A Maui Waena Intermediate School 8th-grader, Hawaii's champion speller, did not advance to the semifinal round of the National Spelling Bee, done in by the written test, he said Wednesday.
Christopher Kim, 13, said he missed five to 10 of the 25 words on the written test of the Bee on Tuesday and felt like he "didn't have any hope" of advancing after that. The scores from the written test (25 point maximum) and two rounds of oral spelling (three points for each round maximum) weed the field of 275 down to 50 for the semifinals.
He did spell his two words in the oral rounds correctly. They were "waveson," which are goods from a shipwreck that appear floating on the waves or the sea, and "asthmogenic," or causing asthma. Those words were on a list of 400 words that spellers were given.
There was no word list for the written portion of the test. Each word was said and followed by a recitation of alternate pronunciations, part of speech, origin, definition and use in a sentence. No questions could be asked.
"That was a real setback," said Kim in a phone interview from his room in Washington's Gaylord National Hotel on Wednesday about his performance on the written test. "I'm better at memorizing the words when I actually have the words in front of me, knowing the structure and roots."
Now that his Bee is over, Kim, who is in the nation's capital with his mother, Esther, plans to watch the semifinal and championship rounds today, tour the city and attend the farewell party.
"I've gotten to know the spellers very well," Kim said. "We're all friends; we're all close. The other spellers are very friendly. We've similar interests. We all want to succeed."
He met no cut-throat spellers, only very good ones. There were two spellers who were in the top five in last year's Bee that got perfect scores in their written test, he noted.
As an 8th-grader, this is Kim's last year as a Bee competitor. He has a few regrets about his preparation for the event and is "really jealous" of the other competitors who may compete another day. Leading up to the Bee, Kim said he was not able to study as much as he would have liked due to conflicting activities, including a state robotics competition where his Maui Waena team finished second.
He said he believes that if he had put in more time and studied harder he would have made it into the semifinals.
"It might be natural talent, but before talent comes hard work," he said about being a semifinal-level speller. "Most of it comes from dedication, work and self-discipline and passion they put in."
Christopher Kim, 13, said he missed five to 10 of the 25 words on the written test of the Bee on Tuesday and felt like he "didn't have any hope" of advancing after that. The scores from the written test (25 point maximum) and two rounds of oral spelling (three points for each round maximum) weed the field of 275 down to 50 for the semifinals.
He did spell his two words in the oral rounds correctly. They were "waveson," which are goods from a shipwreck that appear floating on the waves or the sea, and "asthmogenic," or causing asthma. Those words were on a list of 400 words that spellers were given.
There was no word list for the written portion of the test. Each word was said and followed by a recitation of alternate pronunciations, part of speech, origin, definition and use in a sentence. No questions could be asked.
"That was a real setback," said Kim in a phone interview from his room in Washington's Gaylord National Hotel on Wednesday about his performance on the written test. "I'm better at memorizing the words when I actually have the words in front of me, knowing the structure and roots."
Now that his Bee is over, Kim, who is in the nation's capital with his mother, Esther, plans to watch the semifinal and championship rounds today, tour the city and attend the farewell party.
He met no cut-throat spellers, only very good ones. There were two spellers who were in the top five in last year's Bee that got perfect scores in their written test, he noted.
As an 8th-grader, this is Kim's last year as a Bee competitor. He has a few regrets about his preparation for the event and is "really jealous" of the other competitors who may compete another day. Leading up to the Bee, Kim said he was not able to study as much as he would have liked due to conflicting activities, including a state robotics competition where his Maui Waena team finished second.
He said he believes that if he had put in more time and studied harder he would have made it into the semifinals.
"It might be natural talent, but before talent comes hard work," he said about being a semifinal-level speller. "Most of it comes from dedication, work and self-discipline and passion they put in."
