Regionals for the Varsity and Junior Varsity Divisions

The Regional stage for the Varsity and Junior Varsity Divisions of the US Geography Championships consists of the National Qualifying Exam. The NQE is a 50 question multiple choice exam. Students receive 2 points for a correct answer, zero points for an answer left blank, and -1 point for an incorrect answer. Students have 20 minutes to take the Exam.

All qualifying exams for the US Geography Championships and the International Geography Bee will be held at Regional tournaments as well as online. Please contact info@iacompetitions.com or explore the above menu bar for more information.

Students may take the Varsity / JV National Qualifying Exam up to three times, as there are three different versions. The three separate versions of the Varsity and JV National Qualifying Exam offered at “A Set”, “B Set”, and “C Set” tournaments respectively are not meant to vary in length or difficulty, but in practice, the A Set version plays harder, as it is based off the AP Human Geography curriculum. Students looking to take the A Set exam should practice as if for the AP Human Geography Multiple Choice questions.

For 2022-2023, students need to finish in the top 50% of each version of each exam in their age group to qualify for Nationals. These minimum qualifying scores will be determined on December 1 for C Set, January 1 for B Set, and March 1 for A Set.

Please note that only primary or secondary school students born between June 30, 2004 and June 30, 2007 are eligible to take the 2022-2023 Varsity Division National Qualifying Exam, but all primary or secondary students born on July 1, 2007 or later are eligible to take the Junior Varsity Division National Qualifying Exam. If middle or elementary students qualify on the Junior Varsity Exam, then they can attend the Junior Varsity National Championships, but the qualification won’t carry over to the Middle School Division. To enter the Middle School or Elementary Division National Championships, students must qualify on the Online Regional Qualifying Exam, as normal.