The World Scholar’s Cup (often abbreviated as WSC) is an annual international academic program. More than 50,000 students from over 60 countries participate every year.[1]
The program was founded by DemiDec, in particular by Daniel Berdichevsky, in early 2006.[2] The first WSC took place in South Korea in 2007 at the Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies.[3] The World Scholar's Cup aims to teach students with interesting, not-taught-in-school lessons, and find common ground between people of different backgrounds. Its mascot is the alpaca.
Tournament format
Teams and points system
Founder Daniel Berdichevsky showing off the WSC's mascot, the alpaca, at the 2011 local Jakarta Round.
Each team participating in the World Scholar's Cup is generally composed of three students, from the same school or different schools. Teams of two are permitted but face a scoring disadvantage.[4] Teams within a country or region may participate in any regional round, which usually takes place in a participating school, hall, or both.
Qualifying for the various Global Rounds requires that a team to:
exceed an 18,000 point threshold at a Regional Round (formerly 20,000 until 2023)
have at least two members from the same team or school.
exceed a point threshold of about 20,000 points at a Global Round.
have all members qualify in a Global Round.
have at least two members from the same team.
A team can achieve a maximum score of 40,000 points. While specifics fluctuate, the Scholar's Challenge, Debate, and Collaborative Writing events typically provide 4000, 3500, and 2500 points respectively. The Bowl is generally worth 10,000 points. The World Scholar's Cup does not release scores publicly.[citation needed]
Age Divisions
The tournament is divided into junior and senior divisions, and participation in a division depends on the ages of a team's members. Participants[a] who are 14 years of age or older on January 1 of the current year are classified as senior.[b] In the 2017 Hanoi Global Round, a new Skittles Division was formed for students aged 8–9. In most regional rounds, both divisions participate separately but simultaneously, while global rounds have the events of each division staggered, with the junior division typically competing in an event a day before the seniors' event. Closing ceremonies are typically held separately as well.
In larger Regional and Global events, scholars may be divided into further age groups, as seen in the 2022 Bangkok Global Round,[5] and the 2024 Stockholm Global Round. Additionally, scholars may be divided into different waves, as seen in the Kuala Lumpur Global Round in 2024.[6]
Events
Each Regional Round consists of four main events: the Scholar's Challenge, Collaborative Writing, Team Debate, and the Scholar's Bowl.[4] In addition to these four events, non-competitive social activities take place in select tournaments. The academic activities each require knowledge of a curriculum made at the start of each season, which consists of questions about subjects like history, social studies, art and music, literature and media, science and technology, and a special area.
Team Events
Events which are scored for performance are referred to as Team Events. The following are the team events.[7]
The Scholar's Challenge
The Scholar's Challenge is a 120-question multiple choiceexam given to each individual competitor to complete within 60 minutes during the regional round, and 75 minutes during the global round and during the Tournament of Champions. Prizes are awarded to top participants in each subject and to both top-scoring overall teams and individuals. Students can be awarded multiple medals for the Scholar's Challenge.[8] The award for the highest score in the Scholar's Challenge for an event was formerly known as the Asimov Award, but in 2022, it was renamed to the Jac Khor Award in honor of the World Scholar's Cup team member who used to write the questions for the event but died during the COVID-19 pandemic.[9]
A feature of the Scholar's Challenge, implemented in 2015, allows participants to select multiple answers per question. Though each question has only one correct answer, choosing multiple answers allows the participant to earn points that are the reciprocal of the number of answers chosen. For instance, a participant could shade in all five answers and win 0.2 points.[10]
The Scholar's Challenge solely tests on the syllabus given by the World Scholar's Cup team. The challenge is intentionally designed to be challenging, hence the name, with many of its questions requiring deductive reasoning and logical understanding as opposed to memorization.[10]
Collaborative Writing
This event is based on arguments, with students picking one of six different prompts associated to each subsection of the given curriculum. Each participant on a team must pick a different prompt. Any writing form is allowed. While computers and phones were permitted previously, a change occurring in late 2022 banned all devices in this event, most likely set due to the rise of ChatGPT.
At the beginning of the event, students have 20 (previously 30) minutes to work with their teammates to discuss and research their arguments. Following the collaboration period, students have 40 (previously 45) minutes to write their essay. There are no maximum or minimum word limits. Following the writing period, students then have 15 minutes to collaborate again with their teammates to edit one another's work, but they may not finish a teammate's piece.
This event is worth the least of the four scoring events, contributing 18.75% of a team's total score and 20% of an individual's score. The rubric as shown on the Scholars Cup website categorizes scoring into four segments: Clarity, Content, Style, and Originality. Clarity refers to how clearly a student argued their ideas, Content refers to the style and proficiency of such ideas, Style refers to the use of language and format of a writing piece, and Originality accounts for the memorability and impact the writing piece had on a person.[11]
Team Debate
All teams have assigned rooms and arguments. In the room, teams will have 15 minutes to confer within the room before the debate begins. Teams may use World Scholar's Cup materials[c] or any outside resources to prepare in the 15 minute preparation time. However, devices and external sources are not permitted afterwards. Speakers may use notes.
Students may speak for up to four minutes. Between speakers, teams have 60 seconds to prepare before the next speaker is called.
In 2025, the World Scholar's Cup made a change which states that no devices will be permitted for the third debate of every regional round.[citation needed]
Before the end of the debate, the competing teams are required to give positive and constructive feedback to the opposing team for roughly 90 seconds, before the judge(s) announce a winning team.[12] The winning team will then proceed to a designated room and the non-winning team to a different designated room, where each will face another team with the same number of wins and non-wins. There is no point bonus for winning a debate.
In terms of scoring, Team Debate is the event worth second most, with it being worth 26.25% of a team's total score and 35% of an individual's score. The rubric dictates that the scoring for debaters individually includes details on presentation, strategy, and content, and team scores factor in teamwork and feedback as well. Every score in the debate ranges from 2-7. Additionally, the best speaker of a debate can be nominated by the judge, with the possibility of such speaker making it onto the Debate Showcase.[13]
Presentation includes how clearly a person spoke as well as how their stage presence was. Strategy refers to how organized an argument was, as well as their use of language. Content includes evidence and justification for a point, as well as rebuttals/prebuttals against the opposing team. Teamwork includes details on how respectful a team is as well as how well their arguments fit together. Feedback is based on respectfulness of the feedback as well as how helpful it is. Teamwork and feedback are included in a team's score for debate, but not in an individual's score.
The Scholar's Bowl
The clicker used for the World Scholar's Cup's Scholar's Bowl.
The Scholar's Bowl is a quiz bowl usually held in a theater. Team members work together to answer multiple choice questions that are displayed on a large screen.
In order to answer the questions, each team of students is given a clicker that is connected to a scoring computer on stage. Students then choose their answer by pressing their choice letter on the clicker. Students are given 17 seconds to submit their answer. Each successive question is harder and is worth more points than the previous one. Sometimes, rapid fire questions are given which have to be answered in five seconds and are worth more points than the 17-second questions.
The Scholar's Bowl implements questions, many of which tend including references to pop culture, and often include WSC in-jokes.[7]
Scholars may celebrate with a "Chauncey Roll" when getting a question correct, a reference to a celebration of former staff member Chauncey Lo during his period as a scholar in the event.[14]
Community Events
Community events do not provide scores, but are present for community-building and engagement.[15]
Students are teamed up randomly and given tasks. At least one person in the team takes photos and videos in order to show completion of the tasks. The tasks may relate to the curriculum, teamwork, organizer, location, or simply be jokes.[12] Each task is worth a certain number of points depending upon the difficulty. At the end of the scavenge, the leader collects the photos and score them. These scores do not count toward the scores in the competition as a whole, but are only used for this event. Teams with the highest scores can be called for an award in an award ceremony.[15]
The format of the Debate Showcase mirrors the format of the Team Debate event, but the students debate in teams of four, rather than three, on stage in front of the rest of the participants.[4] When all eight speakers have gone, the host of the Showcase invites volunteers from the audience and debaters from the showcase to step forward and share their general thoughts on the topic that was debated.
Top-scoring debate participants from each delegation make up both the speakers and judging panel of the Showcase.[15]
The Scholar's Ball
The Scholar's Ball is an event similar to a school dance that encourages mingling, dancing, and the chance to "look sharp." Some students refer to it as a "pseudo-prom" or "nerd-prom." It was introduced to allow students mingle with students from different countries.[15]
The Scholar's Show
The Scholar's Show is an optional talent show, sometimes referred to as an untalent show. No prior experience is required, and there are little to no limits on what a talent can be comprised of. This is one of the events where things sometimes get (very) awkward, and also one which requires little to none practice (unless if you want to nail it of course). In this event, you can do anything you feel like. Some examples are:
-Rapping (truth: I actually rapped in my regionals, just make sure that it is clean and family friendly)
-Instrument playing (there was this one guy in my regionals who played flute)
-Gynmastics
[15]
The Scholar's Fair
The Scholar's Fair takes place at every Global Round and Tournament of Champions. Delegations set up booths to represent their countries, typically including food, souvenirs, and sometimes performances or demonstrations.[15]
Flag March
The Flag March happens at the end of every Global Round and ToC before the Awards Ceremony. One representative from every country participates. The flag bearers carry the flag of their country and march to the stage,[16] followed by a member of staff giving a farewell speech.
The World Scholar's Camp
In 2012, the World Scholar's Camp was created and took place in Singapore in December 2012. It included seminars and outings to various locations in Singapore.[17] Camps take place at various schools and cities through the year.[18]
Awards Ceremony
The Awards Ceremony, also known as the Closing Ceremony, takes place just before the end of a round. Traditionally, staff members stand on stage and announce the winners for the entire round. Various winners may receive gold medals, silver medals, trophies, or pineapples (given with trophies). These winners are given these awards for achievement in all events, both for team and individual recognition. Awards are also given to scholars who scored relatively well overall, but did not receive a gold medal or trophy for any particular event. These were initially called Da Vinci Awards, but their name was changed to the Asimov Award in 2023, as the award for the highest Challenge score, which was formerly named Asimov, had been renamed. Later, a certificate is shipped to all participants.[4]
Curriculum
A Collaborative Writing prompt sheet in the Manila Global Round in 2019; students can choose one from the six subjects, however, each teammate must choose a different subject.
The World Scholar's Cup curriculum has six subjects. The theme changes annually.[19] Students are often given questions that require critical thinking skills as well as their basic knowledge to come to a conclusion rather than focusing on memorization. For instance, instead of asking "On which date an experiment was performed?", the question would ask, "Which artist would be most likely to oppose this experiment?"
Until 2009, mathematics, economics,[19] and trigonometry were included in the curriculum. However, in 2010 it was eliminated in order to better address the goals of the competition since the subjects were considered as inflexible and difficult to debate. In 2008, the World Scholar's Cup added a 'film' category to its visual arts section, and in 2010 added a "music" category to its art section.[citation needed]
Until 2013, the World Scholar's Cup released curriculum guides each year—one for each subject. The guides were available free-of-charge on its official website. Starting in 2013, topic outlines and theme-relevant material was made freely available to students through their website. The World Scholar's Cup recommends connecting each section of the outline to the given theme and how they connect or impact society.[21]
Until 2014, there was a Current Affairs section, which was replaced by Social Studies. To address its absence, Current Affairs would from thereon out be integrated across all six subjects instead.[citation needed]
Until 2023, the World Scholar's Cup program organized their syllabus into their 6 main subjects.[22] Currently, the curriculum is listed in one document broken down into non-subject based subsections.[23] The change made categorizing subjects more challenging, however it also allowed for any article to appear in multiple subjects. [24]
Records
The all-time record for the highest individual score was achieved by Sol Swea at the 2019 Penang Regional Round, with a score of 9,116.[25] The highest-ever individual score in the junior division is Thorin Thompson's score of 9,015 at the 2025 Montreal Regional Round.[citation needed]
The team score record was set by Aindra Tan, Lily Zhang, and Stephanie Liu at the 2024 Dalian Global Round, with a score of 35,140.2.[26] The highest Tournament of Champions team score is 34,450.8, set by Aindra Tan, Lily Zhang, and Stephanie Liu in 2024. The all-time highest regional round team score is 34,797, set by Thorin Thompson, Ethan Wang, and Hanson Wu at the 2025 Montreal Regional Round.[citation needed]
Champions
The winners of the Global Rounds and Tournaments of Champions are as follows.[8]
Names in bold are the annual champions of the Tournament of Champions
World Scholar's Cup events in China are hosted by ASDAN China, a Chinese subsidiary of ASDAN. Participants are required to apply through a third party Mini Program in WeChat. Chinese event information as well as results are sometimes not provided on the World Scholar's Cup official website, but instead on ASDAN China's.[27]
