How are the people on University Challenge so knowledgeable?

im so academic

I am watching UC now and it strikes me how they can answer really difficult questions. How did they become like that?

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Reply 1

acer0951

Im watching toooo :biggrin:

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 2

hasan4life

they learnt about it :rolleyes:

Reply 3

Blutooth

They don't watch university challenge, or any form of tv for that matter; their time being directed to higher forms of entertainment... like reading. :tongue:

But seriously if you watch university challenge, the all round genius types are quite rare. Usually the people on the team know a lot about a given subject, be it music or science or literature. The teams have a science guy, a literature guy etc to cover the diferent questions that could arise. So I guess each individual must have very specialised interests-ie. visiting art galleries or listening to classical symphonies which over time manifests into a good knowledge of a single subject.

The all-round genius types that seem to know everything are rarer and have probably devoted a significant proportion of their time to studies.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 4

Joinedup

Guess they're actually interested in 'stuff' for it's own sake and learn about it for fun rather than being mere exam passing drones.

Reply 5

im so academic

Original post by hasan4life

they learnt about it :rolleyes:

Yeah, about random species of plants and unknown paintings…?

Reply 6

oli_G

Learning FP1 has actually come in useful...

Spoiler

Reply 7

hasan4life

Original post by im so academic

Yeah, about random species of plants and unknown paintings…?

yh ppl are in to all kinds of shizz u knw :fyi:

Reply 8

SnoochToTheBooch

it's crazy isn't it. I've watched about 3 episodes of that show and don't think I knew a single answer.

Reply 9

babyjustin

They are so knowledgeable because:
Firstly they have knowledge in a specific subject area
Secondly they read a lot. This is where they gain the majority of their knowledge from. Most of these people will have very very good memories and don't waste time like the most of us watching TV and all that jazz.
Thirdly some of them are geniuses, don't mess with them.

Reply 10

AspiringGenius

Original post by im so academic

Yeah, about random species of plants and unknown paintings…?

Visit museums :smile:

those unknown paintings aren't that unknown to specialists in the subject

Reply 11

im so academic

Original post by AspiringGenius

Visit museums :smile:

those unknown paintings aren't that unknown to specialists in the subject

But the questions are from a variety of subjects…?

Reply 12

ROYP

you asked this like 2 weeks ago

Reply 13

chickenonsteroids

Original post by ROYP

you asked this like 2 weeks ago

See imso, you've got a specialist on you on TSR! Be happy :h:

Reply 14

3nTr0pY

I object to them being called geniuses. Memorising a huge number of facts is a very impressive feat but in my opinion, genius is the creative spark which links seemingly disparate facts and ideas enabling new solutions to be found.

I knew some of the dudes on there. They're just hardworking guys with unusually large memories. Some are geniuses though...but for other reasons!

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 15

Blutooth

The people on university challenge aren't really representative of the undergraduates there. I would imagine that winning UC has very little to do with the quality of undergraduate teaching received.

I love gail trimble

I think travelling the country and being immersed in the history of places is one of the ways people on there generally pick up information about history, UK county flags etc. etc. I know what you mean though, some of them do seem to be able to reel off masses of very odd information!

Reply 18

frankieboy

Original post by 3nTr0pY

I agree. The word "genius" is bandied around too freely in my opinion. It seems to be used for almost any minor achievement which trancends the lowest common denominator.

ROYP

you asked this like 2 weeks ago

Perhaps they haven't been able to answer any of the questions since then :tongue:

Reply 19

aspirinpharmacist

Easy. Just watch Starter for Ten

"Ever since I can remember, I've wanted to be clever. Some people are born clever, the same way some people are born beautiful. I am not one of those people. I've had to work at it. If there's a question, I have to know the right answer. Francis Bacon once said "Knowledge is power", which is why I want to know everything. I want to know about Plato and Newton, Tolstoy and Bob Dylan. I want to know why people actually like jazz."

I missed out a line, only because I'd rather skip it altogether than write the words wrong, and the quality wasn't fantastic so it wasn't too clear.

I'd love to go on university challenge and reel off some of that stuff. I only wish I'd been there that time they asked the contestants about the theme music for various doctor who characters. It's my revision music!