US National Championship Exams
During the US National Championships (for both the Varsity & Junior Varsity and the Middle & Elementary School Divisions), International Academic Competitions organizes National Championship Exams across numerous academic disciplines. The exams will be offered on various fields of history, science, and political science as explained below. Ambitious Elementary and Middle School students are also welcome to compete in the Junior Varsity Division of the exams which are offered at JV Nationals in April (though the questions will be written at a challenging high school level of difficulty).
Each exam will consist of multiple choice questions with each correct answer worth 2 points, an incorrect response worth -1 point, and an answer left blank worth 0 points. The time limit will be 25 minutes for each exam. Ties will be broken through tiebreaker questions with numerical answers. Students will be ranked against other students in their age division, and the top three students in each division will earn medals. No prior qualification is needed to take any of the exams. Varsity and Junior Varsity exams have 75 questions, 7th & 8th Grade exams have 70 questions, 5th & 6th Grade exams have 60 questions, and 4th Grade and Younger exams have 50 questions.
A complete schedule of exams and all other events at the IAC National Championships can be found on the relevant page of the Nationals website here. Exams and answer keys from past years can be found under each exam’s description.
For the 2024-25 season, the following exams are being offered at each division’s US National Championships:
Exams at Both Nationals:
Exams at Middle & Elementary School Nationals Only:
Exams at Varsity & Junior Varsity Nationals Only:
National American Geography Exam
This exam will feature questions on the geography of the 50 United States, Washington DC, the territories of the USA, and the territorial waters of the USA. Questions will focus on physical, cultural, and political geography. Certain questions may require knowledge of some abstract geographic concepts and geographic terminology, but the primary focus of this exam will be on factual knowledge, instead of applied and theoretical geography (in contrast to the US Geography Championships).
National American History Exam – New for 2025!
This exam will feature questions on all aspects of the political, cultural, and social history of the USA, including the colonial period, until the present day. At the Varsity and Junior Varsity level, this exam will be patterned in terms of its content distribution and question style after the multiple choice section of the AP US History Exam. High school students who are taking the APUSH Exam several weeks after this exam is given at our late April Varsity and Junior Varsity National Championships are thus particularly encouraged to take this exam, though it will be of interest to any student who enjoys testing their knowledge of American history. At the Middle and Elementary School National Championships, the questions on this exam will be structured similarly to our other exams.Â
National Ancient History Exam
This exam will focus on European history up until the year 500 CE. It will also cover the history of the Americas through the year 1550, the history of Asia through the year 1200, the history of Africa until 1400, and the history of Oceania until 1500. Approximately 20% of this exam will focus on the history of the ancient Middle East (including Iran) and North Africa, 30% will focus on the history of Ancient Greece and Rome, 5% on the history of the Americas, 5% on Sub-Saharan Africa, 5% on Oceania and Southeast Asia, 15% will focus on Ancient East Asia, and 10% will focus on the history of South and Central Asia, with the remaining 10% distributed across multiple regions on the same question, or from any region.
National Asian Geography Exam
This exam will cover the cultural, human, physical, and political geography of Asia. For purposes of this exam, Asia will be said to include the following: Sinai Peninsula, Anatolia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan east of the Ural River, Russia east of the continental divide of the Ural Mountains, all of Indonesia, the Maldives, and other offshore nations like Japan and the Philippines that are typically considered Asian. It will not include East Timor, Papua New Guinea, or the Russian portion of the Caucasus. Questions will be broadly distributed, and students should be prepared to answer questions on Asian cultural practices, languages, economic geography, and more, in addition to capital cities, landforms, bodies of water, etc.
National Asian History Exam
This exam will cover the full sweep of Asian history from the dawn of history in the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia to the present-day. Approximately 25% of the exam will cover the history of China and approximately 25% of the exam will cover the history of India. Central Asia, Southeast Asia (including Indonesia), and the Middle East (including the Arabian Peninsula) will be treated as well.
National Black American History Exam
This exam will cover all aspects of Black American history from the colonial period to the present day. Those taking this exam should study famous African-Americans and related historical events from the fields of politics, business, sports and entertainment, science, the Civil Rights Movement, abolitionism, literature, the arts, and more.
National Chemistry Exam
This exam will cover all aspects of a standard high school chemistry curriculum with particular emphasis placed on topics that are also covered in the AP Exam. Topics covered will include stoichiometry, nuclear chemistry, organic chemistry, bonding, the periodic table, and more.
National Earth Science Exam
This exam will focus on earth science broadly speaking, including geology, volcanology, oceanography, astronomy (which will comprise about 15-20%), meteorology, and hydrology. There will be a limited amount of physical geography and ecology (as those topics are covered in other National Championships Exams). The content, difficulty, and question distribution will be similar to prior years’ National Earth Science Exams – thus students should review past exam versions to gain a sense of what sort of questions to expect.
National Environmental Science Exam
This exam will cover all aspects of ecology and environmental science with particular emphasis placed on topics that are also covered on the AP Environmental Science Exam. Topics covered will include ecosystems, conservation biology, global warming and climate change, food webs, biogeochemistry, environmental degradation, biogeography, and human ecology. All registration fees from the National Environmental Science Exam are donated directly to the Rainforest Alliance to be used for rainforest conservation education purposes.
National European Geography Exam
This exam will cover the cultural, human, physical, and political geography of Europe. For purposes of this exam, Europe will be said to include the following: Iceland, Faroe Islands, Svalbard, Cyprus, Malta, Kazakhstan west of the Ural River, Russia west of the continental divide of the Ural Mountains, and the three Macaronesian archipelagoes that belong to European countries. It will not include Greenland, Anatolia, or any questions on Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Questions will be broadly distributed, and students should be prepared to answer questions on European cultural practices, languages, economic geography, and more, in addition to capital cities, landforms, bodies of water, etc.
National European History Exam
This exam will cover the history of Europe from the dawn of history in ancient Greece to the present-day. This exam will cover ancient, medieval, and modern European History. From 1500 CE onward, it will broadly reflect the AP European History curriculum in terms of content distribution, though all questions will be multiple-choice. Students should be familiar with people, events, cultural movements, the historical geography of Europe, and Europe’s place in the world today. Compared to the AP exam, there may be a slightly higher proportion of question on post-World War II events, but it will otherwise be modeled on the AP European History Exam. Students taking that exam shortly after this exam is offered at the Varsity and Junior Varsity National Championships are particularly encouraged to try this exam, though it is open to all.
National Geography Photo Quiz – New for 2025!
The National Geography Photo Quiz will feature questions exclusively based on photographic images. These can include pictures of cities, landmarks, landforms, bodies of water, and more. Note that while some photos may include images of flags, that will not be a major focus of this exam, as those are covered more comprehensively on the National Map and Flag Exam. Students who are familiar with Geoguessr may particularly enjoy this exam, though it should be a fun test of knowledge for all middle and elementary school students interested in geography.
National Historical Geography Exam
This exam will cover the impact of geography on historical events, and examine questions of population movements, shifts in national and imperial borders, the spread of languages and religions, exploration and trade patterns, military campaigns, and more. This exam is neither part of the US Geography Championships nor the National Geography Bee and is open to everyone; unlike those events, it does not require prior qualification.
National History Picture Quiz – New for 2025!
The National History Picture Quiz will feature questions exclusively based on visual images. These can include photographs, maps, charts, graphs, works of art, artifacts, and more. This exam will require both identification and analytical skills and will be an enjoyable challenge for all students interested in history who are attending the Middle and Elementary School National Championships.
National Indian History, Geography & Culture Exam – New for 2025!
The National Indian History, Geography, and Culture Exam will test students’ comprehensive knowledge of the nation of India, as well as its historical forebears in the subcontinent dating back to the earliest civilizations in the Indus and Ganges Valleys. Note that this exam can also include questions that cover historical precursors of India outside the territorial limits of the modern Indian state (e.g. Harappa, Alexander the Great’s campaign against Porus, etc.). This exam will be of interest to any student at the Middle and Elementary School National Championships who is interested in Indian culture. Approximately 1/3 of the questions will cover political and military history, 1/6 of the questions will cover geography, and 1/2 of the questions will cover society and culture (including visual arts, literature, film, music, sport, business, science, technology, and more). Of the society and culture questions, approximately half will cover the period prior to independence, and half will cover India from 1947 to the present day.
National International Affairs Exam – New for 2025!
The National International Affairs Exam will feature questions on international relations among countries (approximately 25% of questions), current events outside the USA (approximately 25%), foreign governmental systems (approximately 20%), international organizations (approximately 15%), and international economics and trade (approximately 15%). This exam is given between the preliminary and playoff rounds of the National Political Science Bee and should be of interest to all students taking part in that competition, as well as to other students at the Varsity and Junior Varsity National Championships who enjoy global politics and international events.
National Map & Flag Exam
This visually-based exam will ask students to identify maps and flags of different countries, states, cities, and other geographical entities. For the map section, students will also be asked to interpret maps and use spatial reasoning skills to answer questions that do not require prior knowledge of geographic locations, but do require a student to use maps in the way that a professional geographer would do. Students looking for examples of questions of this nature should review past cartographic questions from the US Geography Championships.
National Military History Exam
This exam will cover all facets of military history from ancient civilizations to the present-day. In addition to battles and wars, questions will also cover military technology, strategy and tactics, and how military outcomes shaped the contours of history. US military history will be covered by approximately 30% of the questions.
National Ornithology Exam
IAC’s official mascot is a parakeet named Maui (she’s depicted in the logo at left). We’re pretty sure she’s excited about the National Ornithology Exam, though she’s probably even more excited about her next dish of Vermont apple cider, her favorite treat. In any case, you can test your knowledge about all of your feathered friends in this exam, for which we’ll be donating 100% of the proceeds to the Rainforest Alliance.
National Physical Science Exam
This exam will cover all aspects of introductory level chemistry and basic aspects of physics. Among the topics covered will be the periodic table of the elements, technology and practical applications of physics and chemistry, the history of chemistry and physics, physical equations and principles, nuclear and particle physics, molecules and bonds, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and physical chemistry.
National Political Science Exam
The National Political Science Exam is meant to challenge students with relevant and unbiased questions about topics that are useful to know about for being an astute observer of domestic and international affairs. It is also meant to prepare students for the Varsity and Junior Varsity level National Political Science Bee. Note that the Junior Varsity competition of the NPSB is open to students in 8th grade and younger as well, but it is only contested at Varsity and Junior Varsity National Championships in late April in Arlington, VA. Thus younger students who qualify and are interested in competing in the Junior Varsity Division at the National Championships would need to compete there rather than at Middle and Elementary School Nationals. This exam covers all aspects of Political Science, with a distribution of questions by topic approximately in line with the distributions for the National Political Science Bee available here.
National Recent History Exam
This exam covers historical developments of the past few decades dating back to January 1, 2000. While the history of this time period is often not taught comprehensively in the classroom, an understanding of the recent past is even more useful for our daily lives than the history of more distant eras. The National Recent History Exam will cover developments in political, social, cultural, economic, and other areas of history. Both World and US history will be covered in the questions.
National Science Picture Quiz – New for 2025!
The National Science Picture Quiz will test students’ knowledge of science presented in a visual manner. This can include diagrams, photographs, charts, and other images. This exam will not feature questions on theoretical mathematics or geometry, though certain mathematical and geometric concepts may be referenced in applied settings. To prepare for this exam, students should think of all the ways that science knowledge might be tested in a visual way at a grade appropriate level. This can include identifying animals, heavenly bodies, meteorological phenomena, cellular organelles, anatomy, the periodic table, people and concepts from the history of science, and more. Looking through middle school life science, physical science, and earth science textbooks and seeing what sort of images are present would be a good way to approach preparing for this exam.
National Women’s History Exam
This exam will cover the history of women in the context of American history from the colonial period until the present day. Questions will focus on famous women and their contributions to American society, the women’s suffrage and women’s liberation movements, and questions of cultural and economic history.
National World Geography Exam – New for 2025!
This exam will test knowledge of all aspects of geography outside the territorial limits of the USA (as that is covered by the American Geography Exam), but it will reference Asian and European geography. An approximate distribution of questions on this exam is as follows: Asia (30%), Africa (20%), Europe (10%), the Americas (15%), Antarctica, Australia, Oceania and the world’s ocean regions (15%), any/non-defined/cross-regional (10%). Students should also be familiar with geographic concepts, as this exam will test knowledge of those in applied ways on certain questions.
National World History Exam – New for 2025!
The National World History Exam will feature questions on all aspects of world history, though for the Varsity and Junior Varsity Divisions, the distribution and style of questions will be reflective of the AP World History Exam’s multiple choice section. Students taking that exam shortly after the Varsity / JV National Championships are especially encouraged to try this exam out, though any student may take it. At the Middle and Elementary School level, this exam will have the following approximate question distribution: North and East Asia (15%), South Asia (10%), Africa (15%), the Americas (10%), Europe from 476 AD (25%), Ancient Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East (15%), Southeast Asia (3-4%), Australia and Oceania (1-2%), Middle East and Central Asia (5%).