National Political Science Bee

Varsity & Junior Varsity Divisions

2025 National Champions
Varsity – Abraham Zhang, Greenhills School, MI, 11th grade
Junior Varsity – Ayan Mohapatra, Orinda Academy, CA, 9th grade

National Political Science Bee
National Political Science Bee

The National Political Science Bee Overview

National Political Science Bee

The National Political Science Bee is a quiz competition for individual students, testing knowledge of US & foreign politics, current events, political theory, political economy, and more. Students first take the National Qualifying Exam, and qualified students then compete at the National Championships, next held on April 24, 2025 in Arlington, VA. At Nationals, students also participate in dinner discussion groups with prominent figures in politics, government, the military, and related fields.

  • Eligibility: Individual Primary and Secondary School Students. Students in grades 8 and younger may compete in the Junior Varsity Division.

  • Competitors: Individual Students

  • Competition Style: Multiple Choice Exam (Regionals), Buzzer Competition (Nationals)

  • Inquiries: Contact hs-info@iacompetitions.com

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Competition Format

The National Political Science Bee is a two-stage competition, consisting of a National Qualifying Exam, and then the National Championships in Arlington, VA on April 24, 2025.

Stage
1

National Qualifying Exam

The first stage of the National Political Science Bee is a 50 question multiple choice exam on all aspects of political science, current events, government, and related fields. Students must score high enough on any one of the three versions of the NPSB National Qualifying Exam that are offered each academic year.

There are three versions of this exam; students need to qualify for the National Championships through any one version of it. The three versions of the exam are the A Set, B Set, and C Set versions of the exam. Please note the following about each version of the exam:

Based on the distribution and format (with 4 answer choices per question) of the AP exam for US Government and Politics. Available from February 1, 2025. Offered during the lunch break at all A Set tournaments of the National History Bee and Bowl or available to take online.

Note: This version of the exam is provided free of charge to AP US Government and Politics teachers for use in their classes. If used in their class, students have 20 minutes to take the exam, and can still qualify for Nationals if their scores are at or above the Varsity A Set Exam National Qualifying Score (if they are in 11th or 12th grade) or if their scores are at or above the Junior Varsity A Set Exam National Qualifying Score (if they are in 10th grade or below).

Based on the National Political Science Bee Official Distribution. Available from December 7, 2024. Offered during the lunch break at all B Set tournaments of the National History Bee and Bowl or available to take online.

Based on the National Political Science Bee Official Distribution. Available starting in September. Offered during the lunch break at all C Set tournaments of the National History Bee and Bowl or available to take online.

Students qualify for the National Championships by either finishing in the top half of students at a regional that they attend, by finishing above the National Qualifying Score for their age division on any one of the three versions of the Exam, or by scoring 75 or higher. A lower score on any one version will not disqualify a student if they have a qualifying score on a separate version. To provide notification of Nationals qualification at as early a time as is possible, the official National Qualifying Scores for both Varsity and Junior Varsity students are determined on December 7 for C Set, February 1 for B Set, and March 1 for A Set. After these dates, the National Qualifying Scores do not change even though additional students can still take these exams up until the deadlines for taking them.

Register for the National Qualifying Exam:

Stage
2

National Championships

The 2025 Varsity & Junior Varsity National Political Science Bee National Championships will be held during the IAC Varsity/JV National Championships on Thursday, April 24, 2025 from 5pm-10pm in Arlington, Virginia.

The National Championships of the National Political Science Bee consist of two components. The first is the actual competition, which consists of three preliminary and two final rounds of buzzer-based quiz competition. Each round will have 35 questions.

The number of students who make the playoffs and who advance from the semifinals into the finals will be a function of the total number of registrants.

The second component of the National Championships of the National Political Science Bee is a dinner discussion group led by prominent figures in politics, the media, public service, and academia. These will take place at our National Championships (usually between the preliminary and playoff rounds). Participation is limited to National Political Science Bee players at Nationals, for whom it is also mandatory.

This year’s guests include::

  • Advice and Consent and Separation of Powers – moderated by Ian Dubin, the Associate Dean and Managing Director of Brookings Executive Education, a partnership of Brookings Institute and the Washington University of St. Louis.

  • The Role of the Courts in Maintaining the Balance of Power – moderated by Robert Wilkins, Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and a leader in establishing the National Museum of African American History.

  • Dismantling the Department Education and Potential Ramifications / Opportunities of School Choice – moderated by Porsha Davis, an innovator and school turnaround specialist with Atlanta-based Fulton County Schools (Services for Exceptional Children) and a Doctoral student in Special Education and Literacy.

  • Legal and Economic Issues in American Immigration Policy – moderated by Anthony Moscato, the former Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, and a Member of the Board of Immigration Appeals.

  • The Growing Global Rivalry Between the US and China – Moderated by Nick Weston, a former Congressional staffer as Communications Coordinator for Rep. Max Miller and a Doctoral student in Law and Public Policy.

  • The Role of Major Donors in American Politics – moderated by David Rosen, CEO of TCG, a government relations consulting firm, and former finance director for Senator Hillary Clinton and Governor Pat Quinn.

  • Ukraine and U.S.- Russian Relations: Alternative Scenarios for the Next Phase – moderated by Bill Veale, former Foreign Service Officer with extensive experience in the former Soviet Union who launched the U.S.-Kazakhstan Business Association.

  • Diversity and the American Military – moderated by Bob Fano, retired Army attorney who served in the office of the Judge Advocate General in the Pentagon.

Rules & FAQs

National Political Science Bee National Championships – Preliminary Rounds Scoring System and Rules Summary

National Political Science Bee National Championships – Playoff Rounds Scoring System and Rules Summary

National Political Science Bee Official Question Distribution

No, there is no younger age limit to compete, though you may wish to review the sample qualifying exam which is posted here to see if the difficulty level is appropriate. There is also no separate division for middle and elementary school students, so they would just compete in the Junior Varsity Division, with other students in 10th grade and younger.

Yes, homeschoolers are encouraged to compete! If homeschoolers do not have a formal grade level that they are in, then a birthdate cutoff is used to determine whether they are Varsity or Junior Varsity eligible. For the 2024-2025 academic year, the birthdate cutoff is September 1, 2008 – students born on or after this date are considered Junior Varsity eligible if they do not have a formal grade level.

All exams will be administered either in person at Regional Competitions or online. Pre-registration for in person exams is $15 per exam plus a processing fee if paid by credit card. For online exams, registration fees can be paid either by credit card for $15 plus a processing fee, or by check for $15. It is free of charge if taken with an AP US Government and Politics teacher to whom IAC has provided the A Set National Qualifying Exam and Answer Key.

The National Championships of the National Political Science Bee will cost $114 in 2024 if paid by December 29, 2023, or otherwise $119. The optional Day in DC costs $150 per student and includes transportation to and from the host hotel (Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA).

We recommend looking through past questions on www.quizbowlpackets.com as a free resource, though those questions are from all academic disciplines, so you will need to comb through the posted packets to find relevant political science questions.

Yes, and the questions in the finals will be harder than those in the semifinal round on average. Note that the Varsity and JV Divisions will use the same questions though.

Aside from reviewing past questions, taking AP Government courses, playing quiz bowl and National History Bee and Bowl tournaments, we highly recommend reading The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and other reputable newspapers and political science-focused publications.

National Political Science Bee Practice Resources

Past National Champions

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Year Division National Champion School City State
2025 Varsity Abraham Zhang Greenhills School Ann Arbor MI MI
2025 Junior Varsity Ayan Mohapatra Orinda Academy Orinda CA CA
2024 Varsity Jack Piros Homewood-Flossmoor High School Flossmoor IL NY
2024 Junior Varsity Evan Trask Northwest High School Germantown MD  FL
2023 Varsity Ian Lu Hunter College High School New York City NY  NY
2023 Junior Varsity Reed Bernstein Buchholz High School Gainesville FL  FL
2022 Varsity Steve Yang Horace Mann School Bronx NY  NY
2022 Junior Varsity Robert Wang Livingston High School Livingston NJ  NY
2021 Varsity Stevie Miller Winston Churchill High School Potomac MD  MD
2021 Junior Varsity Ian Lu Hunter College High School New York City NY  NY
2020 Varsity Arjun Nageswaran Adlai Stevenson High School Lincolnshire IL  IL
2020 Junior Varsity Kapil Nathan Hoover High School Hoover AL  AL