from topics on the contributions of the oceans to national and international economics, history, policy and culture.
VIDEO – See and hear parts of a competition
Details on Competition
Ocean Leadership, with the assistance of scientific question writers, a Technical Advisory Panel and the NOSB regional coordinators, prepares the competition rules and regulations and the specific questions to be used in both the regional and national competitions.
The National Ocean Sciences Bowl is a timed competition (defined as the use of “lock-out”- type buzzer systems and clocks) between two teams. Each match consists of a series of toss-up (multiple-choice) questions that individual team members must answer without collaboration. A team that correctly responds to a toss-up question is given a bonus question (short answer) to answer as a team.

