Exams at the European Championships
International Academic Competitions organizes European Championship Exams across numerous academic disciplines. The exams will be offered on various fields of history, science, and political science as explained below.
Each exam will consist of multiple choice questions with each correct answer worth 2 points, an incorrect response worth -1 point, and an answer left blank worth 0 points. The time limit will be 25 minutes for each exam. Ties will be broken through tiebreaker questions with numerical answers. Students will be ranked against other students in their age division, and the top three students in each division will earn medals. No prior qualification is needed to take any of the exams.
Ancient History Exam
This exam will focus on European history up until the year 500 CE. It will also cover the history of the Americas through the year 1550, the history of Asia through the year 1200, the history of Africa until 1400, and the history of Oceania until 1500. Approximately 20% of this exam will focus on the history of the ancient Middle East (including Iran) and North Africa, 30% will focus on the history of Ancient Greece and Rome, 5% on the history of the Americas, 5% on Sub-Saharan Africa, 5% on Oceania and Southeast Asia, 15% will focus on Ancient East Asia, and 10% will focus on the history of South and Central Asia, with the remaining 10% distributed across multiple regions on the same question, or from any region.
Biology Exam
This exam will cover all aspects of a standard high school biology curriculum with particular emphasis placed on topics that are also covered in the AP Exam. Topics covered will include molecular and cellular biology, ecology, anatomy, taxonomy, evolution, genetics, and more.
Environmental Science Exam
This exam will cover all aspects of ecology and environmental science with particular emphasis placed on topics that are also covered on the AP Environmental Science Exam. Topics covered will include ecosystems, conservation biology, global warming and climate change, food webs, biogeochemistry, environmental degradation, biogeography, and human ecology.
European Geography Exam
This exam will cover the cultural, human, physical, and political geography of Europe. For purposes of this exam, Europe will be said to include the following: Iceland, Faroe Islands, Svalbard, Cyprus, Malta, Kazakhstan west of the Ural River, Russia west of the continental divide of the Ural Mountains, and the three Macaronesian archipelagoes that belong to European countries. It will not include Greenland, Anatolia, or any questions on Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Questions will be broadly distributed, and students should be prepared to answer questions on European cultural practices, languages, economic geography, and more, in addition to capital cities, landforms, bodies of water, etc.
European History Exam
This exam will cover the history of Europe from the dawn of history in ancient Greece to the present-day. This exam will cover ancient, medieval, and modern European History. From 1500 CE onward, it will broadly reflect the AP European History curriculum in terms of content distribution, though all questions will be multiple-choice. Students should be familiar with people, events, cultural movements, the historical geography of Europe, and Europe’s place in the world today.
Geography Photo Quiz
The Geography Photo Quiz will feature questions exclusively based on photographic images. These can include pictures of cities, landmarks, landforms, bodies of water, and more. Note that while some photos may include images of flags, that will not be a major focus of this exam, as those are covered more comprehensively on the Map and Flag Exam. Students who are familiar with Geoguessr may particularly enjoy this exam, though it should be a fun test of knowledge for all middle and elementary school students interested in geography.
Historical Geography Exam
This exam will cover the impact of geography on historical events, and examine questions of population movements, shifts in national and imperial borders, the spread of languages and religions, exploration and trade patterns, military campaigns, and more.
Map and Flag Exam
This visually-based exam will ask students to identify maps and flags of different countries, states, cities, and other geographical entities. For the map section, students will also be asked to interpret maps and use spatial reasoning skills to answer questions that do not require prior knowledge of geographic locations, but do require a student to use maps in the way that a professional geographer would do.
Military History Exam
This exam will cover all facets of military history from ancient civilizations to the present-day. In addition to battles and wars, questions will also cover military technology, strategy and tactics, and how military outcomes shaped the contours of history.
Recent History Exam
This exam covers historical developments of the past few decades dating back to January 1, 2000. While the history of this time period is often not taught comprehensively in the classroom, an understanding of the recent past is even more useful for our daily lives than the history of more distant eras. The Recent History Exam will cover developments in political, social, cultural, economic, and other areas of history.