The test covers current events which have taken place during the school year.
The contestant must write an informative essay explaining the issue, while answering any questions in the prompt.
No time warning is given during the test; at the end of 60 minutes contestants must cease writing.
The essays are judged based on a holistic grading criteria of ten points.
For the team competition, the top three individual multiple choice scores from a school are added together.
For district, regional, and state meet academic championship and meet sweepstakes awards, points are awarded to the school as follows: At the state level, though no points are awarded, the third-place team is still draped with medals and a plaque just like the second and first place teams.