Science Bowl hosted a scrimmage against North Hollywood High School and Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Students Dec. 14. The scrimmage was open to everyone in Science Bowl, not just people on teams.

A-team captain Anser Abbas ’14, Nicholas Abouzeid ’15, Donhem Brown ’14, Katie Ehrlich ’14, Marko Fejzo ’15, Jacob Gold ’15, Jonathan Heckerman ’15 Enya Huang ’15, Kevin Zhang ’14 and Larry Zhang ’14 participated in the matches.

Teams consist of four people each. There are two types of questions, multiple choice and short answer. In toss-up questions, the person who clicked his or her buzzer was not allowed to discuss the question with teammates and must answer immediately.Questions answered correctly were followed by a bonus question for  that team, which teammates were allowed to discuss the question.

“The scrimmage went well,” Abbas said. “I think we need to spend more time practicing. I hope we have another scrimmage soon.”

This year Science Bowl added C and D teams to “encourage and train the next generation of Science Bowl players,” science teacher Nathan Cardin said in an email to club members.

Cardin and the student leadership of the club decided to create the C and D teams this year because more than 40 students, an all-time high for the Science Bowl, expressed interest in active participation in the club.

“While this speaks incredibly well of our club’s current vitality, it clearly made the selection process that much more difficult,” Cardin said.

There are five members on each team, and the A and B teams are composed of juniors and seniors, along with one sophomore alternate each.

“When choosing alternates for the A and B teams, we decided to continue on with a philosophical approach that worked well for us last year,  choosing two promising sophomores,” Cardin said. “When deciding on each team, many factors were considered: active participation, content knowledge, willingness to be a team player, maturity, positivity, buzzer speed, and accuracy.”