National Academic Bowl
Middle & Elementary School Divisions

The first stage of the National Academic Bowl are the Regional Tournaments. National Academic Bowl Regional Tournaments are held in-person and online from October-May. A list of tournaments is available here. Tournaments consist of 5 morning preliminary rounds and up to 4 single elimination playoff rounds for a maximum of 9 rounds. A standard tournament schedule is available here, though this may vary slightly from tournament to tournament. Teams who do not make the playoffs are guaranted two placement or consolation matches in the afternoon as well.

At in-person National Academic Bowl Regional Tournaments, all competing students who have not yet taken the Online Regional Qualifying Exams for the National Science Bee, National History Bee, or National Geography Bee must take the In-Person Regional Qualifying Exams for each subject that they have not taken. The In-Person Regional Qualifying Exams consist of 30 questions per subject; students have 35 minutes to thus answer up to 90 questions. Students qualify for the Regional Tournaments of the National Science, History, and Geography Bee by answering a minimum of 15 questions correct in each subject on the IRQEs.

To qualify for Nationals in the National Academic Bowl, a team needs to finish in the top 50% of teams in its age division or round robin pool (if round robin pools are played) after Round 5, finish with a winning record after Round 5, or win a playoff game. However, in many cases, teams will find it easier to qualify for the National Academic Bowl National Championships by having at least one player on each team at Nationals who has qualified for the National Championships of the National Science Bee, National History Bee, or National Geography Bee.

Past questions can be found on the website here for practice, though note that Academic Bowl packets from 2016-2022 followed a different game format. The National Academic Bowl now uses the exact same format and rules as the National History Bowl (except the focus of the questions is on all subjects, not just history).

For all questions on the National Academic Bowl, please email ems-info@iacompetitions.com

The second stage of the National Academic Bowl is the National Championships which is held on Memorial Day weekend at the Hyatt Regency Orlando. For 2026, the National Academic Bowl preliminary rounds will be held on Friday, May 22, and the playoff and consolation rounds will be held on Sunday, May 24. We hope that you and your team will be able to join us! All teams play four preliminary matches. There are up to four playoff rounds depending on the number of competing teams in each division. Teams who do not make the playoffs are welcome to play two additional matches in a consolation mini-tournament if they are interested. Teams who lose in the first playoff round are welcome to play one additional match for fun if they are interested.

All schools and homeschool associations that qualified at a Regional Tournament in the National Academic Bowl can compete. Schools and homeschool associations can also field a team (or teams) in the National Academic Bowl National Championships if at least one competing student on each team qualified for the National Championships in the National History Bee, National Geography Bee, or National Science Bee.

There is no limit on team size at Nationals (i.e. a team can carry an unlimited number of alternates), but no more than four students can compete at once. Solo-student and dual-student teams are welcome to compete and play at a discounted rate. At Nationals, we will have three separate age divisions: Middle School (students 8th grade or younger), Intermediate (all students must be 6th Grade and younger), and Elementary School (students 4th grade and younger). At Nationals, teams in all three age divisions will only play other teams in the same age division. Younger students can compete in older divisions (e.g. a 6th grader can play on a Middle School Division team).

The cost to compete in the National Academic Bowl National Championships depends on whether a team consists of 1, 2, or 3 or more students. Registration for the National Championships runs through early May on this page which outlines the costs for each team size. Nationals weekend will also feature many other events, including the Opening Ceremonies, a Family Quiz Night, Universal Studios Night, Intro to Model United Nations, various talks and receptions, the Jeopardy! Charity Games, and much more. A full schedule of Nationals Events is available here.

For all questions on the Middle & Elementary School National Championships, please email ems-info@iacompetitions.com.