 UIL Academics
Accounting The contest focuses on the elementary principles and practices of accounting for sole
proprietorship, partnerships, and corporations, and includes bookkeeping terminology, the work sheet with adjustments, income statement, balance sheet, trial balance, account classification, journalizing, posting, bank reconciliation, payroll, and other items related to the basic accounting cycle.
Calculator Applications The contest includes calculations involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, roots, powers, exponentiation, logarithms, trigonometric functions, and inverse trigonometric functions. In addition to straightforward calculation problems, the contest includes geometric and stated problems similar to those found in algebra, geometry, and trigonometry textbooks, previous contests, and League materials related to the contest.
Computer Applications Computer Applications focuses on word processing speed and accuracy,
computer skills in database and spreadsheet, and integration of applications. Skills tested include formatting copy, mail merge, headers/footers, editing, proofreading, spreadsheet, graphs/charts, and integration of all applications.
Computer Science The Computer Science Contest challenges high school students to gain an
understanding of the significance of computers as well as the details of programming, to be alert to new technology and information, to gain an understanding if the basic principles as well as knowledge of the history and philosophy of computer science, and to foster a sense of enthusiasm about the discipline and field.
Current Issues & Events The contest focuses on a basic knowledge of current state,
national and world events and issues. "Current events" are defined as those which have occurred during the current school year. The content consists of questions which will be posed in such a way as to allow for objective grading and an essay question that all participants are required to answer.
Editorial Writing The editorial writing contest teaches students to read critically, to
digest and prioritize information quickly, and to write clearly, accurately and succinctly. Emphasis is placed on mechanical and stylistic precision, lead writing, use of direct and indirect quotes, news judgment, and the ability to think deeply, to compare and contrast and to argue or defend a point of view persuasively.
Feature Writing The feature writing contest teaches students to read critically, to
digest and prioritize information quickly, and to write clearly, accurately and succinctly. Emphasis is placed on mechanical and stylistic precision, lead writing, use of direct quotes, news judgment, and the ability to write descriptively .
Headline Writing The headline writing contest teaches students to read critically, to
digest and prioritize information quickly, and to write clearly, accurately and succinctly. Emphasis is placed on the ability to discern key facts and to write with flair and style in order to tell and sell a story.
Literary Criticism The contest requires knowledge of literary history and of critical
terms, and ability in literary criticism. Students are tested over material on the reading list, required to select the best answers involving judgment in literary criticism, and analyze literary passages not on the reading list. A tie-breaker is required in which the student must write a short essay dealing with a specified topic about a short literary passage.
Mathematics This contest is designed to test knowledge and understanding in the areas of algebra I and II, geometry, trigonometry, math analysis, analytic geometry, pre-calculus, and elementary calculus.
News Writing The news writing contest teaches students to read critically, to digest and
prioritize information quickly, and to write clearly, accurately and succinctly. Emphasis is placed on mechanical and stylistic precision, lead writing, use of direct and indirect quotes, and news judgment.
Number Sense Number sense involves a 10-minute, 80 question mental math test
covering all high school mathematics courses. Short-cuts need to be developed and practiced in order to compete and finish the test.
One Act Play One of the largest high school play productions in the world, One Act Play
encourages educational and community theatre. The event itself consists of a forty minute play performed by a maximum of fifteen individuals involving props and set pieces. The plays are then graded by a panel of judges who will distribute overall and individual awards.
Ready Writing In this contest, students write expository compositions. They are
given a choice between two prompts, each an excerpt from literature, publications (past and present) or speeches. Expository writing explains, proves or explores a topic in a balanced way, allowing the argument and the evidence given to be the deciding factor in the paper. The composition is judged on interest, organization and correctness of style.
Science The purpose of the Science Contest is to challenge high school students to do a wide range of reading on biology, chemistry and physics, to gain an understanding of the significance of experiments rather than to recall obscure details, to be alert to new discoveries and information in the areas of science, to gain an understanding of the basic principles as well as knowledge of history and philosophy of science, and to foster a sense of enthusiasm about science and how it affects our daily lives.
Social Studies Coach(es): The purpose of the Social Studies Contest is to challenge high school students to read widely and deeply in the areas of social studies. Particularly, students will be required to: 1) expand and apply their understanding of the nature of geography and the physical setting of the earth to physical and cultural environments, 2) expand and apply their understanding of the governmental systems, 3) expand and apply
their understanding of historical trends, movements and eras, the impact and significant of time and place, cause and effect, and change over time.
Speech/Debate The purpose of each of the individual speech contests is to stimulate the student's ability to communicate ideas and information to an audience. In the extemporaneous informative speaking and extemporaneous persuasive
speaking contests, these ideas are essentially those of the speaker, derived from the speaker's background of research on current events. In poetry interpretation and prose interpretation, the student is challenged to ascertain and communicate the ideas of a literary selection, based on the student's understanding and research.
Spelling The UIL Spelling and Vocabulary contest promotes precise and effective use of words. The three-part contest consist of multiple choice questions of proofreading and vocabulary and words that are written from dictation. Eighty percent of the words in the test are listed in the UIL publication WordPower, which is based on the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, third edition. The vocabulary-building and spelling components of the contest are important complements of the high school academic curriculum and are indicative of vocabulary words contained on standardized tests such as SAT, PSAT and ACT.
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