These quizzing wizards aced their way through the Grand Finale of ClassAct 2022
Pioneering the concept of learning playground, ClassAct 2022, The Hindustan Times Republic Day Quiz, drew record participation from school students all over the world including 32 countries and 5 continents. It has been declared as a record holder for Maximum Participation in an Online School Quiz, thanks to 19625 students taking part in the Prelims round of this competition, held on 23rd January. This round saw registrations from 50,611 students. The Grand Finale took place on 26th January and was hosted by renowned quizmasters Dr. Navin Jayakumar and Mr. Avinash Mudaliar where 175 finalists got a chance to match their wits with the nation’s best and make it to the Top 40. Read on to know what these toppers have to say about their experience in ClassAct 2022.
Siddharth Kumar Gopal, St. Thomas Residential School, Class VIII, Thiruvananthapuram
Rank: 26
According to this middle-schooler, starting from the Prelims to the Grand Finale, ClassAct 2022 was a very well-conducted quiz. “The questions were neither too hard, nor too easy and age-appropriate as well,” says Siddharth. What he liked most about was its interactive flavour and the fact that each answer was accompanied by an explanation. "This is what made the Grand Finale exciting and interesting. The miscellaneous facts around the answers kept my curiosity alive throughout the final round,” he adds. Though he liked almost all the questions from the Finale, two personal favourites of this young quizzer were the ones on ‘Baby Shark’ and the ‘Pizza’.
Siddharth’s parents, both avid quizzers, were the influence behind his interest in quizzing. Moreover, the quizzing scene in this city is pretty good, where both schools and coaching institutes conduct quizzes throughout the year. “Apart from my parents, I owe my success to my teachers who have been ‘very supportive’.
Pranav Subramaniam, Vagdevi Villas School, Class IX, Bengaluru
Rank: 27
For this quizzer, ClassAct 2022 was a unique experience. This is Pranav’s first experience in an international quiz. “I wish that I had some more time to prep for the finals,” says Pranav. The Prelims round, however, was a cakewalk for him. "As far as the Finale is concerned, the extra inputs provided by the quizmasters, fact helped me make the correct guess,” he adds. Since Grade I, Pranav’s mother has been inspiring him to focus on general knowledge and pursue quizzing. His preferred genres in quizzing are history, geography and current affairs.
Manas Sood, Delhi Public School, Class IX, New Delhi
Rank: 28
According to this passionate young quizzer, the Prelims of ClassAct 2022 was very balanced: Neither too easy nor too hard. “That is why most of us enjoyed it thoroughly. Also, I was overwhelmed to find out that there were 50,000 registrations for this quiz,” he says. He was all-too excited to have been able to make it to the finals. “In fact, I couldn’t sleep for a whole night. This was the first time that I qualified for the Finale of any quiz,” he recalls.
According to Manas, ClassAct 2022 stood out for its set of questions as none of them seemed to be vague. “Also, my long-cherished desire to participate in a quiz show hosted by Dr. Jayakumar was finally fulfilled,” he says, candidly.
e got into quizzing last year. “I joined the quiz club at my school a year ago and my inspiration was my maternal uncle,” Manas adds. According to him, his hometown was one of the major hubs of quizzing. “In most schools, the quiz societies are regarded as the most prestigious ones,” he says.
Anish Ganesh Kodre, City International School, Class XII, Pune
Rank: 29
ClassAct 2022 proved to be a great learning experience for Anish. “The questions in the Grand Finale were pretty creative and they were from a diverse set of subjects which made those few hours really interesting,” he says. According to this budding quizzer, the trivia shared by the quizmasters after each answer was revealed helped him improve his repertoire of knowledge. "For me, the sports questions from the Finale were the easiest because I love sports and current affairs in quizzing,” he says.
Anish is an avid reader of newspaper and quiz books. He started quizzing since he was in the Grade III following in the footsteps of his cousin who happens to be a state-level quizzer. "For me, quizzing is a stress-buster. Also, I prefer online quizzing to offline ones. It has a wider reach and offers better competition,” he says.