National History Bee

Competition Format

For students competing in the Middle School and Elementary School Divisions, the National History Bee is a three-stage competition, consisting of an Online Regional Qualifying Exam, the Regional Finals, and the National Championships. Students can also qualify for the International History Olympiad by competing in the National History Bee.

The second stage of the National History Bee for the Middle and Elementary School Divisions is the Regional Finals. The Regional Finals are held throughout the year both online and in person. A full list of Regional Finals is available here on the Registration page. Students who have qualified on the ORQE may compete up to 3 times at the Regional Finals. The Regional Finals tournaments are held in conjunction with the Regional Finals for the National Geography Bee and National Science Bee, so students who qualified on the ORQEs for those subjects can compete in all 3 events.

Regional Finals: Timing of Tournaments

At in-person Regional tournaments, typically the History Bee is held in the morning; the Geography Bee is held in the early afternoon, and the Science Bee is held in the late afternoon. At online tournaments, the Bees for two subjects are held on a Saturday, and the third is held on Sunday afternoon. The time and day that each subject is contested on an online event varies from one tournament to another, so that students who cannot compete on Saturdays (or Sundays) will have options to play all subjects at their preferred time over the course of the academic year.

Regional Finals: Tournament Structure

The Regional Finals consists of 3 preliminary rounds, each with 30 questions, and 1 Final Round, likewise with 30 questions. All students play in all preliminary rounds; the scores are then added together to determine placement. Typically 20-50% of students then make the Final Round to determine the Regional Champion in each age division. To qualify for the National Championships, students must finish in the top 50% of their age division after the preliminaries rounds, inclusive of odd numbers and ties for the final Nationals spot. There are separate age divisions for students in 8th grade, 7th grade, 6th grade, 5th grade, 4th grade, and 3rd grade and younger. At some tournaments with small numbers of students in an age division, two or more divisions may be consolidated. However, the qualification for the National Championships will be determined solely based on a student’s official age division: students are never at a disadvantage in terms of national championships qualifying if age divisions must be consolidated.

Regional Finals: Game Play Rules

All questions at the Regional Finals are played using a buzzer system and take the form of a short paragraph. Please see here for sample questions to practice with. The questions are read out loud to students, and the clues in each question are arranged in descending order of difficulty. Students buzz in as soon as they think they know the answer. If they are correct, they score a point; if they are incorrect, they cannot ring in again on that question. Three incorrect answers kills the question. If a student is the third student incorrect before the end of the question, they lose a point (because they have killed the question for the remaining students who now are unable to hear the rest of the question). If they are the first or second student incorrect, or if they are the 3rd student to answer incorrectly but the question has already been read to completion, they do not lose a point.

Once students reach 5 points in a round, they are done for the rest of the round. This ensures that if one student is particularly gifted, they will not run away with most of the questions while the other students get frustrated. However, students can earn up to 10 bonus points in each round depending on how quickly they go out (i.e. a student who answers the first 5 questions correctly scores 15 for the round).

Regional Finals: Study Guides

Each Regional Finals is played using one of three question sets: Red, White, or Blue. There is no difference between the sets in terms of content focus or difficulty. Students can compete at up to 3 Regional Finals, once on each question set. Each question set has a Study Guide that is compiled once the questions for that question set have been written, so students who are competing at a tournament should review the correct study guide in advance! The Study Guides do not contain information on every question in the tournament, but they typically reference things to know about harder topics that will come up.

Regional Finals: Tournament Registration and Logistics

Students and their families must register for each Regional Finals tournament on the Registration Page. Typically, the deadline is 12 days in advance of each tournament, but please check the Registration Page to be sure. After the deadline passes, a wait list is maintained for each tournament: we will attempt to accommodate as many students as possible, but we need to ensure sufficient staff first. The cost to compete in the Regional Finals of the National History Bee is $47 per tournament with a $10 surcharge if registered for after the deadline. There is no obligation to bring a question reader or buzzer system to the tournament; IAC will provide these. An email will be sent in the week prior to each tournament, as well as within a week after the tournament with further logistical details.

For all questions on the 2023-24 Regional Finals, please email ems-info@iacompetitions.com.

The third stage of the National History Bee for the Middle and Elementary School Divisions is the National Championships, which for the 2023-24 academic year will take place at the Hyatt Regency Orlando from May 23-27, 2024. The rounds for the National History Bee will begin on the morning of May 24 and end on the late afternoon of May 26. The National Championships for the National History Bee are also held in conjunction with the National Championships of the National Geography Bee, National Science Bee, and many other events. Students who have qualified for the National Championships in the National History Bee are also qualified for and encouraged to compete in the all-American History-focused US History Bee and the National History Bowl, a buzzer-based competition for teams of students from a school or homeschool association. Solo student teams are also welcome and encouraged to compete in the History Bowl. There are also a number of History-themed National Championship Exams. Each event is held at different times during the weekend, so students who wish to compete in multiple events may do so.

National Championships: Tournament Structure

At the National Championships, all students compete in 4 preliminary rounds using the same style of questions on which they played at the Regional Finals. The rounds are held in different blocks of 2 rounds each which are played back to back. Students are assigned to 2 blocks based on their full schedule of events for the weekend. Students’ preliminary round point totals are summed, and then the top students (usually around the top 25-35%) qualify for the Playoff Rounds. The number of students who qualify for the playoffs is a function of enrollment in each age division at Nationals, and will be clarified to all before the competition begins.

The cost to compete at the 2024 National History Bee National Championships is $149, or $145 if registration takes place before December 31, 2023. Registration for the National Championships opens in November and runs through early May on this page. We are expecting approximately 1000 students to attend the 2024 National History Bee National Championships! 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, and the Jeopardy! Charity Games. A full schedule of the 2024 Nationals Events is available here.

For all questions on the 2024 National Championships, please email ems-info@iacompetitions.com.

Students who compete in the Middle and Elementary School Divisions of the National History Bee can qualify for the 2025 International History Olympiad which will likely be held in London in July 2025! Students qualify for the International History Olympiad by finishing in the top 25% in their age division at any 2023-24 or 2024-25 Regional Finals tournament or National History Bowl Regional Tournament, or in the top 50% at the 2024 or 2025 National Championships of the National History Bee or National History Bowl. There are other qualifying methods as explained here, but qualifying through performance in the National History Bee or National History Bowl is the most common approach.

The International History Olympiad is a week-long event with numerous competitions, field trips, family activities and more. In each event, medals are awarded to the top 3 competing students in each age division. US students compete for their state; students from other countries (or students in the USA who were born abroad or who have foreign citizenship) represent those countries. Two of the most prestigious events at the Olympiad are the International History Bee World Championships and the International History Bowl World Championships; an overall Olympiad Championship title is also awarded in each age division; please view the website at www.historyolympiad.com for further details on all events and to register. We are expecting 300-400 students from around the world to attend the 2025 International History Olympiad!

For all questions on the 2025 International History Olympiad, please email david@iacompetitions.com.