ACF Packet Distribution
Last updated: April 4, 2021
This page lists full-packet distributions for each ACF tournament. Teams submitting full packets to ACF tournaments should follow the prescribed distribution for the tournament they are submitting a packet to.
For tournaments with half-packet submissions, teams will only submit a half-packet of 12/12. Teams that request to submit a half-packet will be given a half-packet submission template containing a list of pre-assigned categories.
Note: The notation “X/Y” refers to X tossups and Y bonuses (per packet).
| Category | Fall | Winter | Regionals | Nationals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Literature (total*) | 5/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| American Literature | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| British Literature | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| European Literature after 500 CE | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| World Literature | 1/0 or 0/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Any Literature | 2/1 or 1/2 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| History (total*) | 5/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| American History | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| European History | 2/1 or 1/2 | 2/1 or 1/2 | 2/1 or 1/2 | 2/1 or 1/2 |
| World History | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Any History | 2/1 or 1/2 | 2/1 or 1/2 | 2/1 or 1/2 | 2/1 or 1/2 |
| Science (total*) | 5/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| Biology | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Chemistry | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Physics | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Math, Computer Science, Astronomy, Earth Science | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Any Science | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Fine Arts (total) | 3/3 | 3/3 | 3/3 | 3/3 |
| Painting and Sculpture | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Classical Music | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Other Fine Arts | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Religion and Mythology (total) | 2/2 | 2/2 | 2/2 | 2/1 or 1/2 |
| Religion | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | at least 1/0 or 0/1 |
| Mythology | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | at least 1/0 or 0/1 |
| Social Science and Philosophy (total) | 2/1 or 1/2 | 2/2 | 2/2 | 2/2 |
| Social Science | 1/0, 0/1, or 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Philosophy | 1/0, 0/1, or 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 1/1 |
| Other (total*) | 3/2 or 2/3 | 2/2 | 2/2 | 3/2 or 2/3 |
| Geography | 1/0, 0/1, or 1/1 | 1/0 or 0/1 | 1/0 or 0/1 | at least 1/0 or 0/1 |
| Current Events | 1/0, 0/1, or 1/1 | 1/0 or 0/1 | 1/0 or 0/1 | at least 1/0 or 0/1 |
| Other Academic | 1/0, 0/1, or 1/1 | 1/0 or 0/1 | 1/0 or 0/1 | at least 1/0 or 0/1 |
| Popular Culture | 1/0, 0/1, or 1/1 | 1/0 or 0/1 | 1/0 or 0/1 | 0/0 |
| Submitted packet | 24/24* | 24/24* | 24/24* | 24/24* |
| Final packet | 20/20 | 20/20 | 20/20 | 20/20 |
* The submitted full-packet distribution adds up to 24/24 in total. To produce final packets of 20/20, the editors will remove 1/1 Literature, 1/1 History, 1/1 Science, and 1/1 Other.
Category Guidelines
Literature ↑
Vary your literature questions across time periods, genre, (novels, poetry, drama, short stories, etc.), and type of answer (authors, individual works, characters, common links, etc.).
World Literature ↑
This includes all geographic regions not listed above.
Any Literature ↑
This includes ancient European literature, more of any of the geographic regions above, or questions that don’t neatly fit into a single geographic region.
History ↑
Vary your history questions across time periods and type of history (political, social, military, cultural, etc.). In particular, do not write more than 4 total questions on military history.
European History ↑
One question should be on British/Irish/Canadian/Australian/New Zealand history, the other two should be on continental Europe.
World History ↑
This includes all geographic regions not listed above. Do not write your two questions on history from the same region/continent.
Any History ↑
This includes more of any of the areas of the world covered above, historiography, and questions that don’t neatly fit into a single area listed here.
Science ↑
Math, Computer Science, Astronomy, Earth Science ↑
Write questions on two different areas of study.
Any Science ↑
This includes engineering and technology questions that don’t fit into any of the fields above, and questions that mix clues/concepts from multiple fields.
You may also write additional questions from one of the “major” fields (biology/chemistry/physics), or you may write a question on a “minor” field (math/computer science/astronomy/earth science) that you didn’t already write on above.
Fine Arts ↑
Painting and Sculpture ↑
You may either write one painting and one sculpture question, or two painting questions.
Other Fine Arts ↑
This includes opera, jazz, architecture, photography, film, dance, etc. Do not write more of the categories above.
Write on one “visual” category (architecture, photography, film, etc.) and one “auditory” (opera, jazz, dance, etc.) category.
Religion and Mythology ↑
Write at least one and no more than two questions on non-Western topics.
Religion ↑
Do not write two questions on the same religion.
Mythology ↑
Do not write two questions on the same mythological system.
Social Science and Philosophy ↑
Social Science ↑
Topics for this category include economics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, political science, social criticism, and law (although questions on individual Supreme Court cases go in history).
Write questions on two different fields of study.
Philosophy ↑
Write questions on two different movements/time periods in philosophical history.
Other ↑
For Fall, Winter, and Regionals: Write one question in each of Geography, Current Events, Other Academic, and Popular Culture.
For Nationals: Write at least one question in each of Geography, Current Events, and Other Academic.
Other Academic ↑
“Other Academic” comprises questions that don’t neatly fit into any of the above categories, such as interdisciplinary common links, miscellaneous thought, science history, etc.
You may also choose to write an additional question in any category here instead.