Frequently Asked Questions

Battle of the Books is a competition based on the love of literacy. Students compete by forming teams, reading the selected books, and then answering questions about them.

The competition exists in three phases. The first phase begins over the summer, where the book lists for each grade level will be released. This will give students ample time to prepare for the second phase in the following January. The second phase is an online qualification test, where students will answer questions about the books they read. There must be a minimum two adult officials present the whole time - the Referee and the Moderator-Game Host (the Sponsor fills this role). Then, after the results are processed and qualifying teams are announced, the third phase will be The Grand Battle. Students will travel to compete in a "TV Game Show" with other teams. The winner of the Grand Battle for each grade level will receive the 1st place trophy for their school and certificates for their team.

Students can get involved by reading the books on the reading list and then visiting their school's media specialist for more information about school-specific meeting times and important dates. Teams per school will vary, and in some cases, some schools hold their own qualifying matches independent of the online portion to select teams.

Your team may range anywhere from 2 to 5 students. No more or less will be permitted.

The book list for your grade is available by clicking the "Book Lists" link at the top of this page, or you can click here.

Your school's media specialist can be found by either going to your school's library and asking, or going to your administrator. In some cases, a school may not have a media specialist and a teacher is in charge of the Battle of the Books for your school.

No. You will still have until January to prepare for the online qualification test.

Battle of the Books provides a fun way for you and your friends to read and compete, no matter if you are 8 or 18. The Battle of the Books isn't about winning: it is about reading, competing, and having fun while doing so.

You may form your team by talking to your sponsor. You will meet a sponsor at your school's designated Battle of the Books meeting, scheduled by your media specialist.

Students are not all required to read every book, however, it would be more helpful if everyone knew the books. Dividing the books between the members of your group is permitted as well.

The online qualification test is held in January. In order for them to compete, students must schedule a 25 minute period of time with their sponsor to take the test with their supervision. The sponsor will stop and start your test for you. The test will last 20 minutes and will consist of randomly selected trivia questions about books for your selected book list.

No. The online qualification test is not open-note and we do not permit you to access any external materials during the test. Any students doing so will be disqualified. Your sponsor should be enforcing this rule.

Absolutely not. Opening another internet tab or browsing on your phone is strictly prohibited during the online qualification test. Any students doing so will be disqualified. Your sponsor should be enforcing this rule.

If your answer accuracy is high enough, you might. Just to show you how difficult it is to guess every question correctly, think about the chances of you randomly guessing and getting one question right. There are 4 answer choices, so you have a 1 in 4 chance to get the question right. The chances of you randomly guessing and getting 2 questions right is (1/4)^2. This means that the chances of you guessing on some number n questions and getting all of them right is (1/4)^ n. That is an incredibly small chance that you will answer all of those questions correctly after guessing. However, there is a way to increase your odds: JUST READ THE BOOKS!