From April to May 2022, about 512 schools competed in the Regional Qualifiers for a chance to participate in the National Championship. All the schools fought hard for their place in the Championship, but only 108 were able to secure slots at the Preliminary Stage. Ahead of the National Championship, however, nine schools who lost their Regional Qualifiers with 40 points or above were invited to join the National Championship, by virtue of losing their contests with impressive scores.
Hence, 117 schools made headway for the Preliminary Stage contests. After 39 exciting contests, the 27 seeded schools joined 39 Preliminary Stage Winners and 15 Top Runner-up schools for the One-eighth Stage. In the Quarterfinals, 27 schools faced head-on for slots into the SemiFinals. Only nine schools out of the 27 were able to sit on the stage to compete for the three slots in the ultimate stage of the National Championship: the Grand Finale.
The Grand Finale of the 2022 National Championship, which concluded the NSMQ 2022 season, was held on Wednesday, October 26 2022, at the Great Hall, KNUST. The 2021 champions, Prempeh College; Greater Accra Regional Champions, Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary, Legon; and Central Regional Champions, Adisadel College squared off in a final contest reminiscent of an NSMQ classic match-up.
What was anticipated to be a heated race for the trophy and claiming the bragging rite as the 2022 National Championship, started quite slowly for all three schools. It was as though the questions were more demanding than the strength of the contestants. Prempeh College finally broke the dry run after answering a question correctly. Out of the 12 questions, all three schools answered at least three of their major questions accurately in the first round.
At the start of the Speed Race, Presbyterian Boys’, Secondary, Legon quickly rang in for the first question but unfortunately earned no point for it, giving Prempeh College the opportunity to snatch the points. In efforts to go past the one-point difference between themselves and Prempeh College, the ‘Christian Gentlemen’ could only land a tie with the ‘Seniors’. All through the second round till the last question, the ‘Zebras’ remained silent to avoid any subtractions from their hard-earned points.
Having presented their answers for scoring, the Quiz mistress quickly run through the required solutions for the ‘Problem of the Day.’ and the points allocated to each answer. ADISCO and PRESEC, Legon provided the solutions to some extent but couldn’t conclude to its final expected answer. They both ended up with six points out of ten. Prempeh College could only add a point to the other six since they went ahead in providing the required solutions but could as well end up with no conclusion.
The National Championship Trophy was presented before the start of the fourth round: the chase to claim the title as National Champions and ownership of the trophy was now evident. All three schools answered the first three sets of their True/ False questions with no faults. However, Adisadel College picked their first wrong response in the round following such an impressive performance from the trio. Prempeh College and Presbyterian Boys’ SHS, Legon followed the ‘Zebras’ on their incorrect answer path, leaving no claim for a ‘clean sheet’ at the end of that round.
Following an exhilarating fourth round, PRESEC, Legon proved claims of “‘SEVEN’ a living God.’” In haste to conquer Prempeh College, the ‘Christian Gentlemen’ rang in for the first Riddle on the third clue with an accurate answer, earning them three points. Prempeh College sat in through the last and final round without sounding the bell, leaving Presybertian Boys’ Secondary, Legon in the lead.
PRESEC, Legon continued in the lead as they rang in precise answers to the riddles. Out of the four riddles, PRESEC, Legon managed to answer three correctly and earned the award for the Goil Riddle Bonanza worth GHS3,200.00. The fifth and final round proved the decider of which one of the three schools would claim the title as National Champions. Having gained ground in the last round, Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary, Legon claimed the bragging right as the 2022 National Champions.
Here are the round-by-round scores of the Final contest.
Round One – General questions on Chemistry, physics, biology and mathematics.
Prempeh College- 16pts
Presbyterian Boys’ SHS, Legon-15pts
Adisadel College- 14pts
Round Two – The Speed Race
Prempeh College- 21pts
Presbyterian Boys’ SHS, Legon- 21pts
Adisadel College- 13pts
Round Three – Problem of the Day
Prempeh College- 41pts
Presbyterian Boys’ SHS, Legon- 40pts
Adisadel College- 32pts
Round Four – True or False
Prempeh College- 7/10
Presbyterian Boys’ SHS, Legon- 6/10
Adisadel College- 6/10
Round Five – Riddles
Presbyterian Boys’ SHS, Legon- 50pts
Prempeh College- 41pts
Adisadel College- 32pts
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