For most students, test taking can be stressful and time consuming. However, the bar is raised for nine students on campus, as they will be required to test in over ten categories of curriculum in a matter of minutes.

Friday through Saturday, members of the school’s Academic Decathlon team will be competing in a state-wide curriculum-based competition at the Frisco campus of Collin College. 

“There’s a lot that goes into the competition,” sophomore member Sahithi Uyyala said. “There’s I believe eight tests that we take. Each is multiple choice and is composed of fifty questions, apart from the math section. We have thirty minutes to complete everything, along with a speech and interview. Then for math, we have thirty-five questions in thirty minutes. This year’s math section is focused on trigonometry and calculus.”

Aside from the competition itself, junior Tim Walter is interested in potential scholarship opportunities that will be available at the site of the competition.

“I believe that the first place prize for our section is going to get a scholarship, which is what I’m aiming for,” Walter said. “In a way, it’s really stressful because there are a lot of tasks that are being covered and there’s a lot of depth to it, but it’s really just memorizing facts.”

Social studies teacher Gary Mumford has been coaching the school’s program since it started and says AcDec can pay off years down the road. 

“What inspires me the most is mainly the students,” Mumford said. “For those that really love it, it’s a good competition, and they are learning about a lot of things that will help them out in life, especially with the speech and the interview. They improve their collaboration and communication skills quite a bit. If a student interested wants to be very successful, it’s very time consuming, but rewarding.”