These quizzing champs turned ClassAct 2022 Grand Finale into a resounding success

ClassAct 2022, The Hindustan Times Republic Day Quiz, is Asia's largest online school quiz. The Asia Book of Records and the India Book of Records have officially recognised it as the record holder for 'Maximum Participation in an Online School Quiz.' On the 23rd of January, 19,625 students from 32 countries and five continents took part in the Prelims round of ClassAct 2022. This was followed by the Grand Finale hosted by acclaimed Indian quiz masters Dr. Navin Jayakumar and Avinash Mudaliar. In the final round 175 contestants competed in a nail-biting competition to make it to the Top 40. These quizzing wizards talk to HT School and take us through their journey in ClassAct 2022. 

Yukta Singh, Centre Point School, Nagpur, Grade VIII 
Rank: 36 

Yukta’s journey in quizzing began in Grade III when she had participated in a Geography quiz competition and stood sixth at the national level. This became her motivation for taking part in more quizzing events. Apart from various Olympiads and competitions, Yukta has also participated in some national and international quizzes over the last two years. Yukta was thrilled when she got the news of her selection in the Grand Finale. For her, the ClassAct 2022 turned out to be a great learning experience. “The quizmasters of this Class Act 2022 presenting the questions in a very interesting manner,” she says. 

Tanmay Arora, Delhi Public School, New Delhi, Grade XI 
Rank: 37 
Encouraged by his parents to read the newspaper every day at home, Tanmay took up quizzing to test his knowledge a few years later. He has taken to exploring the online quizzing scenario since the last two years. Taking part in an online quiz with a huge number of participants, Tanmay found ClassAct 2022 to be a thrilling and unique experience. “My habit of reading newspapers helped me ace some of the questions promptly. Also, the quiz masters in ClassAct 2022 were quite thorough with the questions and explained the answers and the back story behind those questions in great detail to us. This is a major difference that I noticed between this quiz and the others that I have taken part in earlier,” he says. 

Tanmay found the finals to be tougher than the prelims. “However, we could work our way through the answers based on the clues shared. For instance, I did not know the answer to one of the history questions asked. But observing the hints closely helped me get it right. Sports, science and technology, politics and geography are some of my favourite topics in quizzing. 

Krishiv Khandelwal, Gokuldham High School, Mumbai, Grade VII 
Rank: 38 

Krishiv has been an experienced and avid quizzer since a young age. So,  ClassAct 2022 was pretty much a breeze for him. "This quiz had some beautifully-framed questions. There were no tough or easy questions in the quiz. Rather, there were questions to which he knew the answers or didn’t know them at all,” he says. For him, the question about Kathakali dance was a little tricky and the one about pizza was an easier one considering he had already read about it.  

Arnav Arora, Venkateshwar Global School, New Delhi, Grade XII 
Rank: 39 

“It was a real challenge to be part of a quiz with so many participants from all other world,” says Arnav. This avid quizzer, who likes to keep himself updated with current affairs as well as Greek and Hindu mythology, found the quizmasters of ClassAct 2022 very welcoming. “Having participated in one of Dr. Jayakumar’s quizzes earlier, I was quite excited to take part and meet him again,” says Arnav.  

Anjika Shankar, Delhi Public School, New Delhi, Grade IX, Rank 40 
Anjika’s parents have been the biggest influence for her to take up quizzing as a hobby. They motivated her to participate in ClassAct 2022. “Initially, I didn’t think about winning. I decided to take part just to enhance my overall learning experience,” she shares. Considering the massive number of participants, Anjika didn’t think that she would make it to the finals. “But I was quite surprised to see my name in the Grand Finale,” she adds.