Candice Hannani, print feature editor      

The Academic Decathlon team attended their first scrimmage, or mock competition, where the team earned 51 out of 63 awards on Nov. 10 at El Rancho High School. The team’s total score increased by about 8,200 points from the prior year, which is a large improvement according to senior Jenny Chieu.

The tests covered seven subjects: art, music, literature, math, economics, science and social science. The highest scorers were seniors Victor Lee, who earned 5,717 out of 7,000 points; David Mnitsa, 5,126 points; Jenny Chieu, 5,024 points; and Heidi Hart, 4,946 points.

However, as the saying goes, “no pain, no gain”; to reach their total score, the team had to study after school until at least 6 o’clock on weekdays and at various members’ houses on Saturdays.

“[The score improvement]’s really cool,” Chieu remarked. “The studying paid off because we did well.”
Hart claims that despite the pressure, she was not nervous during the competition and kept her mind centered on the exams.
“I was mostly focusing on the tests,” Hart said. “I knew I couldn’t change anything at that point. I was more nervous the week before the competition.”
Academic Decathlon teams throughout California take the practice tests to measure their achievements thus far in the year. According to Mnitsa, those that did not attend scrimmages this Saturday will be completing the practice tests on Nov. 17.
The team is currently focused on their future competitions on Jan. 26 and Feb. 2. The students are working to beat West Torrance High School and Redondo Union High School, both of which ranked higher than Beverly last year.